The future (Ipad w/ Navionics)

here is a great example of I-phone/I-pad use...

I had to stop in Rock Hall MD this week end but was a bit concerned about depth at the harbor entrance as I had seen reports of 6 to 7' shoaling at the breakwater and we draw 6 1/4

so i anchored off in deeper waters and took the tender to check the depths, using both a basic handheld GPS as well as my Iphone with InavX. I did a few passes thru the entrance to locate the deeper water (indeed close to the red side).

when i came in with the boat, I followed both to come in and it turned out that the Iphone was just as accurate to follow an existing path as the Garmin portable.

then over the week end we went out sailing on a 50 footer, again I use the Iphone app to make sure were were on teh right path and tghe accuracy in and out was impressive. More over, i found myself using my Iphone and InavX charts during the day rather than the fixed Ray plotter (an older, 5 year old model). the vector charts on the Ray were simply not as readable adn user friendly as the Raster charts on the iphone...

again, a smaller ray on a 50ish sailboat is not mega yacht stuff but the accuracy of teh "gadget" is pretty impressive and has its use

I do. Have them to cover the entire trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Costa Rica I'm currently on. (In Panama now.)

I still like to use and look at them to get the big picture.

I also use them to plot a trip because the overview AND attention to detail are there on a larger area then a chart plotter.

Also, the USCG only sees paper charts as a way to navigate and not electronic chartplotters, so on a US documented vessel if you don't have paper charts on the boat for the area you're in, they aren't going to cover it.

Are there any chart plotters that handle caution area's well? Most of the ones I've seen can't distinguish between an anchorage, underground cable area and oh say a LIVE FIRE RANGE!

I carry paper charts for the area's a I cruise. I usually just use them as confirmation of what I am seeing on the GPS. Does anybody practice using them though? Anybody still plot DR's? I had 2 GPS's fail on a cruise a couple of years ago. Had to go old school. Locate the next buoy on the chart. Determine heading, Convert heading (TVMDC). Calculate time and run till we locate next buoy. Visibility was very limited so it became very interesting.

I plot all of my courses from a paperchart and then pull the GPS numbers off of them and put them into my handheld. With a chartplotter, you can either see up close and a lot of detail (depths etc), or a large area with very few depth readings, or any other details. So if you're doing 200 mile legs, it's easier to look at the paper chart and follow a set of parralels. I then use the chartplotter as a guide as I am running. Now granted, I run A LOT of different yachts, so if I was fulltime on one of them I would probably put the waypoints into the onboard chartplotter, but it's easier to do it at uome and have it in my trusty handheld for that delivery and each subsequent delivery.

X2


I have a hand held garmin that feeds GPS data to my Dell notebook loaded with "Capt Voyager". Completely redundant, portable, and keeps my stored tracks as long as I want. Backs up my northstar 951, Furuno chartplotter, extensive paper charts, and if within internet signal extensive free online chart resources.

Sorry to sidetrack, but has anyone used the iPad (AT&T obviously) at a heavily populated event, such as the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show? How was the download speed?

Typically the cell phone service is very very bad at the FLIB because of all of the cell phone extenders that really screws up the cell phone towers and signals.

Hi,

I will second that and add that even the text operation is sometimes beset by sizable delays between sending and receiving.

FLIBS isn't the only one with this problem MYS has it bad and some of the summer hotspots also have a very hit and miss service.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I was thinking about taking YF with me - sorta speak - on an iPad to FLIBS. Kind of a 'live' presentation, but the download speed sounds painful.

Hi,

If you can get onto a wi fi connection at someones booth it will be a lot better than relying on the cellphone service.

If you are using a VOIP Service some carriers will stop you using it here in Europe so it might be the same there.

K1W1 -

Whereas I am in the midst of contractual specification development for a yacht conversion, I would appreciate your insights to my question from a previous quote regarding Class requirements for integrated/interfaced bridge electronics.

Please advise/clarify your comment on Oct 18th.

Thanks.

Hi Stan,

Given that we are currently going down the ECDIS Route I got the thought to ask how many who rely so heavily on IPADS and the such like free standing units with little or no reference or fallback on papercharts. I was happy to see that most still know what they are and what they are for. There are a number of units like AIS & VDR, that have to be used, a lot are interfaced especially in an Integrated Bridge.

Later add ons can be a pain.

Currently the little thing that seems to has reared it's ugly head is BNWAS.

There is a whole plethora of the dos and don't to be found here, it is a sure fire cure for insomnia.

http://www.sailing.org/downloads/sailors/SOLASV.pdf

What you need to deal with will depend a lot on what regulatory body you will deal with, what Flag State you use and who your Class/Flag surveyors onsite are, some seem to have a quite different understanding of the written word to others.

Interfaced Nav Electronics

Thanks, Chief, and this are the requirements we meet on all our builds whether for BV or ABS.

As you can see, there is NO regulatory or Class requirement for navigation electronics being interfaced or integrated.

I prefer each system stand alone so when the electronic gremlins start sending something south, only one sensor is effected and the cure more easily reconciled.

All the best!

I will add that I always have my iPad running Navionics when I'm cruising as another way to record my track and email it instantly after a trip so friends/family can open it up in Google Earth. Distance, max and average speeds are also indicated with the track info.
I know there are many ways to process and share this information, but I have found this among the simplest and most intuitive.

This reply from my iPad.

Ipad

When I was in Fla a few Months ago to pick up a boat I purchased, it had an old Ray marine chart plotter on it.
Since I was moving the boat to the Bahamas, I decided I needed a back-up to the 8 year old chart plotter that was installed. I quickly found out it would cost between $4-600 for a decent backup.

I already have an iPad that I used mostly as a book reader. I down loaded the $49 iNavx program and paid an extra $10 for all of the Bahamas maps.

I love it and don't care if the Ray Marine works or not. It does everything that a $3000 unit will do except connect to my auto pilot

I think the Gamins, Ray Marine's etc will go the way of manual typewriters.