gps

[Guest]

Ihave a small sailing boat, which needs a hand on the tiller almost all the time.I would like to a Gps but would like one that could be used very easy,perhaps one hand
I mainly sail alone and its in uk waters

 

[Guest]

Just get any handheld, together with a mounting kit, so you can park it somewhere within easy viewing. Doesnt need much fiddling with, once you have set up your route.

 

[rogerroger]

Re: gps - get a fixed unit

Nahhhhh.....Don't bother with a hand held job - if you're on the tiller the last thing you're going to want is annoying little buttons and a small display. They also go through the batteries like you wouldn't believe and you'll only lose it, drop it over the side or embarrass yourself trying to phone a cab on it in the pub.

Fixed units are now so cheap - a Garmin 128/126 only about £180 and easy to fit - more reliable due to a proper antenna and easier to program / read etc.

The units can be mounted in the cockpit.



Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[tonyleigh]

Re: gps - get a fixed unit

Release yourself from the tiller with an autohelm - dramatic advantages for single handers in smaller boats where moving around so readily upsets trim with a tied tiller. Small handheld good solution in small boat but plug in to ship's battery. It can then be moved around or fitted just inside the hatch where you can view it,kept steadily to course by the autohelm. Test in your instance but integral antennae can often read through cabin roofs very successfully.

 

[byron]

Listen to Roger's advice... he's right.

ô¿ô
www.education-jobs.co.uk
www.alexander-advertising.co.uk

 

[claymore]

Oh well if your goiing to do that

Buy a chart plotter and link it to the autohelm then you don't really need to do the sailing bit -- just send the boat off and drive round to meet it.
Rogers advice is best.

 

[Twister_Ken]

I'd go with the h/held recommendation. Good ones are waterproof so they can be bungied into a corner of the cockpit. If you've got electrics aboard you can power it via cigar lighter socket and lead, if not run it off of Duracells. Although everyone screams about the appetite GPS has for batteries (24 to 36 hours from a fresh set) in reality you don't need to have the set on very often - an occassional check once an hour uses less than 5 minutes worth of juice.

And you can take it home, or to the pub or club to put in waypoints, or programme tomorrow's route. Or take it ashore in the tender so you can find your way back to the mothership on a dark and dirty night.

 

[colin_jones]

A problem with the switch-on-switch-off practice is that handheld gps units consume about 3 times as much power to acquire satellites as they do to hold them. It could be a false power economy to do this, but the length of time between 'acquisitions' and the speed of boat ( distance travelled) would also have an effect. This is not to condement he practice, but to inject a note of caution.

 

[tonyleigh]

Re: Oh well if your goiing to do that

I was responding to the original post not wasting time on further circular arguments about electronic aids.
The issue seems to be a small boat ie one where any movement by the single-handed crew upsets trim, and a desire to operate a gps. I suggest the solution is more about solving the first than selecting fixed/handheld. Frankly I use the autohelm almost constantly when passage making. My usual cross Channels are 16 - 20hrs depending on route when I prefer to use the time on chartwork, cooking pleasant food, reading, carrying out maintenance on the boat, cat-napping (do you want to make a disparaging comment on that?), going to the heads etc etc etc. Applies also to coastal passages. I love helming when the conditions are stimulating/challenging and choose to take-over from the autohelm when that suits me.
In a small boat issues such as damp and security often make a hand-held, with perhaps a choice of mounting locations, plugged into the ship's battery, a more flexible and satisfactory solution. In fact the main reason I fitted a fixed gps following the end of DECCA was that advancing senility meant a larger display was desirable.
There has been more "c**p" written about electronic aids than perhaps anything else in this forum. Let each of us design our sailing for our own particular situations and own pleasure. Indeed, my suggestion to the original poster would be think seriously about an autohelm before a gps if you intend to do much single-handed cruising in a small boat.

 

[charles_reed]

Desirability of autopilot

I'd agree that an autopilot is a far more desirable adjunct to short-handing a small boat than a GPS - and I'd rate a radar ahead of GPS in my estimation as well.

I well remember, when first I got a Decca, having to constantly correct it using my EP on coastal work - but then Decca was frankly very inaccurate.

I'd go for a fixed Garmin 128 rather than a handheld - I've got both and only use the handheld to find the beached dinghy in the dark or when caught out by fog walking.
It takes far too long to acquire waypoints and react to course/speed changes and gobbles batteries.

