what is the best navigation system to install on a 16ft dinghy?

[rockDAWG]

Originally Posted by celtic sea dog

Finally, someone worth replying to.
Thankyou for the advice. Its a dilema that is troubling me regarding power consumption. Yes I will be planning on being far offshore for extended periods so will not be "hugging the shoreline", as someone suggested.
Provided I am not at sea for too long , a handheld tablet in a drybag with enough batteries to see me through might just do the trick!

May be you should rethink and buy a bigger boat; i am sure that you don't want to hear that. The monkey on the dinghy with no cover won't last very long, I am sure the dinghy will be fine.

[celtic sea dog]

Thanks ketwell .
The solar idea is great and along the lines I was thinking of.
With a tablet I would be able to use 'navionics' and charted areas are surprisingly cheap. I will be looking to access weather forecasts via sat phone maybe, unless there is a better way whilst being miles from anywhere.
You are bang on the money. I am intending to retrace frank dyes voyage to iceland from the uk back in 1963, but with go pro cameras instead of cine 8mm!
Gear has improved so much since then and there's no better time to **** myself

[David_Old_Jersey]

Never used one - but if they work for Scuba divers should be fairly waterproof!

Navimate - GPS for Divers

It may be that OP is contemplating a suicide mission, but could simply be following in the footsteps of Frank and Margaret Dye from back in the 60's - voyages in a Wayfarer dinghy not for the feint hearted. or the sane?!

US Wayfarer Association - Frank Dye Page

LATE EDIT: I see that OP is going in their footsteps! Would be interesting to hear more about the plans and past travels.......

[Kettlewell]

Another thing I don't think they had was a dry suit, which is readily available now. You might want to consider a satellite telephone. There are handheld units that can be used to send and receive, and you could get written weather forecasts emailed to you. There are also ways to download weather maps and what are called grib files that can be turned into weather maps by a PC. Frankly, I am not up on what are the best sources of weather information for those latitudes.

[Teknav]

Captain Bligh, of the famed Mutinity on the Bounty, was set adrift from Tahiti in a very tiny and over-loaded sailboat. He made it to the island of, what is known today, "East Timor". He navigated the 3000+ miles trip, using a sextant; indeed, your dream is doable. Good luck! Mauritz

[seandepagnier]

NiMh batteries are $1.29 on hobbyking 2 can power a waterproof handheld gps. You can get solar AA battery chargers for these.

[celtic sea dog]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Never used one - but if they work for Scuba divers should be fairly waterproof!

Navimate - GPS for Divers

It may be that OP is contemplating a suicide mission, but could simply be following in the footsteps of Frank and Margaret Dye from back in the 60's - voyages in a Wayfarer dinghy not for the feint hearted. or the sane?!

US Wayfarer Association - Frank Dye Page

LATE EDIT: I see that OP is going in their footsteps! Would be interesting to hear more about the plans and past travels.......

Hi thanks dude, for the advice.
I am not fainthearted or that sane, which I suppose is good in that respect.
I have always admired what frank achieved back in those days and take great inspiration from him and those including marg. , that sailed with him!
I have sailed most dinghies from being a teenager on tidal waters. Currently doing my yachtmaster scheme up at Anglesey, Wales UK. I am slightly crazy, but im not stupid and am preparing as best I can. I have a plan to undertake this passage roughly 36 months from now. I also have shorter passages planned to cut my teeth and will not even attempt it unless I feel ready.
I have lived as a romany traveller before, with a horse and cart, dogs and chickens. I know about self sufficiency and preparation. I have also spent winters living rough with little food and know hardship and discomfort.
In an ideal world if I had pots of money I would own a perry boat 30' baba, but im not rich.
What I may lack in financial prowess, I make up in courage and sense of adventure. Did not frank dye begin with a sense of adventure, did he not make mistakes? I can understand peoples retiscence and they can have their laugh.
But "he who laughs last, laughs loudest"!
3 years ago I honestly would have recoiled at the thought of owning a wayfarer, let alone making a passage in one. All I wanted was greasy fast speed, trapeze lines and telescopic bowsprits. But now I see differently, I see that with a wayfarer, anything is possible with proper planning, planning, more planning and an adventourous spirit.

[Capt.Fred]

I think you are about 50 years too late. There used to be in my early years of sailing. so many remote, deserted/uninhabited, unspoiled areas. Every village would greet you with open arms. Don't be surprised when you enter any territorial waters that the first thing the authorities will want to check is your head...If I were you, I would do it anyway. Be sure to take the road less travelled.

[europaflyer]

Originally Posted by Teknav

Captain Bligh, of the famed Mutinity on the Bounty, was set adrift from Tahiti in a very tiny and over-loaded sailboat. He made it to the island of, what is known today, "East Timor". He navigated the 3000+ miles trip, using a sextant; indeed, your dream is doable. Good luck! Mauritz

He had a 23ft launch and 18 professional seamen... Some way away from a 16ft dinghy! The biggest risk is capsizing, which WILL happen at some point. Capsize float at top of mast essential. Any equipment stored as low down in the boat as possible to increase stability, and thoroughly lashed down for when you capsize. Maybe even some weights in the bilges as well. Any electronics have to be handheld and sealed in plastic bags (you can get see-through pouches made for handhelds). Forget a fixed electrical system. Paper charts, well, if you must, but again sealed in bags (the ones you get for hiking would seem like a good idea). As for getting weather forecasts via satphone, that requires a computer which is out of the question. You would need someone on land monitoring the weather, who could then give you a report when called.

