How important is it to have a chart plotter at the wheel pedestal?

westhinder said:
.................................This boat came with the chart plotter under the sprayhood and I have become a huge fan of this arrangement. First of all, the cockpit is where your plotter is at its best, it affords you a permanent update that you can immediately relate to what you see around you. No more popping your head out of the companionway to check what you see on the chart. Secondly the location under the sprayhood gives you shelter, shades your screen and enables anyone else in the cockpit to keep an eye on navigation/pilotage, which is a boon for crew involvement. A plotter at the wheel does not have this advantage...............................
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I utterly totally agree. I wonder at these boats with huge plotter and 3 or 4 other instruments in a giant pod at the wheel. I go sailing to enjoy sailing, not stand and stare at loads of flickering screens. Come to mention it, why do so many people stand at the wheel, ok perhaps some can't see without standing but on most boats you don't need to.
Having said all that, on my current boat I couldn't figure out a way to mount the plotter under the sprayhood, so it's ended up at the wheel, but we have an old iPad under the sprayhood repeating the display so others can see it.
 
Is there anyone here with a plotter at the wheel who actually stands and stares at it? ???

I don't .... especially when sailing because I'm usually watching the water for gusts, the waves for big uns, constantly checking wind direction, and checking the sail shape and tell-tales (as well as looking out for other boats) ... and if I'm not at the helm, I'm usually fiddling with some part of the sail trim.

When not sailing, then the autopilot is on - and the plotter is an integral part of the way I use my autopilot - steering under power is boring so I'll be on deck somewhere with a cold beer, maybe even in a hammock slung between the mast and the forestay.

The only time I'm constantly referencing the plotter is during pilotage, close inshore and then I reference the plotter and depth sounder regularly while entering anchorages and just before dropping anchor. It's nice to have a sunlight readable, waterproof, hands-free chart under your nose - with no battery or power lead issues.

A plotter is just an instrument, like speed, depth, wind direction, or engine RPM ... it is referenced just like other instruments ... to be honest, I reference my speed more often than the plotter when sailing - because it's useful to see if the sail fiddling has had any effect.

Just because you have a plotter in front of you doesn't mean you have to stare at it - it's not like people enter video-game mode and drive a dot across a screen instead of looking at the world around them like they did before plotters were invented.

Paper charts in the cockpit get wet, damaged and blown away in my experience - plotters are an improvement IMHO - as long as you know how to use them properly (scaling and detail).

Each to his own, I do take umbridge at the assumtion that a plotter at the helm turns you into some sort of screen-zombie though - not the case at all.
 
Baggywrinkle said:
Is there anyone here with a plotter at the wheel who actually stands and stares at it? ???
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Yes. Actually quite a lot.
  1. During pilotage, close inshore. This is frequent in our coastal, island hopping sort of sailing.
  2. When trying to sail accurately in light or shifty winds. Our plotter, like most, has all the key sailing data numbers copied in around the edge of the screen. And the good old wind angle ST60 is in the pod alongside.
  3. When my neck is too stiff to look up at the windex.
The time I definitely do not stand at the wheel is when beating to windward in 10 to 15 knots windspeed , when it is MUCH more fun to sit down on the leeward seat and play the telltales.

Each to his/her own though.
Peter
 
Our Etap 32s has the Etap Vertical Steering system and like a boat with a tiller this means there is no pedestal. The helm stands behind or sits beside the EVS in the same way they do with a wheel.

Our solution is a plotter mounted on a VESA TV bracket which is itself mounted on the pushpit. This means the plotter can be angled for viewing from anywhere in the cockpit.

IMG_20190829_103224763.jpg
 
We don’t have a spray hood, but we do have an 18” long extension of the coach roof into the cockpit, known to the crew as “the verandah” as it comes complete with French windows; it’s a nice sheltered spot, and we have plenty of room on the starboard side of the cabin bulkhead, on the other side of which is ... the chart table.

I was sitting down at the wheel when I took this snapshot. This is, in Frank’s terms, an Oceanlord type cockpit not an Amel Maramu type cockpit!

