Serious question. Can anyone recommend...

[Steve101]

I know there are quite a few people who don't like them, but can anyone recommend a GPS plotter with Radar overlay. Preferably one which has a repeater with bright colour screen. I presume they all come with depth sounders as standard, but if they don't can you point me in the direction of one that does.

I've tried Raymarine's site and I get the impression I need a navigation course to find what I need and Raytheon seem more taken with the idea of selling me a missile defence system than a navigation aid.

Thanks

Steve

 

[JeremyF]

Leave the toys off, Steve!

I'd leave the nav toys off for the first year. There will be enough to concentrate on in the first year figuring out the flappy white things, almanac's, charts etc,

Just get the basics in to start with - depth, log and a hand-held GPS. A wind instrument if you must. That way you can get some experience of putting into practise what you learn at DS practical and shore-based.

If you have a chart table and wheel binnacle kitted out like a 747, you wont be concentrating on the right things.

<font color=blue>Jeremy Flynn/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif
Dawn Chorus</font color=blue>

 

[Steve101]

Re: Leave the toys off, Steve!

I know, I know! I'm just trying to avoid nasty wires and things when I can have them fitted at Swanwick.

 

[JeremyF]

Re: Leave the toys off, Steve!

There was something on combined radar / plotters a couple of months back. I'll dig out the mag and let you know which edition.

For your plans, I would have thought that Raymarine are the only option. I think they are the only ones who have thought it all through, from a systems perspective, with repeaters etc.

Peter Gough says that Moody's themselves are very knowledgable and keenly priced for Raymarine.

But, I stick with my earlier comment. Get them to fit all this stuff next winter, not this.

<font color=blue>Jeremy Flynn/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif
Dawn Chorus</font color=blue>

 

[tcm]

Re: Furuno

I have the furuno setup that does this. However, having discovered how to make it work, I have not used it because I am a relative luddite and prefer the olde worlde radar on one screen, and the olde worlde chartplotter on another, because having gottem on one screamingly colourful, there are then too many controls to have to work out wot the eff is going on. I also prefer airconditioning in cars that are on swivelly dials, and don't wear a watch cos it's easier and more friendly to ask other people who have spent a ton of loot on their watch.

 

[jimi]

Steve, there probably is a serious point here, the plotter is probably best at the chart table so that waypoints etc course logging and plotting is done at the comfort of the table. The radar screen on the other hand should be at the helm as it will primarily be used for collision avoidance. Data from the GPS can be displayed on the Radar screen through the Seatalk interface (like COG,SOG, distance and direction to waypoint etc). So if it were me I would actually like them on two separate screens.


Tic Toc Tic Toc ??

Jim

 

[HaraldS]

Steve,

as you heard, you shouldn't have such a thing! But in case you can't resist, and there is still some cash left after you are through the long list of recommendations, aside from raymarine, do have a look at the Simrad units. The SunView screens are probably the best there are right now when it comes to viewing in sunlight. They don't do radar overlay though. But you get split screen and cursour coupling which I personally like better, as I prefer to run radar with course up, and charts with north up.

 

[tcm]

Re: ah but

the furuno stuff can play the telly/dvd on the radar screen. But for it to be decent you need a small speaker under the radar scrren and massive speakers to the sides, which thanks to SOMEBODY (not me) steve 101 has canned from his list so his boat will now be hopelessly badly equipped.

 

[jimi]

Re: ah but but but

I think that you can also get LCD impregnated sails so you really could get a real main display

Jim

 

[tcm]

Re: ah but but but

ooh you've though of an option unimagined by steve101. Quite a decent idea of course, to have a projector, but would expect better results by projecting on to somebody else's sails...

 

[Guest]

Re: ah but but but

or the side of a large power boat?

 

[pkb]

I have a Simrad CP40 chartplotter and GPS which is brilliant. The screen size at 10" is very user friendly and so too is the functionality. You can have it combined with a radar on a split screen but I don't know if they also integrate a depth sounder. I'd doubt it. They also do a larger version - the CP50 I think - which has something like a 12" screen. Their UK office is in Hampshire (tel 01329 245100). I have always found them very helpful whenever I've called. Their kit's not the cheapest in the world - the CP40 was around £3k a couple of years ago but you get what you pay for.

