lindsay
Well-Known Member
Has anyone tried the above? Its half the price of Tacktick since they ie raytheon, have apparently stopped production of their "entry level" version.....dont you just lurv that patronising expression?
nasa clipper wireless wind system
- Thread starter lindsay
- Start date
pcatterall
Well-Known Member
Very surprised no one has responded as NASA gear generally prompts debate!
Don't know about their wireless version but all my NASA gear including the wired Clipper has been great!!
( that should get em going!!)
Don't know about their wireless version but all my NASA gear including the wired Clipper has been great!!
( that should get em going!!)
pvb
Well-Known Member
Lots of people say that Nasa's repair service is good, although it doesn't apparently include doing the trips to the top of the mast!
oldhunter
Active Member
I fitted one at the start of the season it worked fine then, it no longer reads the correct wind speed and the wind direction seems to be slightly slow in responding now.
You get very little information with the instrument.
I shall have a look at it when the mast comes down shortly
You get very little information with the instrument.
I shall have a look at it when the mast comes down shortly
lindsay
Well-Known Member
Actually I did not say that I want to mount it aft on a pole, not on top of the mast, this for half a dozen good reasons that I will spare you. Nasa said it would work "if there was clear air" . I would be willing to take the risk with nasa since it is half the price of tacktick
I can of course always go back to telltales, which everyone used up till a mere 50 years ago, right? I sense that my current masthead Stowe is about to give up the ghost
I can of course always go back to telltales, which everyone used up till a mere 50 years ago, right? I sense that my current masthead Stowe is about to give up the ghost
Seajet
...
I learned with telltales, briefly tried NASA Clipper wind, very soon back to telltales and a windex and a lot happier, not to mention better informed !
Good enough PCatterall ?
Good enough PCatterall ?
Tintin
Well-Known Member
Nasa stuff is the devils spawn.
At least to those that shelled out loads more on gucci brands that aren't British.
Every bit of Nasa kit I have bought and fitted has lasted just as well as the Raymarine and Garmin stuff at a fraction of the price.
Nice to see a British company doing it well, but there are detractors in these waters.
At least to those that shelled out loads more on gucci brands that aren't British.
Every bit of Nasa kit I have bought and fitted has lasted just as well as the Raymarine and Garmin stuff at a fraction of the price.
Nice to see a British company doing it well, but there are detractors in these waters.
pvb
Well-Known Member
Which Raymarine and Garmin stuff have you bought? And how long did it last?
pcatterall
Well-Known Member
Using my NASA Clipper now for 5 years works well especially down in my wheelhouse but confess to having bits of wool about also.I learned with telltales, briefly tried NASA Clipper wind, very soon back to telltales and a windex and a lot happier, not to mention better informed !
Good enough PCatterall ?
lw395
Well-Known Member
The Nasa wind systems only seem to tell you roughly where the wind is coming from.
To use it to sail by, you need wind direction in 1 degree increments or better, not 10 degree lumps or whatever the nasa system offers.
Depends what you want from it of course.
And what your budget is.
Just having wind speed can be useful.
I had nasa clipper depth, log and gps repeater on one boat and I was very happy with those.
And an early 'AIS radar' on another boat, which was great, but could have been improved, probably has been by now.
To use it to sail by, you need wind direction in 1 degree increments or better, not 10 degree lumps or whatever the nasa system offers.
Depends what you want from it of course.
And what your budget is.
Just having wind speed can be useful.
I had nasa clipper depth, log and gps repeater on one boat and I was very happy with those.
And an early 'AIS radar' on another boat, which was great, but could have been improved, probably has been by now.
Seajet
...
The prime reason I ever tried NASA stuff is that it's ostensibly British ( don't know where it's actually made though ) - I'd like nothing better than to be able to rave about it, but the fact is I have had 2 Clipper Wind sets and both packed up quickly.
The first, years ago, failed at 11 months and they wouldn't honour the guarantee !