0D3DB234-4881-4D31-B6C4-5CB68F625B50.jpeg

I love the view. I could make the pedestal rails longer, but the perfect view ahead and all round that Ray Wall designed into the boat fifty years ago would be lost unless you stood up.

What we don’t have is room between the wheel pedestal and the mainsheet traveller track - there is all of eight inches between them. A pod attached to the pedestal rails would have to be angled forward to allow the chart plotter to be viewed without the compass being in the way, and that would render it vulnerable to being whipped into the drink by the mainsheet... unless I am missing something?

As may be seen here, the plotter, if mounted on extended pedestal rails above the compass, would actually be the highest thing on deck apart from the spars and rigging!

eC97819FC-EBF1-4DEF-8A70-0E8C5BF987A7.jpeg

I think the decision takes itself and the sensible place for the plotter - or more precisely the multi function unit, as it does duty as a radar screen too is on the verandah, out of harm’s way?

One could put an autopilot control head next to it.
 
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No mention of where anyone keeps their passage plan... :devilish:
I've never had a Chart Plotter, feeling left out now ;)
Though single handed opencpn on the the tablet with the excellent ais overlay can be really useful once now and then. Or with Google sat images in addition to the charts on bays and up rivers, very useful option lacking on plotters.
 
GHA said:
No mention of where anyone keeps their passage plan... :devilish:
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laika said:
I do my plotting on paper at the chart table and scribble pilotage notes onto waterproof paper in my pocket.
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Admitted I said "pilotage notes" but it's actually the whole plan with "waypoints" expressed as bearings / distances off / depth contours etc.

So "on waterproof paper in my pocket"
 
Kukri said:
We don’t have a spray hood, but we do have an 18” long extension of the coach roof into the cockpit, known to the crew as “the verandah” as it comes complete with French windows; it’s a nice sheltered spot, and we have plenty of room on the starboard side of the cabin bulkhead, on the other side of which is ... the chart table.

I was sitting down at the wheel when I took this snapshot. This is, in Frank’s terms, an Oceanlord type cockpit not an Amel Maramu type cockpit!

View attachment 86665

I love the view. I could make the pedestal rails longer, but the perfect view ahead and all round that Ray Wall designed into the boat fifty years ago would be lost unless you stood up.

What we don’t have is room between the wheel pedestal and the mainsheet traveller track - there is all of eight inches between them. A pod attached to the pedestal rails would have to be angled forward to allow the chart plotter to be viewed without the compass being in the way, and that would render it vulnerable to being whipped into the drink by the mainsheet... unless I am missing something?

As may be seen here, the plotter, if mounted on extended pedestal rails above the compass, would actually be the highest thing on deck apart from the spars and rigging!

eView attachment 86726

I think the decision takes itself and the sensible place for the plotter - or more precisely the multi function unit, as it does duty as a radar screen too is on the verandah, out of harm’s way?

One could put an autopilot control head next to it.
Click to expand...

Nice,
 
LadyInBed said:
A CP by any other name is still a CP!
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I fought that for a couple of years after putting Navionics on my iPad for planning purposes as I was a long time chartplotter despiser. It was the loons at the time who were saying it was unsafe to cross the channel without one that put me off.
But after two seasons with the iPad I had to admit the paper charts just sat in the table under the iPad. So I had become a chartplotter user.
 
Touchscreen radar at Kukri's helm? ...hmm... how does that work in drizzle, mist and fog? .... how indeed does it work when you are wearing gloves?

I have a pair of these Shell gloves combined with these Polartec Liner s
which have some special fabric on the fingertips so they work with touch screens.. not sure how they work with damp touch screens
 
Frank Holden said:
Touchscreen radar at Kukri's helm? ...hmm... how does that work in drizzle, mist and fog? .... how indeed does it work when you are wearing gloves?

I have a pair of these Shell gloves combined with these Polartec Liner s
which have some special fabric on the fingertips so they work with touch screens.. not sure how they work with damp touch screens
Click to expand...

The model that I now have two of is the Raymarine ES127 which is what they call a « hybrid » - it can be used in touch screen mode or in twiddle the dial and press the button mode. Since the instructions are above my pay grade I have no idea of its full capabilities but it is wonderfully clever and can play radar or chart or both at the same time.
 
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