Complete Navigation Kit...

[freetime]

Ais (recive and send)
Plotter
Radar
Vhf

For a trimaran, it is a former race tri. And we will use it as a cruise for long distance sail. And race for a few times each year. It is 12 x 11,8m....

We gave an offer last friday on the boat, but need to update the complete nav kit.

Ais, we want a separate screen to see boats.
Plotter, we usually had the lowrance HDS-10m (but i would like another one, because the darkest ligth is to dark at night and second step is to light) for me atleast.
Radar, we want to put it on a pedistal on the back of the boat, main hull.

Should we go with ONE brand or take the best from each....

We want one screen for each: Ais, Plotter and Radar....

any ideas???? We will mostly sail in med and up in the north europe as north sea and scandinavian.

[s/v Jedi]

Furuno 3D for radar & plotter and if you really don't want to see AIS on those screens (Furuno has a black box transponder) you can choose the Simrad Ai50 (I think it is) with it's own display.

I would only buy one Furuno 3D display, connect the radar and the black box AIS and use a laptop or mini-PC with MaxSea TimeZero for the 2nd and/or 3rd display. You can get a version that will show radar and AIS too and even do it wireless.
Get C-Map charts for the plotter.

cheers,
Nick.

[s/v Beth]

Don't forget emergency vhf, gps and locator device in your abandon ship bag.

[rebel heart]

I feel like I'm living in 1810 sometimes on this board. A "complete navigation kit" for me is:

- paper charts + cruising guide of the area
- hand bearing compass
- two handheld gps's with spare batteries; just get a fix
- sextant
- parallel bars / ruler / pencil / notebook / calculator

Have bowditch and the annapolis book of seamanship onboard, read the latter a few nights a week to keep your skills up. Pray you never need the bowditch.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I feel like I'm living in 1810 sometimes on this board. A "complete navigation kit" for me is:

- paper charts + cruising guide of the area
- hand bearing compass
- two handheld gps's with spare batteries; just get a fix
- sextant
- parallel bars / ruler / pencil / notebook / calculator

Have bowditch and the annapolis book of seamanship onboard, read the latter a few nights a week to keep your skills up. Pray you never need the bowditch.

Well, I don't think you strictly need the sextant, but I heartily agree with the rest of it. How can you navigate without charts and a pilot guide of the area? Sailing is not a video game. You have to study your passage before you set off, orient yourself, learn about where you are going, develop an image of it in your mind. In my book, anyway, but I think it's irresponsible to omit this step.

[jkleins]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Sailing is not a video game. You have to study your passage before you set off, orient yourself, learn about where you are going, develop an image of it in your mind. In my book, anyway, but I think it's irresponsible to omit this step.

While I can see why you may want to look ahead I would argue that you don't "have to". I think if someone can go 50 mph driving a car down an crowded unfamiliar street looking for a street sign every block they can surely figure out where they are going and avoid difficulties going 5-7 knots in the ocean with the nearest other boat a couple hundred yards away. One could easily look ahead 5 miles and set course and then you have a whole hour to figure out the rest of the journey. Isn't "irresponsible" a little strong. Sailing is a recreational activity after all (like a video game).

Jim

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by jkleins

While I can see why you may want to look ahead I would argue that you don't "have to". I think if someone can go 50 mph driving a car down an crowded unfamiliar street looking for a street sign every block they can surely figure out where they are going and avoid difficulties going 5-7 knots in the ocean with the nearest other boat a couple hundred yards away. One could easily look ahead 5 miles and set course and then you have a whole hour to figure out the rest of the journey. Isn't "irresponsible" a little strong. Sailing is a recreational activity after all (like a video game).

Jim

I don't know. If you are already familiar with the area, then maybe it's not irresponsible. But if not? It's not like driving on city streets. There are no warning signs in the middle of the ocean.

[jkleins]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I don't know. If you are already familiar with the area, then maybe it's not irresponsible. But if not? It's not like driving on city streets. There are no warning signs in the middle of the ocean.

Nor is there anything you are likely to hit.

Jim

[bastonjock]

I sail in the North sea,for me to go along a part of the coastline here without having checked the charts in advance,would be a recipy for disaster, unlike the roads in a town,the sand banks constantly move here.

If it was as easy as driving a car in a town,why do they post "Notices to mariners"

[AnchorageGuy]

I for one have a real hard time reading those road signs once I get 100 or more miles offshore. Don't forget long distance communications gear for weather information and more.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by jkleins

While I can see why you may want to look ahead I would argue that you don't "have to". I think if someone can go 50 mph driving a car down an crowded unfamiliar street looking for a street sign every block they can surely figure out where they are going and avoid difficulties going 5-7 knots in the ocean with the nearest other boat a couple hundred yards away. One could easily look ahead 5 miles and set course and then you have a whole hour to figure out the rest of the journey. Isn't "irresponsible" a little strong. Sailing is a recreational activity after all (like a video game).

Jim

I spent an entire summer sailing an Ericson up and down San Diego Harbor. I got to know it really well. Then I got a new boat, and ended up on a sand bar that I've probably passed over two dozen times. I would have ended up on it with the Ericson as well if the tides had been low enough.

I have to agree with the other poster that it's pretty much always worth reviewing your charts and tide tables even for a simple harbor cruise. If it's that short of a trip, it will take all of a couple minutes. Bring a small harbor chart and the mini tide book into the head with you.

It doesn't have to be an all-evening affair and can understand not wanting to make a mountain out of a mole hill but there aren't a lot of maritime accidents that start with the skipper saying "Before we left, we reviewed our charts, the weather, and the tide tables."

There are just some basic seamanship things that can and should be done before you leave the dock, without exception.

I don't want to cast judgement on anyone in this thread by any means, but the folks who skip the steps I'm talking about tend to be the folks who rely quite heavily on their electronic gadgets.

[tallyhorob]

I would save a bit and get the receive only AIS, the sender unit is useless IMO.
AIS WatchMate - Built for Sailors by Sailors

and buy the screen for tha AIS, that way to save battery juice only the AIS screen is on and not the large chartplotter and etc.

[s/v Jedi]

You should have charts. It doesn't really matter if they are on paper or electronic. You should have two gps's. It doesn't matter if they are hand held or fixed installation.

I do agree about having the other items (not a sextant) and planning a passage. But that planning can be done with electronic charts easier and quicker than it can with paper charts. You should always have a nautical almanac or at least cruising guide (I have both). But remember that the early explorers had no almanacs, no guides, no charts, no GPS and they were allowed to set sail...

cheers,
Nick.

[goboatingnow]

While I agree with Nick , re the Furuno 3D, its a very expensive option. I would suggest multiple Raymarine E series units. IN my experience they are not bad, are reasonably priced. AIS can be anything, but the new ICOM unit, would give you an independant screen but is not that expensive ( around 500 euros), its will feed the Raymarines. With the new digital radar, the radar can be fed to either of the networked E series and the images appear on the other. This gives you redundancy.

As to the papre charts etc, wel thats all in another debate, but you do need some pilot guides, though they can be scare for out of the way areas