I hope you know what you're doing! Scotland to Iceland is a serious passage even in a proper yacht. If you don't already have several hundred miles experience sailing dinghies in coastal waters in a variety of conditions, then you will die. It's that simple! I've done maybe 1000 or so miles of dinghy sailing in inland waters. Sailed big dinghies, sailed small dinghies, capsized them all (even the hefty 16ft ones). Sailed 11ft dinghies in F8 conditions, and been bruised, battered and frozen more times than I can remember! I wouldn't think of doing what you plan in a million years... But if you're already a SERIOUSLY experienced coastal dinghy sailor then go for it! Good luck!

[MBLittle]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Never used one - but if they work for Scuba divers should be fairly waterproof!

Navimate - GPS for Divers

It may be that OP is contemplating a suicide mission, but could simply be following in the footsteps of Frank and Margaret Dye from back in the 60's - voyages in a Wayfarer dinghy not for the feint hearted. or the sane?!

US Wayfarer Association - Frank Dye Page

LATE EDIT: I see that OP is going in their footsteps! Would be interesting to hear more about the plans and past travels.......

Sorry mate, the NaviMate doesn't quite exist...yet...

http://www.scubagadget.com/?p=659

[europaflyer]

US Wayfarer Association - Frank Dye Summer Cruise

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by MBLittle

Sorry mate, the NaviMate doesn't quite exist...yet...

Navimate “claims” to have Underwater GPS but then shows how good they can fin backwards. (DEMA 2009 product announcements) | ScubaGadget - Scuba News Service

Lol! , should have put a bit more effort into my google! In my defence the thought was prompted by finding my old diving watch earlier today, I last messed around with SCUBA just as the dive computers were going mainstream - just figured that by now they would include stuff like GPS (and WIFI? ) as standard, if not for underwater use then for dual use onboard / on land.......but my subsequent (brief) Googles suggest this not the case - but I stand to be corrected (again!).

[MBLittle]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Lol! , should have put a bit more effort into my google! In my defence the thought was prompted by finding my old diving watch earlier today, I last messed around with SCUBA just as the dive computers were going mainstream - just figured that by now they would include stuff like GPS (and WIFI? ) as standard, if not for underwater use then for dual use onboard / on land.......but my subsequent (brief) Googles suggest this not the case - but I stand to be corrected (again!).

Won't lie, it had me super excited. As an avid diver, I was amazed I hadn't seen it yet, and I do love my gizmos!

Now of they can just make a SCUBA case for my iPhone so I can play angry birds on a decon stop, I'll be in heaven, lol

[Efraim]

Originally Posted by celtic sea dog

Thanks ketwell .
The solar idea is great and along the lines I was thinking of.
With a tablet I would be able to use 'navionics' and charted areas are surprisingly cheap. I will be looking to access weather forecasts via sat phone maybe, unless there is a better way whilst being miles from anywhere.
You are bang on the money. I am intending to retrace frank dyes voyage to iceland from the uk back in 1963, but with go pro cameras instead of cine 8mm!
Gear has improved so much since then and there's no better time to **** myself

What you have planed is absolutely doable, a competent skipper with the right boat can certainly do it. However one thing you are going to have to plan for, is that everything is going to get wet at some time or another - no matter how many dry bags you have, it's just the way things work out.
Now about this stuff about tablets, sat phones, weather forecast, chart plotters and solar charging.
A tiny solar panel on a pitching boat in the north Atlantic will provide you with so little power it's not even worth considering. Think about it, how big a panel can you possible carry, will it always be in the sun (will there be any sun?),will its orientation to the sun be always perfect, you know the answers. A little panel that advertises itself as 2 watts, will probably not even give you 1/5 of that in your situation, and that is if you're lucky.
Weather forecast - nice to know, but what exactly are planning to do with that information? You're going to be in the middle of nowhere, in a small boat, not really much you really can do with a weather forecast is there?
Chart plotter - huge waste of energy for a small boat, you don't need one, your boat is small enough with probably so little draft that you can get plenty close to the shore, paper charts will do just fine.
Your biggest concerns should be drinking water and food - there is so much a little boat can carry.
You probably already own everything you need to get going...let us you know when you get to Iceland, I can't wait so see the video.

[Adamante]

Originally Posted by Paul Annapolis

If you are planning on cruising in an open 16' dinghy, which is to say as bare-bones, risky, self-sufficient, basic and primitive as can be (like Robinson Crusoe and Gilligan's Island) why are you even asking about navigating? Why not go as basic and primitive as can be? Maybe a lodestone? A chip of wood? Aw heck--go all out and find an astrolabe! I think a compass is too advanced. I dunno--do I seem cynical? You're not going to run aground. I'd be more concerned about being seen--take a radar reflector and a high intensity light, EPIRB, survival suit....(no room for a liferaft). Did Thoreau set out to Walden and take a smithy's forge? Did Thor Heyerdahl take radios and other electronics?

Yes, he most certainly did.

From Wiki:

“The expedition carried an amateur radio station with the call sign of LI2B operated by former World War II Norwegian underground radio operators Knut Haugland and Torstein Raaby. Haugland and Raaby maintained regular communication with a number of American, Canadian, and South American stations that relayed Kon Tiki's status to the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C. On August 5, Haugland made contact with a station in Oslo, Norway, 10,000 miles away. Kon Tiki's transmitters were powered by batteries and a hand-cranked generator and operated on the 40-, the 20-meter band, the 10-meter band, and the 6-meter band. Each unit was water resistant and included 2E30 vacuum tubes providing 10 watts of RF input. A German Mark V transceiver was used as a backup unit.

The radio receiver used throughout the voyage was a National Radio Company NC-173, once requiring a thorough drying out after being soaked during a shipwreck.. An "all well, all well" message was sent via LI2B to notify would-be rescuers of the crew's safety.”