electronic displays in the cockpit?

[GHA]

worth a chat, I feel
Here's my take, very very occasionally it's absolutely fantastic to have everything in front of your eyeballs at the helm. AIS, chart, radar.. the lot.
But most of the time you don't need all that and what happens is you stare at the gadgets and lose the situational awareness inside your head about where you are and what's happening with the tide etc.

Tricky one, ideal situation might be a multi function display which magically appears just when things get busy.

I have just depth and log in the cockpit at the moment, the most dashes down below (usually single handed) are for sog and cog from the gps. There's a nasa gps repeater waiting to get fitted, I'm half tempted not to bother but probably will, the other next step is to get my lovely Sony Xperia talking to OpenCpn running down below on a computer so it's all there up top if needed.

But mostly, it sucks your head out of the real world I find.

Though I want the choice

What you think?

 

[maby]

Nah, sorry, I like my binnacle to look like the flight deck of a 747!

It saves hanging furry dice off the end of the boom...

 

[GHA]

Nah, sorry, I like my binnacle to look like the flight deck of a 747!

It saves hanging furry dice off the end of the boom...

Most of the time I prefer the view

 

[Sandy]

What you think?

Compass, depth, wind doobery and my handheld GPS on its mount in the cockpit.

Chart on the table.

 

[DanTribe]

I have depth and gps giving speed direction COG etc, in the cockpit plus one of those old fashioned magnetic direction devices.
Do a periodic visit to chart table to update Yeoman [occasionally].
Similarly in the car, I keep the speedo etc in front of the driver, not in the boot.

 

[Twister_Ken]

You don't need all that information…

…until you need it!

A plotter can be configured to repeat any nmea compliant stuff on your network.

Generally mine shows SOG, COG, VMG & TWS as well as chart. Waterspeed, depth and apparent wind angle and speed are shown on dedicated instruments.

The one thing I use least, nowadays, is the mag compass.

 

[pvb]

I prefer the radar/plotter in the cockpit, within sight of the helm.

 

[maby]

I prefer the radar/plotter in the cockpit, within sight of the helm.

Fully agree - you may as well not have them if the helmsman cannot see them.

 

[ianfr]

Fully agree - you may as well not have them if the helmsman cannot see them.

+1

 

[prv]

Kindred Spirit was speed and depth in the cockpit (actually, for the first half of our ownership, the speed was in the cabin where the previous owner put it ) and an old Garmin 128 GPS and Yeoman at the chart table. Wind direction was a St Piran's Cross burgee at the masthead . There was a portable plotter that could be hooked over a couple of cleats at the front of the cockpit, but I rarely used it.

That worked pretty well.

Ariam has many more toys - across the front of the cockpit can be found:

• Remote control for the stereo
• AIS display
• Electronic steering compass
• Depth
• Wind
• Speed
• GPS repeater
• Raymarine C70 radar/plotter
• Switches for nav lights, deck sockets, etc

Note that these are at the front of the cockpit where the skipper (and everyone else) can see them, not just the helmsman.

On the binnacle are:

• Main steering compass
• VHF remote (but useable from all round the cockpit, not just the helm)
• Basic 4" plotter, usually turned off
• Autopilot controller, can also display depth, speed, etc
• Engine display and controls

The Garmin 128 and Yeoman are still present at the chart table, and the GPS repeater in the above list displays data from that (bearing to waypoint, etc). For longer passages this is where navigation takes place, but for coastal work it's all done on the plotter on deck.

I don't think having this information available reduces my situational awareness. In fact, this being my first season with a plotter running most of the time, I reckon the projected track function enhances it. Even that famous advocate of tradition, Mr Cunliffe, is a big fan of the projected track on a plotter screen. I know I can sail with the basics if necessary, I don't feel I need to prove anything.

Pete

 

[prv]

Fully agree - you may as well not have them if the helmsman cannot see them.

Why is the helmsman doing the navigating? Shouldn't he be helming?

Seriously though, I can't imagine trying to steer and keep an effective radar lookout at the same time. I definitely wouldn't put a radar display in front of the helm.

