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[vitalspark1]

Hi again
Thanks Helixkimara for the reply I thought that might be the case.
Now Vital Spark raced/sailed the west of scotland before my owenership and is not set up for long sea voyages ie no chart plotter/selfsteering so my next few question are
1)should i consider chartplotter/selfsteer
2) In this day and age would I be considered mad to even think of trying the challenge with just charts, gps and jury rig my tiller for selfsteering
(yes I know in the middle of reading Gipsy Moth/Francis Chichester )
thanks again
alex

 

[helixkimara]

Hi again
Thanks Helixkimara for the reply I thought that might be the case.
Now Vital Spark raced/sailed the west of scotland before my owenership and is not set up for long sea voyages ie no chart plotter/selfsteering so my next few question are
1)should i consider chartplotter/selfsteer
2) In this day and age would I be considered mad to even think of trying the challenge with just charts, gps and jury rig my tiller for selfsteering
(yes I know in the middle of reading Gipsy Moth/Francis Chichester )
thanks again
alex

Hi, in my opinion
1) Chart plotter is not essential, but at least have a handheld gps and charts unless you are an absolute purist and can proficiently use sextant and charts, even then take a gps or two. But without a doubt a working self steering system (preferably wind operated) is essential.
2) Yes. I would think you were a bulb short of an anchor light.
regards
2)

 

[Pye_End]

Simple GPS's use far less power than chartplotters. If you use a gps/chartplotter to feed a DSC and AIS etc., then you may want to leave them on all the time, so power becomes significant. Small GPS could easily be 0.1A, but chartplotter easily over 1A.

Chartplotter is essentially going to show blue sea for almost all the trip so cannot see much value in it. Comes into it's own though if you need to make lanfall somewhere other than your intended destination, depending on how many charts you carry.

 

[BlackPig]

I used the car satnav. it boots up quicker than the chart plotter and uses less power. If you want to have to use chart plotter for the DSC then turn the brightness down all the way and save power there.