NASA intruments

[Graham376]

I went down the road of redundancy ...............Is this being overly cautious and paranoid or am I missing something and the new tec is pretty robust.

I too believe in redundancy. Over the years I've had senders and instruments fail individually but the rest have continued working at the time. I would never fit the type of integrated system which could fail totally if the one multi-function display or cabling to it developed a fault. Have done many thousands of miles cruising with stand-alone instruments, radar, plotter, etc and never regretted the decision.

 

[PaulRainbow]

This is a funny one , I have just replaced all old Nasa with new ones , Depth, Log, Wind and connected to OCPN (gps) but there is 5 instruments and I have a type 2 Raymarine Auto pilot type 2 linear , which is N2K ,
Now as a relative newbie to all this I went down the road of redundancy , i,e if the Depth went it was only the Depth sensor , were as if it is all integrated into say 2 instruments with multiply functions , you lose more if that one went down .
Is this being overly cautious and paranoid or am I missing something and the new tec is pretty robust.
I use a tablet on the helm from main computer at nav station

I'm all for backups, but there are obviously limits. I don't have two masthead wind sensors and i don't have two depth transucers, for instance. All of my sensors are N2K, as are the displays, if a sensor fails, that's all i lose. All displays can show any data that is on the network, so if a display fails i can still view that data somewhere. In normal use i have data on the plotter and two Garmin GMi 10s, but if a GMi 10 fails i can see whatever it was showing on either the other GMi 10 or the plotter. If the plotter fails i have a laptop, tablet and phone that can all be used for navigation.

Your autopilot is not going to be N2K, exactly. If it's a recent one it will more likely be Seatalk NG, which is N2K with different connectors and cables. You could install a NMEA to STNG converter and connect it to the computer, this would allow you to have the autopilot steer to a waypoint or follow a route. If the NASA wind is connected to the computer too, it might even steer to wind.

 

[FlyingGoose]

ty for the feedback

 

[Daydream believer]

Am I the only one with NASA instruments that became impossible to read due to water on the inside of the glass (plastic)?
The compass is great for people who want to sail in circles
The weatherman is fantastic for people who could not give a fig about what the weather is going to be like.
I do like a wind unit, but gave up on the NASA one when the cups wore out on the silly little spindle of the second masthead unit. I rely on it a lot at night running down wind in big seas.Plus, I like it to save getting a crick in my neck looking at the windex. Bits of wool hanging off the shrouds are a rubbish way of determining accurate wind direction.Useless on a reach & run. I also match wind direction to the compass for regular tacking, so accurate wind direction does matter to me. The peak of ones hat is not a reliable indicator of wind speed, in spite of what the bar pundits might like to think.

 

[pvb]

Am I the only one with NASA instruments that became impossible to read due to water on the inside of the glass (plastic)?
The compass is great for people who want to sail in circles
The weatherman is fantastic for people who could not give a fig about what the weather is going to be like.
I do like a wind unit, but gave up on the NASA one when the cups wore out on the silly little spindle of the second masthead unit. I rely on it a lot at night running down wind in big seas.Plus, I like it to save getting a crick in my neck looking at the windex. Bits of wool hanging off the shrouds are a rubbish way of determining accurate wind direction.Useless on a reach & run. I also match wind direction to the compass for regular tacking, so accurate wind direction does matter to me. The peak of ones hat is not a reliable indicator of wind speed, in spite of what the bar pundits might like to think.

But you forgot to mention how nice the Nasa people apparently are when they're asked to mend the stuff which breaks.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've had both Raymarine and NASA wind instruments. The Raymarine one I had to replace the MHU, the NASA I didn't.

 

[Daydream believer]

But you forgot to mention how nice the Nasa people apparently are when they're asked to mend the stuff which breaks.

Yes they really are:encouragement:. But like many manufacturers, they shut their ears & deny their is a problem & that mine is the rare one ( Raymarine & Airmar must swop staff regularly with them to get the patter correct). Charge £ 25-00 + p&p for repair, which does not work. Yet I am sure many others get misting.
A friend of mine chucked his NASA stuff because of it.
As for the wind instruments they are very polite when they sell you a new wind vane for £ 106-00 & say that it is unusual. But our sailing club replaces theirs at regular intervals.
So if you want cheap stuff, that works OK for a couple of years, then it is good. If it lasts longer, then great. At least it is cheaper than the competitors & not everyone needs the added extras that the likes of Raymarine include (but I like now I have).
As for impellers weeding up-- One can spend £22-00 on a bottle of impeller antifouling paint, which helps. But it happens with all of them & really it is only a quick job to take out, clean with a tooth brush (I advise washing brush before cleaning teeth) & replacing. A disposable nappy around the hole soaks up most of the water so that is not an issue for most, unless you are a slow thinker.

 

[MS_Adventure]

Thanks all for all this great info and opinion! Plenty of food for thought. Will post the final outcome...

 

[LittleSister]

Am I the only one with NASA instruments that became impossible to read due to water on the inside of the glass (plastic)?

You can get a replacement display screen from NASA for a modest sum (IIRC about £15 + VAT & postage for a Clipper Duet screen, but it was several years ago). It's very easy to fit to your existing instrument (I've done this before on an old instrument that had lost digit segments). Alternatively, you can send the instrument head off to NASA and they'll fit a new screen for you for not much more money.

 

[Daydream believer]

You can get a replacement display screen from NASA for a modest sum (IIRC about £15 + VAT & postage for a Clipper Duet screen, but it was several years ago). It's very easy to fit to your existing instrument (I've done this before on an old instrument that had lost digit segments). Alternatively, you can send the instrument head off to NASA and they'll fit a new screen for you for not much more money.

Done that, been there, had the "t" shirt, did no good, wasted my money