I understand they are a lot better in this respect nowadays.
The second unit failed after 14 months and their people swore it was the display or the masthead unit depending who I spoke to.
I had a Navtex which never worked, took it straight back and the chandlery seemed to be expecting to see it and me again !
Everyone I know with a Duet log / depth has the log part U/S.
One good thing, their depthsounders work well, my Clipper Depth has been fine for years.
Then there is a school of thought - presumably among people like me who have seen the pitiful needle spindle on the wind masthead units - that
' NASA kit is fine as long as no moving parts are involved '.
Amulet
Well-Known Member
I have had a full house of NASA Clipper instruments for about 12 years. It includes all the instruments critically mentioned above. They have all worked well. I have replaced the masthead unit once and the log paddle wheel twice. I damaged the Duet instrument (plug corroded into socket) long after it was out of guarantee and they repaired it free of charge. I did have a problem with the AIS "Radar" (which is a primitive instrument that I wouldn't recommend). They sent me replacement part by return post (under guarantee). I now have the NASA AIS Engine - which works perfectly. I do regard them as cheap-and-cheerful, but on the other hand. I have a mate who kitted his boat out with the best from Brookes and Gatehouse only to have endless problems - his constant refrain is "Fer Gawd's sake, the NASA instruments on the boat I sold 15 years ago are still going strong!"
Seajet
...
Amulet,
beware; you and your boat my be taken and vacuum sealed in a glass case, alongside the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, The Roswell UFO and the Perpetual Motion machine !
I don't doubt what you say is true, BUT I have taken the wind masthead units apart and as a bit of an engineer I cannot imagine one lasting anything like that long, with the nasty needle spindle instead of even a token bearing.
With my Clipper Wind units - the one which managed just beyond guarantee 12 months - I always tied the anemometer immobile and covered the whole masthead unit in several layers of ( drained ) bags to fend off U/V, on the lowered mast.
This doesn't prevent U/V in the summer season, which as many others have remarked seems never to have occurred as a possibility to NASA, neither did the cups rotating in wind.
What steps did you take to achieve this remarkable longevity please ?
beware; you and your boat my be taken and vacuum sealed in a glass case, alongside the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, The Roswell UFO and the Perpetual Motion machine !
I don't doubt what you say is true, BUT I have taken the wind masthead units apart and as a bit of an engineer I cannot imagine one lasting anything like that long, with the nasty needle spindle instead of even a token bearing.
With my Clipper Wind units - the one which managed just beyond guarantee 12 months - I always tied the anemometer immobile and covered the whole masthead unit in several layers of ( drained ) bags to fend off U/V, on the lowered mast.
This doesn't prevent U/V in the summer season, which as many others have remarked seems never to have occurred as a possibility to NASA, neither did the cups rotating in wind.
What steps did you take to achieve this remarkable longevity please ?
Amulet
Well-Known Member
My boat has always been in a relatively sheltered berth, and the mast has always been under cover in the winter. Apologies to all. Now that Seajet reminds me, I have replaced the cups once as well. I did this in the winter when I had the mast down anyway and they looked a bit flakey. The first masthead unit lasted about 8 years. The spindle did fail, and it was getting a bit beaten up from mast raising and lowering injuries. The second is now on its 4th year. I too have taken these things to bits to their smallest parts. The first unit was not unpluggable at the top end. I put a screw into the cable (which was inside the mast) and stopped it working. I dismantled the unit and soldered a new cable on and put it together again. It lasted many years beyond that repair. NASA were happy to explain to me how to do the repair.
The NASA log paddle wheel did get endlessly clogged up with growth in East Anglia. This season in Scotland it has done much better, but it still needed cleaning a couple of times. It doesn't read very accurately - under-reads at low speed and over-reads at high speed. I have tended to assume that the turbulence of a clinker hull would make the task hard for any instrument, but maybe if I went more upmarket I'd get better results.
