SeaPro by Euronav

[TwoHooter]

In the past there have been good comments about the SeaPro navigation program produced by Euronav and I am thinking of buying it.

My application would be on a motorboat with a mini PC running Windows. Inputs are from GPS, Depth, Fluxgate Compass and AIS, and output would have to drive a Furuno autopilot. I wouldn't be using SeaPro just to plan routes, it would in fact be the ship's chartplotter.

Does anyone have any up-to-date experience of Euronav as a company or SeaPro as a program, and if so which charts do you use?

(I'm also putting this on the motorboat forum)

 

[TwoHooter]

In the past there have been good comments on the PBO forum about the SeaPro navigation program produced by Euronav. I am thinking of buying it for our Nordhavn and wonder whether anyone has any recent experience of the company or the software.

My application would be on a mini PC running Windows. Inputs are from GPS, Depth, Fluxgate Compass and AIS, and output would have to drive a Furuno autopilot. I wouldn't be using SeaPro just to plan routes, it would in fact be the ship's chartplotter.

Does anyone have any up-to-date experience of Euronav as a company or SeaPro as a program, and if so which charts do you use?

(I'm also putting this on the PBO forum)

 

[jdc]

I have SeaPro lite+ and have used it quite a bit. I bought it some time ago, in 2012, as their system and charts work even in the arctic whereas Navionics charts with Raymarine plotters do not work above 75°, but have installed upgrades / revisions since.

Plus points:
- extremely good customer service; they respond almost at once and one can get a developer if needed
- good range of charts from their own store at quite reasonable prices, covering the whole world
- it also works with charts from other suppliers, e.g. Admiralty ARCS and Antares
- clear and easy to use
- integrates well with AIS devices
- integrates well with instruments such as Raymarine (using simple NMEA sentences: I bought a sea talk -> NMEA converter from YAPP of the parish)
- seems reliable: it doesn't crash unexpectedly.

Negative points
- it only works for PCs. Now I use a MAC I run SeaPro in Parallels with Windows 7 which works fine
- I HATE the silly dongle. It's just so old-fashioned a method for ensuring safe distribution of software. really quite 1990s! It's fragile as well, and always at the boat so I can't use the charts at home when planning. Grrrr
- Some of the features are a mite quirky, in particular the measure distance feature, and the boat icon looks very 1980s.
- Absurdly picky about the layers in .kap and .bsb charts. I managed in the end to get Antares charts imported, but had to re-make them all with imgkap making sure that layer 255 was never used - for which I had to edit the imgkap source code and recompile - and then wrote a bash script to make a .bsb file for each .kap file. Not everyone will be comfortable doing this.

Overall I use it less now I've bitten the bullet and bought an integrated plotter, but it works fine. I fear however that its days are numbered as the world moves on from Microsoft, yet Euronav are fixated on Microsoft platforms only.

I didn't try to control an autopilot with it as my autopilot is stand-alone so can't help there.

 

[oldgit]

One of the first laptop navigation software programmes.
Very pleased with the basic simple version we purchased ages ago which was essentially a cut down version of the professional software they were more usually known for.
Wide area Chart coverage for less than the cost of single local chart from Raymarine etc.
Now using the basic Seaclear which essentially does the same job.

 

[TwoHooter]

Your reply is extremely helpful. Thank you.

....for which I had to edit the imgkap source code and recompile - and then wrote a bash script to make a .bsb file for each .kap file. Not everyone will be comfortable doing this.

I'm not just uncomfortable, I'm completely bewildered!

I agree with what you say about the world moving on from Windows. I spoke to VMH recently and they said that at the moment they are selling 5 Android-related items for every Windows item. But I need our new ship's computer to do more than just be a chartplotter and I really hate Android the moment it's used outside the confines of an individual app (ghastly word).

 

[TwoHooter]

One of the first laptop navigation software programmes.
Very pleased with the basic simple version we purchased ages ago which was essentially a cut down version of the professional software they were more usually known for.
Wide area Chart coverage for less than the cost of single local chart from Raymarine etc.
Now using the basic Seaclear which essentially does the same job.

Thanks, that's very helpful. I looked at Seaclear and emailed Olle Soderholm (the developer and owner), he said it is no longer being actively developed although it is still being marketed. I need something which is still being developed.

 

[oldgit]

We had Seapro Lite which is minus most of the bells and whistles you need but were very pleased with the software we had.
We also ended up using dedicated plotter with the kings ransom charts.
The laptop was very hard to read in bright sunlight and if you were on the fly impossible to keep steady.
Seapro was relegated to back up unit and for when large area detail was needed for creeks and confined spaces.

 

[TwoHooter]

Why have the mods deleted my thread from the PBO forum and combined it with the thread here? This topic is relevant to subscribers on both forums - but a lot of PBO readers never come here, and vice versa. Anyone know how I can speak to a moderator about this?
Michael

 

[rafiki_]

Why have the mods deleted my thread from the PBO forum and combined it with the thread here? This topic is relevant to subscribers on both forums - but a lot of PBO readers never come here, and vice versa. Anyone know how I can speak to a moderator about this?
Michael

Michael, try a pm to Jack Haines. I don’t think he is a mod, but he is very helpful.