Extinction avoidance - going electronic

[Misterbreeze]

I'm a dinosaur, I don't deny it, and have always done my chartwork on paper so when my new (fairly old) boat came with some electronics I ignored them for a while. I gather they're fairly old themselves eg Garmin GPSmap555 plotter, GPS128 and an assortment of Silva instruments. I have no idea how old the plotter's charts are or how to update them never having felt the need. With a significant birthday looming for me Mrs M is keen to spend money on a boat she never sets foot on so maybe it's time for change. I guess the minimum (from reading all the posts on here, few of which I understand) is something like a tablet running Navionics although that seems to have fallen out of favour lately. I did use the free Navionics stuff on the web for planning a couple of years ago but I gather that facility's gone now. Whatever I decide, another consideration (and a subject for another thread on here later) is the limited battery storage so something not too power hungry. Solar and/or battery upgrade will have to wait for the winter lay up. Sailing area is SE UK coastal if that makes a difference, and unlikely to venture further although near foreign shores are always a possibility.

Help ease me into this century please.

 

[ylop]

Navionics are still by far the market leader in this sort of use. People have fallen out with them over a business model rather than the actual product. You could look at Orca as an alternative but the business model is similar (actually even worse if you want ais).

I doubt any chartplotter is going to stress your batteries particularly.

Decisions:

Do you want a tablet or a genuine plotter? If a tablet do you have an Android/Apple preference based on your phone?

Do you want vector (Navionics style zooming) or Raster (Scanned paper chart style)?

Do you want to plot CTS, 3point fixes etc like you do on paper or are you comfortable with a different approach?

 

[Tranona]

To get the hang of electronic charting Navionics on either a phone or tablet is hard to beat. Alternatively if you want a system to run off your boats batteries and be viewable from the helm then a dedicated plotter is the way to go. There isn't one right way and often people use a mix. Inevitably the more sophisticated the gear you choose the more features you get and the greater the cost.

 

[[70521]]

Thankfully, Imray are still publishing paper charts.

If you have a friendly chandler get them to contact Garmin and see what they can do with updating your charts - they were able to provide a UK chart update for my ancient GPSMAP 7XX. I don't like the Navionics user interface (the bit that you look at) and would not touch them with a barge pole.

Visit My Harbour do a nice wee Samsung Table that I got for Christmas last year that I find useful on deliveries.

 

[neil_s]

In a similar position to yourself about three years ago, I went to London Chartplotters and bought one of their tablets ( cheapest!) with Marine Navigator and raster charts. I still have it and am very happy with it. It has GPS built in, came with a cigar lighter charger, a mains charger and a clamp/ bracket to mount it. It also has a tough rubber case to protect it from bumps. It has an old version of Android, but gets the BBC weather, Chimet and a tide app so does everything I need. I still have the paper chart on the chart table though!

 

[Seamonk]

I started sailing back when gps was a useful addition to paper charts. Now I’d be hesitant to sail into crowded waters (or TSS channels) without a chartplotter, an AIS receiver, and advanced radar. It’s not just that technology has advanced: it’s a more crowded world with greater possibilities for collision. We no longer sail into the un-crowded waters of our youth. We need advanced tech to make basic sailing safe. We need more assistance:

Update your tech.

Sailing has always been about using the tools available to get safely to your destination. The complex electronics needed today reflect the complexities of our busy, crowded, world.

 

[ridgy]

Don't bin the 128, get a cheap NASA GPS repeater in the cockpit and its mostly all you need on passage. I have this plus Navionics on a tablet but the tablet screen doesn't work if wet so on a grim night it's good to have the basic information always on display.

 

[ylop]

Don't bin the 128, get a cheap NASA GPS repeater in the cockpit and its mostly all you need on passage. I have this plus Navionics on a tablet but the tablet screen doesn't work if wet so on a grim night it's good to have the basic information always on display.

I’m intrigued why having gps position displayed in the cockpit is particularly useful? I have the option to display the figures but don’t recall ever wanting them except at the chart table/radio?

But I do have a tablet screen which seems pretty resilient to rain/splashing (I had far more issues with a proper plotter on a sailing school boat). Sailing without your position displayed is probably a useful skill to practice, like picking up a mooring without the engine, but it makes sailing with fewer crew easier, sailing to unfamiliar waters easier and provides another screen where any information (like speed over ground) can be repeated rather than adding a specific box which whilst “cheap” would IMHO be money better spent on a more robust display.

 

[ridgy]

Speed, heading, distance to go, and cross track error...highly useful and keeps the crew informed.