Cockpit Nav - OpenCPN + AIS on Android tablet?

[syPhilos]

Hello cruisers!

We, a Dutch couple sailing a Victoire 1270, have just joined this forum because we could use some help from the more tech-savvy cruisers and sailors ...

While our boat is a great blue water cruiser, she's currently lacking in the navigation dept. Having a plotter at the nav station is great, but having to go inside all the time isn't

What we'd like is to mount an Android tablet outside, tucked away beneath the dodger. On that tablet we'd like to run OpenCPN (tho willing to consider other software) and combine that with AIS (still have to buy a transponder,
looking at the XB-8000).

It all sounds easy enough, but we're stuck with a few questions:

- We'd need a waterproof casing for the tablet. We can only find those for iPads; for Android tablets (which we strongly prefer) all we can find are waterproof 'bags', not hard casings ... What casings do cruisers use to keep their Android tablets dry - or is an iPad really the only way to go?

- What's the easiest way to set up OpenCPN + AIS on a tablet?
We thought we'd use a Raspberry Pi and connect that to the tablet outside and probably a second screen inside, but not sure that's the best way to go about it ...
What hard- and software do you guys use and advice?

As you can see - we know what set-up we'd like, but are lost at how to best go about it and could definitely use help from the more tech-savvy sailors - many thanks in advance!

[syPhilos]

Oops - forgot to list the budget: €2k is around what we're willing to shell out

[conachair]

Originally Posted by syPhilos

- What's the easiest way to set up OpenCPN + AIS on a tablet?
We thought we'd use a Raspberry Pi and connect that to the tablet outside and probably a second screen inside, but not sure that's the best way to go about it ...

That works great for me, Sony Xperia waterproof tablet in the cockpit and raspberry pi down below running openplotter. With a little wiring you can get temperature gauges on the engine,exhaust, alternator as well for the cost of a beer or 2. Very powerful system and easy to set up, ais/GPS into the Pi with USB/serial adaptors and openplotter takes it from there.
A lot of change from 2k :Cool:

[syPhilos]

Originally Posted by conachair

Sony Xperia waterproof tablet in the cockpit
-
A lot of change from 2k :Cool:

Sadly, the Xperia is no longer available. We'd have loved the Z4, but can only find the odd 2nd hand one offered. Seems there's no newer model either?

We thought finding a waterproof tablet would be the easiest part - turns out, we can't find one at all

The AIS transponder we're looking at is about €1k, we estimated around €500 for the elusive waterproof tablet, leaving another €500 for all the odds and ends to make it all work. If we can find a good (10") waterproof Android tablet, that is

[Tabaqui]

Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 2 might be an option. Already IP68, so do not need a case. I use iPad in a Lifeproof case. Works well, but have not really tested the waterproofing. On iPad you might choose to use inavX instead of openCPN. To get ais data to the tablet I have installed a brookhous iMUX. This is a NMEA multiplexer that gather ais and other NMEA data and transmit it via wifi or serial (USB). Fairly straight forward install as long as the AIS has an NMEA output.

[Snore]

While I disagree with only having a tablet.... ...

The advantage of the Vesper is that once you get the tablet speaking to the Vesper, it will stream both AIS data and current location. Therefore the tablet does not need to run the GPS receiver and its battery will last longer. I use an iPad running iNavX on my personal boat and stream the location and AIS data to it, at the nav desk. This should also work with OpenCpn

[akopac]

Raspberry pi running openplotter with a moitessier hat on it down below headless.Runs on like .5 amps or something stupid. It is also a wifi access point. I use a ipad air 2 (screen has built in glare protection) in the cockpit (VNC connected to pi). There willnew "Clearink" display laptops and readers coming out soon. Also Opencpn/openplotter has tons of great plugins.