Touch Operated Chartplotters - Operating When Wet

colin_dev

colin_dev

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Hi,

I am considering having either a B&G Vulcan or a B&G Zeus chartplotter installed. The advice from the dealer is to go with the Zeus; their rational being that the Vulcan is only touch operated, unlike the Zeus that has manual controls as well as touch. They suggest that the problem with touch only is that it can get difficult to operate when wet or with gloves on.

The Zeus is an additional £720 (RRP) but has more functionality, but this I will never use. I will choose one of these two 9inch plotters as the rest of the electronics are B&G and I want to avoid any incompatibility problems.

I only cruise in UK coastal waters and do not race.

So, does anyone have any experience of using touch chart plotters when they are wet and can give advice.

Regards

Colin
 
I don't have B&G but Raymarine with touch + knobs. My original model was occasionally difficult to operate with cold hands but there was a recall and the replacement functions well. I haven't tried it in extreme conditions but it was very cold and wet until late July this year and I don't think it ever didn't work, though I have Raynaulds and many touch screens fail with me.
 
I have a Simrad NSS, which is (physically) the same thing as the original Zeus. I don't really take it out in extreme conditions but have never struggled with the touchscreen. I seldom wear gloves so have no idea on that- I would imagine all touchscreens are difficult to operate with big offshore gloves on for instance.

The difference between the NSS (read Zeus) and the Vulcan (Read Go) when integrating with the rest of my system (like you I also have a seperate N2K system, Simrad rather than B&G but again the guts of it all is identical) was the lack of an 0183 port on the Vulcan, which meant it would not have easily integrated with my 0183 AIS. Check there is nothing you have, or would want to have in the future, using 0183 if you go for the Vulcan.
 
As well as the wet, buttons sometimes help when the boat is bouncing around in waves

No experience of the B&G types, but we use the physical buttons a lot on the Raymarine E90W plotter in the cockpit (which is hybrid button and touch), but more rarely in the one at the chart table.
How long do you plan to keep the boat and how far do you plan to travel? If it is a long term investment, I would suggest getting the one advised by the dealer with both
 
I put a new Raymarine plotter on helm console of my boat this year

I am an iPad afficianodo and love the navionics on iPad, but decided to get the plotter with control buttons as well as touchpad for exactly that reason

I find I ofter use the buttons/knob for preference as it is harder than you might expect to be precise with your fingering (!) when the boat is moving around.

Very glad I took this version of the plotter
 
They are getting better, but can still be a bit of a problem in very wet conditions. We're in the process of updating our electronics and have chosen a Raymarine hybrid for the starboard (primary) helm, but have fitted a touch-only on the port helm to save money. I don't think I would be very happy with pure touch as my only plotter.
 
maby said:
They are getting better, but can still be a bit of a problem in very wet conditions. We're in the process of updating our electronics and have chosen a Raymarine hybrid for the starboard (primary) helm, but have fitted a touch-only on the port helm to save money. I don't think I would be very happy with pure touch as my only plotter.
Click to expand...

I seldom have a problem with coordination, possibly because mine is at the chart table where I can rest my arm. I do tend to use the control for zooming, which feels more natural. I might be happy with a touch-only screen if it were one of those large ones I often admire.
 
johnalison said:
I seldom have a problem with coordination, possibly because mine is at the chart table where I can rest my arm. I do tend to use the control for zooming, which feels more natural. I might be happy with a touch-only screen if it were one of those large ones I often admire.
Click to expand...

I can understand that, but the context of the original question was rather different. A plotter at the chart table is a very different beast to one at the helm of an open cockpit sailing boat! Our cockpit is covered by a full size bimini which is rarely, if ever, folded away - hence I felt that I probably could risk a touch-only plotter - it is highly unlikely to ever get significantly wet. The new primary plotter is hybrid touch which means that the touch screen can be disabled in bad weather, falling back to the physical controls, so if we get caught out in really bad weather that is making the secondary plotter unusable, we can always switch to the other side of the cockpit.
 
I have a Zeus2 and have been using it in all weathers for 9 months now without a problem.

I only use the touch system - would not be without it.

Only one point to make against, it does not work with gloves on :cool:
 
colin_dev said:
The advice from the dealer is to go with the Zeus; their rational being that the Vulcan is only touch operated, unlike the Zeus that has manual controls as well as touch. They suggest that the problem with touch only is that it can get difficult to operate when wet or with gloves on.
Click to expand...

I'd take the dealer's advice. For my current boat, I specified a Garmin plotter with good old buttons - it works!
 
What do you plan to be doing with the chart plotter all the time?

I have one at the wheel. It gets switched on at the start of the day, glanced at periodically to see what SOG we are doing or to check if we are going to get to the pub on time, we have a special waypoint for that, then the data downloaded to the card and switched off.

There are some people that spend all day peering at the plotter, but I prefer to see the wonderful scenery.
 
My boat has a Simrad NSS12 and it's located below the cockpit table between the two wheels. Not particularly convenient as I generally have to sit on the sole to use it. My "iwife" has a pair of gloves with finger tips said to be designed for touch screen, utterly useless in my view. The good part of having a plotter inconveniently located is that I tend to use my eyes more than the instrument.
 
Sandy said:
What do you plan to be doing with the chart plotter all the time?

I have one at the wheel. It gets switched on at the start of the day, glanced at periodically to see what SOG we are doing or to check if we are going to get to the pub on time, we have a special waypoint for that, then the data downloaded to the card and switched off.

There are some people that spend all day peering at the plotter, but I prefer to see the wonderful scenery.
Click to expand...

That's fine in open water with good visibility. We sail the south coast where the water can be like the M25 and have been known to be out in the dark or fog - I want my plotter right in front of me showing the radar and AIS with all the collision avoidance functions active!
 
nigelmercier said:
If an interface was designed to be totally incompatible with a boat, it would be a touch screen. It's just about manageable on a phone or tablet in your lap, but a fixed screen is virtually impossible.
Click to expand...

For many of the functions, that is true, but for moving the display around, marking waypoints and bringing up objects such as vessels on AIS it is much quicker than fiddling with a joystick.
 
Thank you everyone for your excellent input. The consensus of opinion seems to favour the hybrid (touch + manual controls) model. I think I will take this advice.

Thanks again. Regards and best wishes to everyone. Colin
 
It depends on where you're planning fit it. I have a touch only Garmin 5008. Never missed buttons. But mine is fitted against the forward part of the cockpit so it's sheltered but the sprayhood to some extent. For when I'm on the helm alone (tiller steering) I also have a wireless remote so I can control the plotter from the remote in my pocket.
 
Taking up Snook's point on location: We too have the Simrad NSS. It is located on a swing arm so that we can use it in the cabin or at the helm, on a cat the helm is on the rear bulkhead of the cabin and we can swing through a hatch. On booting up internally gaining a position takes time, like 20 minutes, and can lose a position quite easily. It obviously depends on where satellites might be and possibly for Oz we are not so well endowed. Basically its unreliable here. Externally these problems simply disappear - so be careful where you install or have an external GPS.

Its not an issue for us as we can have the unit externally (with 100% reliable position data) and access the data internally on an iPad with Simrad's WiFi.

Jonathan
 
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