 

[Capt_Scarlet]

I use a hand-held GPS (Garmin 12), in a mounting clamp below decks with a power lead to the ships battery. Always very impressed with info available, but never really got to see it, as always on deck steering or whatever. Solution - a GPS repeater - mounted in the cockpit - the one I bought was a Clipper, around £95, gives you several pages of info, in big letters, with one page showing ground speed, magnetic course, bearing and distance to next waypoint. So without leaving the helm you can see how fast you are actually travelling, and how far/how long it is likely to take to get to your next waypoint - particulary useful if sailing into the evening and wishing to get to the pub.

I have never noticed the gps losing position because it is mounted below decks, although I did mount it high up, next to a window.

 

[oldharry]

Re: navigation with both hands on the tiller....

Singlehanding in a small boat over any distance without some means of holding the boat on course, like an autohelm, means that nav becomes very basic indeed. The need therefore is for something that will quietly get on with position plotting and updates, CTS etc without attention - which of course is precisely what GPS does. I use a Garmin 12, which I find I can work largely with one hand once it is set up for the trip I want to do, and which drops conveniently into a (home made) cockpit holder where I can see it and keep an eye on things on passage.

In all but the quietest conditions, going below to sort and check a fixed GPS, particularly if the weather's detriorating and you are making a difficult entrance, or a change of plan is called for is just as much out of the question as any detailed pos fixing or chartwork, even if you have room to heave to safely. You cant get to things below, at the time when you are most likely to need to.

That is of course unless you have an autohelm to keep the boat going in the meantime.....

Mine works off the boat batteries, and has proved invaluable (except when I got too close to an American warship, when their radar or whatever knocked it completely for six, and it had to be re-initialised - at half a mile range...). If not using the boats supply, a spare set of batteries is mandatory at all times, and is quite expensive to run. I get about a day at sea per set out of mine.

 

[LadyInBed]

Re: Desirability of autopilot

Yes, its a crew that does'nt answer back and it steers a better course than I can.
As price is always a consideration, I would have a GPS as the second bit of electricery.

 

[VMALLOWS]

Re: Desirability of autopilot

Charles, couldn't agree more on the autohelm. I dread the thought of it giving up on a single handed channel crossing. I carry 2 complete old-style 2000's and can fix them on board .

The Garmin 128 is great......but why didn't they include an alarm clockl ????...the DECCA had one and often saved the tide when I left my watch at home.

 

[robp]

Re: Desirability of autopilot

Like these posts above, the first thing I would think of is an Autopilot to release you for other important things. If budget is tight, you can then use paper charts and pencil, which is what you can always fall back on if needs be.

 

[Miker]

Re: Desirability of autopilot

I'd go for a GPS first, mounted in the cockpit and, as suggested, with a cable to a cigar lighter. I started with a fixed GPS in the cabin and then wired it to an autopilot. It steers a better course to a waymark than I or my crew can. Normally I would rather sail the boat myself although the autopilot is great coming back on the engine if there is no wind. We can then put our feet up and sink a beer. However, I would not care to sail single handed without an autopilot to give "another pair of hands" when needed.

I now have "belt and braces" in that I later bought a hand held GPS and sited it in the cockpit so that I can see it at all times. I do find the larger GPS in the cabin easier to read, though, especially at dusk or when the sun is on the hand held.

 

[claymore]

Re: Oh well if your goiing to do that

The original post was about a gps - you changed things to bring in the suggestion of an autopilot.
The guy is bothered about position fixing not helming.

 

[oldharry]

Re: Oh well if your goiing to do that

Exactly, Claymore - and the point is that on a small boat, position fixing is virtually impossible without an autohelm, unless you have a GPS that can be reached without letting go the tiller. Even thats not much help if you have reached the 2 hands on white knuckle stage.....


If budget demands a choice between the two, I would say GPS definitely comes first. The boat can be made to look after itself safely for the most part, but you really do need to know where you are, even if you are just day-sailing.

But the smaller hand held GPS's are so cheap now that there really is no reason not to carry one as part of the boats basic safety gear like life jackets, fire extinguishers etc. At around twice the price of a flare pack it will be in use on most trips - hopefully unlike the flares!