Pete

 

[vyv_cox]

With a tiller it is quite difficult to site a plotter in the cockpit. We have ours at the chart table where it is visible without too much trouble from the cockpit. We mostly rely on a data repeater showing COG, SOG, distance and bearing to waypoint. This is the system we have used for more than 20 years now, very successfully. It does mean that I set a safe course for every trip we do but with a good plotter this takes little time and gives an opportunity to research the safe route properly.

Other than that we have log, depth, wind speed and direction on other gauges.

 

[maby]

My problem with putting significant instruments at the front of the cockpit is that I simply cannot see them from the helm.

 

[maby]

Why is the helmsman doing the navigating? Shouldn't he be helming?

Seriously though, I can't imagine trying to steer and keep an effective radar lookout at the same time. I definitely wouldn't put a radar display in front of the helm.

Pete

Evidently you don't singlehand/shorthand? I'm normally sailing with my wife but on any passage that justifies the radar, it is also likely that one of us will be resting down below before our next watch - if the helmsman cannot see the radar, nobody else is going to be looking at it!

 

[prv]

Evidently you don't singlehand/shorthand?

I do indeed, and therefore I let the autopilot do most of the steering on passage . If conditions are nice then I might hand-steer for a bit just for the enjoyment, but after a while I'll get bored with it and let George get back to work.

We've only had radar for one and a half seasons so far, and only one episode of reduced visibility in that time (not thick fog as such) - so I don't have vast experience of that. But my planned "fog routine" includes going to autopilot even if we were previously hand-steering, partly to free up another person for forward lookout and partly because the pilot steers a straighter course which helps with radar plotting.

(Also, to be clear, my radar/plotter is not invisible to the helmsman, it's just not right in front of his nose and thus hidden from anyone else.)

Pete

 

[maby]

I just don't see the physical act of steering as being in any way incompatible with "keeping a radar lookout" - the potential conflict is between keeping a visual lookout and keeping a radar lookout. I can helm looking forward, or I can helm looking at the MFD - the difficulty comes when I feel the need to do both - and having the AP engaged is not going to significantly address that problem. Putting the radar screen down below certainly resolves the problem - but mostly by stopping you using the radar and keeping a visual watch at the same time - limiting the value of the radar when shorthanded.

 

[prv]

I just don't see the physical act of steering as being in any way incompatible with "keeping a radar lookout"

You're obviously better at multi-tasking than I am

If I have to concentrate on something inside the boat for any length of time, I generally start wandering off course.

I used to be better with a tiller, which was more instinctive.

Putting the radar screen down below certainly resolves the problem - but mostly by stopping you using the radar and keeping a visual watch at the same time - limiting the value of the radar when shorthanded.

Oh, I'm certainly not advocating putting the radar and plotter down below - that's a bloody stupid location, a hangover from before they invented waterproof electronics.

I just don't like the modern "Starship Enterprise" binnacle that assumes there is one driver, he sits behind the wheel like in a car, and everyone else is a passenger who doesn't need to know what's going on.

Pete

 

[sailorman]

You're obviously better at multi-tasking than I am

If I have to concentrate on something inside the boat for any length of time, I generally start wandering off course.

I used to be better with a tiller, which was more instinctive.



Oh, I'm certainly not advocating putting the radar and plotter down below - that's a bloody stupid location, a hangover from before they invented waterproof electronics.

I just don't like the modern "Starship Enterprise" binnacle that assumes there is one driver, he sits behind the wheel like in a car, and everyone else is a passenger who doesn't need to know what's going on.

Pete

That is cost driven, its much cheaper to fit all the gear in the same place & gives the skipper with a 30 footer a wheel so he feels like one of the big boys

 

[Border Terrier]

As a helmsman on a Ben. 285 with tiller, I like my instruments on the centre line and
in a line of sight for my instruments.

In order of importance:
TackTick Racemaster compass on the mast. (eat your heart out).
Tacktick wind speed and direction on "custom bit of perspex" in wash board groove.
IPad speed and log on cabin hatch garage.
The original NASA depth display somewhere at the front of the cockpit.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I just don't like the modern "Starship Enterprise" binnacle that assumes there is one driver, he sits behind the wheel like in a car, and everyone else is a passenger who doesn't need to know what's going on.

How does that sort of layout work in bad weather or at night? It looks as if it would be rather exposed.