Help for a navigation laggard...

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haslemere_harry

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Hi all

I've been looking at options for a new boat recently (possibly the SO 379) and just as I'm just getting used to the idea of below looking nothing like a boat and with nowhere to store charts or pilot books, I'm hit with the words 'PC interface' and lots of glossy pictures of tiny chart tables sporting a Macbook Air or suchlike.

Luckily I've got the right MacBook (in fact a choice of Pro, Air or iPad), but does anyone know if Apple OSX will interface with a Simrad network and if so, what software would be required and ultimately what functionality it will deliver?

Any advice/views on this much appreciated.

Cheers

Mark
 
Twister_Ken

Twister_Ken

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Pulling on my g'ansy, my waders and lighting my upside down briar, I don't think I'd be happy setting off with all-electronic navigation, and no paper in case it all goes titzup. You can always plot on the saloon table; is there really nowhere to store charts? Under a mattress, rolled around in a piece of plumbing pipe, some sort of flat drawer under the deckhead? Shirley Jeanneau hasn't produced a totally non-paper boat.
 
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Ex-SolentBoy

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Nice to hear from someone that has an almost identical set of Apple goodies.

The answer to your question does require more knowledge of what sort of sailing you are going to do. I wrestled with this problem as well and came to the conclusion that for cruising the integration between dedicated instruments, sensors, plotters and to either PC's or Macs is not yet robust enough to rely on. I reached that decision a couple of years ago and I think it still stands today.

What has happened though, is that finally we are seeing some products come through that will wirelessly pass NMEA data to devices like iPad. That's the way to go.

Have a look at Panbo.com. It's a hot topic there and all the latest stuff is reviewed.

Meantime, I would go with an ipad with Navionics for planning and basic nav. You could also have a MacBook running some sort of nav software. Either way I would also have a simple plotter gps as a reserve.
 
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haslemere_harry

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Twister_Ken said:
Pulling on my g'ansy, my waders and lighting my upside down briar, I don't think I'd be happy setting off with all-electronic navigation, and no paper in case it all goes titzup. You can always plot on the saloon table; is there really nowhere to store charts? Under a mattress, rolled around in a piece of plumbing pipe, some sort of flat drawer under the deckhead? Shirley Jeanneau hasn't produced a totally non-paper boat.
Click to expand...

No, guilty of exaggeration I'm afraid. But imagine my surprise at these new fangled boats having electric lights, cookers and everything...

Mark
 
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haslemere_harry

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Will certainly have a look at Panbo, thanks for that.

What I'm really looking for is the mac/ipad to act as a repeater to the main (cockpit) plotter and hopefully be capable of controlling the Simrad Sonic Hub (but that's a whole new can of worms!).

Mark
 
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Ex-SolentBoy

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haslemere_harry said:
What I'm really looking for is the mac/ipad to act as a repeater to the main (cockpit) plotter and hopefully be capable of controlling the Simrad Sonic Hub (but that's a whole new can of worms!).

Mark
Click to expand...

The expression "dream on" springs to mind.:)

If you find it, please let us know.
 
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