Chartplotter at the binnacle

[Never Grumble]

Does anyone have solution for putting the chart plotter under the spray hood and at the same time not being in the way of lines led back to the coach roof what with winches and triple clutches being there also. Pictures if you have them would be great, Merry Christmas all.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

But creating a Deviation card for electronics ON and another for OFF - is purely your time to do it ... only cost is fuel etc of your own use. I would generally advise not to have correctors used on a yachts compass unless its literally a ships job ....

I was talking about having it professionally adjusted, with correctors to the compass, not a deviation card ... my response was to a post by @PaulRainbow , perhaps "adjust" would have been a better word than "swing" in my post? ... but at least all 3 of us agree, adjustment is not a good idea.

I would be very wary of making changes to the compass, such as magnets, or it's potentially useless if the electronics fail, which is when you'll really need it.

 

[Tranona]

I don't use Auto-Track from plotter to Autohelm ... my AH's do not accept NMEA anyway ... too old.

But even if they did - I would most likely not use it - preferring to have AH steer a course that I am happy with based on my obersvervation of wind / track offset etc.

I certainly do not find it a hardship to +1 .. -1 deg or whatever manually on the AH ...

Autotrack is useful when motoring. What modes you use depends on what sort of system you have. If you have a fully integrated system with inputs from speed wind and out to autopilot then easy to set it to waypoint, compass course or if under sail to wind.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Does anyone have solution for putting the chart plotter under the spray hood and at the same time not being in the way of lines led back to the coach roof what with winches and triple clutches being there also. Pictures if you have them would be great, Merry Christmas all.

Under the sprayhood is not a great place for a plotter on a boat with cabin-top winches and clutches, as there are always ropes in the way to snag it or the wiring - but I guess you know this. The bulkhead is better, but that's also often a backrest in larger boats, and may well end up with rope ends dangling over the screen.

Under the spray hood works well in smaller boats, or boats with no cabin-top winches or clutches, but the longer the cockpit, the bigger the plotter screen needs to be to see it from the helm. The bigger it is, the harder it is to find space.

What boat do you have? or post a photo of the area under the sprayhood.

 

[lustyd]

Does anyone have solution for putting the chart plotter under the spray hood

Buy a bigger boat?

 

[Refueler]

I was talking about having it professionally adjusted, with correctors to the compass, not a deviation card ... my response was to a post by @PaulRainbow , perhaps "adjust" would have been a better word than "swing" in my post? ... but at least all 3 of us agree, adjustment is not a good idea.

I was well aware of Pauls and your reply ... my post was to illustrate that such was not needed ...

 

[Norman_E]

I agree with Baggywrinkle about the compass. I had two on my boat, but the chart plotter and the linked NMEA2000 instruments gave me my course with a "rolling road" display if needed. If the electrics failed on board, I also had a Garmin76 handheld battery operated GPS, so I really did not need to refer to a magnetic compass. If I put in a waypoint in the Garmin, it could also display a rolling road. In coastal sailing a paper chart and mark one eyeball, plus a hand bearing compass, are really all I ever needed.

 

[Refueler]

Many of the replies are fine for short coastal hops ... but any serious 'voyage' can soon show the folly of relying on electronics whether handheld or fixed ...

 

[lustyd]

Weird, the longer the passage the more we use ours.

 

[Graham376]

Does anyone have solution for putting the chart plotter under the spray hood and at the same time not being in the way of lines led back to the coach roof what with winches and triple clutches being there also. Pictures if you have them would be great, Merry Christmas all.

Ours is mounted to a grab rail under the sprayhood which is where we are 90% of the time on autopilot, just click on a waypoint and let the boat take us there. See no point on having to sit at the helm to see any instruments, particularly on the rare occasion it's raining..

 

[Refueler]

Weird, the longer the passage the more we use ours.

My post - without need explaining details - was based on the idea of handheld electronics etc ... all of which are time limited on batterys ....

I am sure that whatever scenario I or anyone else cares to put fwd - there will be counter argument .. so be it ...

The wise man takes ALL into account ...

 

[lustyd]

I was just saying how we use ours. Batteries just aren't an issue these days with lithium and solar in the mix. Paper charts are becoming an issue, and the further afield we go the less likely we are to have paper charts on board to go with it, we just don't have the space for all that paper.

 

[jakew009]

Many of the replies are fine for short coastal hops ... but any serious 'voyage' can soon show the folly of relying on electronics whether handheld or fixed ...

Paper charts are very much on borrowed time at this point.

 

[lustyd]

Paper charts are very much on borrowed time at this point.

Even when they weren’t a normal boat didn’t have space for full UK charts let alone going anywhere

 

[PaulRainbow]

Commercial shipping no longer has to carry paper charts.