I am about to find out whether the external parts stand up to the West Highland weather as well as the East Anglian.
I guess I'm just lucky.
The NASA log paddle wheel did get endlessly clogged up with growth in East Anglia. This season in Scotland it has done much better, but it still needed cleaning a couple of times. It doesn't read very accurately - under-reads at low speed and over-reads at high speed. I have tended to assume that the turbulence of a clinker hull would make the task hard for any instrument, but maybe if I went more upmarket I'd get better results.
I am about to find out whether the external parts stand up to the West Highland weather as well as the East Anglian.
I guess I'm just lucky.
Seajet
...
Amulet,
sounds fair enough, you have been lucky; any chance you could PM me re lottery numbers please ?!
Re in-hull logs I wouldn't bear that against NASA alone, except it's nasty having a twin unit like Duet where one bit is virtually guaranteed to pack up.
I had a fin keeler with a 1980's Smiths paddlewheel log, and had to remove the transducer ( afloat, heart in mouth I didn't cross thread the blanking cap ) almost every weekend and several times on holiday cruises, to clear weed or wee beasties.
I never got any readings I would have trusted for navigation in fog; my A22 has no skin fittings, I rely on a trail log for medium / long distances like Poole Bay or the Channel and GPS SOG suits me fine the rest of the time.
Even the trail log needs a wary eye on the readout so when it drops low the one on watch ( who can tell by the vibration ) has to jerk the line to clear weed soon before the distance measured becomes innacurate.
I applaud NASA's being on the market but wish to god they did more real life testing before unleashing their products.
sounds fair enough, you have been lucky; any chance you could PM me re lottery numbers please ?!
Re in-hull logs I wouldn't bear that against NASA alone, except it's nasty having a twin unit like Duet where one bit is virtually guaranteed to pack up.
I had a fin keeler with a 1980's Smiths paddlewheel log, and had to remove the transducer ( afloat, heart in mouth I didn't cross thread the blanking cap ) almost every weekend and several times on holiday cruises, to clear weed or wee beasties.
I never got any readings I would have trusted for navigation in fog; my A22 has no skin fittings, I rely on a trail log for medium / long distances like Poole Bay or the Channel and GPS SOG suits me fine the rest of the time.
Even the trail log needs a wary eye on the readout so when it drops low the one on watch ( who can tell by the vibration ) has to jerk the line to clear weed soon before the distance measured becomes innacurate.
I applaud NASA's being on the market but wish to god they did more real life testing before unleashing their products.
pvb
Well-Known Member
Antifouling the paddle wheel and its housing a couple of times a year is a successful solution.
PotatoNavigator
Well-Known Member
If it's anything like their log it'll be a bit crap. I think mine has worked for a grand total of about 3 hours over the last two years.
Seajet
...
Oh, no, I didn't think of that, having had boats all my life...
Even if the antifouling stays put and doesn't foul the potentially rubbing interference tip surface just the weight and inertia of the paint would be serious for calibration if it was a serious aid to navigation; which a paddlewheel log isn't.
Doesn't help with fouling either, other useless tips are vaseline etc.
pvb
Well-Known Member
Oh, no, I didn't think of that, having had boats all my life...
Even if the antifouling stays put and doesn't foul the potentially rubbing interference tip surface just the weight and inertia of the paint would be serious for calibration if it was a serious aid to navigation; which a paddlewheel log isn't.
Doesn't help with fouling either, other useless tips are vaseline etc.
Your derisory dismissal of antifouling the log transducer seems to suggest you've never done it! There's no interference fit in a transducer, and the paint makes no difference to calibration. I and lots of other forum members use antifoul on transducers with great results.
SteveSarabande
Well-Known Member
My clipper log and depth work fine. I cant remember the last time the log was cleaned.
Maybe some people are just unlucky.
How does the masthead end of the wind instrument get power?
Maybe some people are just unlucky.
How does the masthead end of the wind instrument get power?