Peter

 

[nicho]

Steve - on my previous boat (a motor cruiser), I had separate Raymarine chartplotter and RL72 radar, side by side on the instrument panel. The plotter had a 10", 4 colour grey screen , and was very good. For my new (whisper it, Bavaria!) I have specified the Raymarine RL70C Plus colour combined radar/plotter, (the colour versions completely spoil you once seen alongside the b & w models). The screen is rather small at 7", and I would have rather had the larger 10" one, but with the latter at well over £4500, had to draw the line somewhere.
The Raymarine unit was recently tested alongside JRC and Furuna alternatives, and performance wise came out on top. The testers said the screens on all these 7" units were too small for their liking. The RL70 has the new High Bright screen, (which was on demo on the Raymarine boat at the Show). In the full on, very bright sunlight at the preview day (it was very hot!), the screen image was absolutley magnificent with no loss of readability whatsoever. The unit can select split screen (which does make the screen even smaller), full screen radar, full screen plotter, or overlay radar on top of the plotter on the full screen. It also has MARPA anti collision radar warning system, that can track up to 10 targets at a time, and warn of any impending collision risk (like a simplified version of TCAS found on modern aircraft,). The Raymarine unit also has 4 times the pixels of the others on this test, (which means better screen resolution, and better definition of charts objects such a buoys etc) .
Like all these things they do at first seem very daunting to operate, but spend some of time playing with them (in the marina), and you soon familiarise yourself with the processes. It becomes second nature even for electronic "thicko's" like me. Phone Raymarine for a brochure on 02392 693611. Oh, and in my view, get it right up front - you will not necessarily use it in anger when you start learning to sail your boat in local waters, but at least you can get up to speed with it's operation in time for more extended cruising later. I can never understand the resistance of some to these modern electronic aids - the most experienced mariners who operate the huge containerships etc that criss cross the world all use even higher tech. stuff than is available to leisure boaters. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me, I'll use everything I can to help protect me and my boat (and of course my family!)....... However, I'll temper that comment by saying you should always have the ability to do these things manually when the fuse goes, and all the electronics disappear down a little hole in the middle of the screen!
In my case, I'm having it fitted on the wheel binnacle, but that does as Jimi points out, make life more difficult when programming the thing in inclement weather, although I can preprogramme it before we leave under the (shock horror) full canopy we have also specified. Nevertheless I do like all the info. in front of me, without having to keep nipping "downstairs".

Good luck
Mike N

 

[HaraldS]

In fact it does integrate the sounder/fishfinder and the same unit that does all three is called a CA42 (10") or CA52 (12").
I have the 10" version with a repeater mounted under the dodger next to the companion way and it is well viewable from all over the cockpit.

I agree about the excellent support of Simrad UK:

Mine was bought in Sweden, but when I started our trip this year, up in Scotland, I found out in the last minute that it had problems reading the new C-map NT+ cartriges. (Was a surprice since my cheap spare plotter and PC USB reader had no problems).

I called the shipyard in Sweden (Najad) and asked if they could help me to get a software update e-mailed from Simrad. Assumed they had more leverage than I. They checked with Simrad and found out it wasn't done with a software update, but that I needed the card reader module replaced. Simrad Sweden called Simrad UK, I got a call from Simrad UK the same day, and the next day a guy was standing on the pontoon to pick up the two units for upgrading and the next morning I got them delivered back to the boat, well working and no charge!

Now that's service!

 

[nicho]

Re: Leave the toys off, Steve!

But Jeremy, next time you are on a 747, and the weather for landing is less than ideal, I imagine you will be quite happy the newly qualified and relatively inexperienced 1st officer flying the thing has all his electronic gear around him to keep you safe if the Capatin has become incapacitated (damned airline food again!)

 

[robmurray]

My understanding is that Raymarine are great. Another option is to use lap top or built in PC and get Seapro2000 software which is awesome. This is what I use with a Raymarineradar and Im very happy
Have fun chosing!

 

[robmurray]

My understanding is that Raymarine are great. Another option is to use lap top or built in PC and get Seapro2000 software which is awesome. This is what I use with a Raymarineradar and Im very happy
Have fun choosing!

 

[Joe_Cole]

Steve,

You're going for everything else, so why not get the missile defence system as well?

Regards

Joe

 

[Jeremy_W]

Re: Leave the toys off, Steve!

But that first officer has fully learnt the basics of seat of the pants flying to get their single-engine PPL before moving on to Instrument Flying, twin props and all the rest. The basics are in place.

I have a full manual licence but prefer to drive an automatic. Put me back in a manual car and I'd probably make a Horlicks of the first couple of hill starts, be in too high or low a gear a few times but then my experience would click back in and I'd be fine. Put someone with an automatic licence in a manual car and they're back to L-plates.

Obviously Steve isn't going to put Ange and the kids at risk by having less than the best electronic aids on hand. But if he doesn't practise navigation with just the basics [speedo, log, compass (fluxgate repeater at the chart table) and depth] he'll quickly lose the theory which he's spent his evening classes learning. When something goes wrong with the electronics (sod's law rules OK) he'll be trapped and de-skilled.

 

[JeremyF]

Re: Leave the toys off, Steve!

My point exactly, but much better expressed.

I learnt to fly a glider 20 years ago, and that had virtually no instrumentation. That way you could concentrate on learning about flying, rather than instruments.

Steve's vertical learning curve will become a stall if he tries and do an instrument landing on his first solo. He'll go aground while trying to get the hokie-kokie radar/autopilot combo to interface with the microwave

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