Tablet no chart plotter?

[Time2Go]

Originally Posted by Capt. Ray

Why do you need a tablet out in the sunlight and rain? What's wrong with the Nav Station?

Quite apart from the fact that my primary navigation is on paper charts or universal plotting sheets offshore, I do use a tablet as a chartplotter as well (a good navigator is duty bound to use all means at disposal) though fail to see why it has to be kept in the cockpit, except that it seems to me that the majority of people have forgotten how to use a - gasp - compass - and therefore are have become dependent on the device instead. NOT good practice.

For sure, I was crew on a boat last summer and after a few days
I had to ask the owner if they knew how to plot a position
on a chart. Didn’t have a clue about set, drift, course to steer,
they just pointed the icon on the iPad to where they wanted to go
And hit the AP. I mentioned “True virgins make dull company, east is least
west is best” and they thought I was just nuts.
All that said I do like a good chart plotter / multifunction display at the helm.
Have used IPads and tablets and all have been problematic at some point
Battery life is an issue because I think they use ah quicker then they charge
and have always run down, so you need two and swap them back and forth.
Wetness and sunlight can also be issues.
I also like dedicated displays for wind,depth, and for sure a dedicated
display and controller for the AP.
And a Big Fat Well Lit Compass
Cheers
Neil

[GregoryK]

I'm going to put in a good word for iNavX. It's available for IOS and now android.

Whatever solution you choose, you'll need some sort of device that will convert your NEMA compliant instrument output to wifi if you want to see depth and speed in the water on the device (SOG will be done via the GPS fixes).

Vesper marine makes an AIS transponder that includes the nema-wifi gateway, and the advantage here is it has a build in GPS so you can use a wifi only tablet as your plotter.

I'm not a fan of chart plotters at the helm. I prefer to keep my head out of the boat, and plan my passages in confined waters in advance. Off shore, you can use a compass, the stars (at night) with periodic checks on your plotter. that is after all how it is done with a paper chart. Having my plotter on a tablet means I can pull it up if I need to, but don;t spend my time staring at it.

[bailsout]

What’s a chart Plotter?😁

[JC Reefer]

I’m converting my Tupperware pi into my next chart plotter

[anacapaisland42]

How about some suggestions for a reasonable ($, size. electric consumption/voltage) monitor/screen to view the data. I was wondering about the back of the car seat type things ??
Bill

Originally Posted by Drakenkade

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this but...
Does anyone make a system where I don't need a chart plotter at all and I can use a tablet?
Thanks

[chuckr]

We have OpenCPN on 4 different computers - 2 laptops and 2 tablets - but always use our chartplotter for a couple of reasons -
First - the limited battery life - the reason we have it on 4 machines - there are times when we have long sails for a long overnight - those lousy 100nm sails to the last semi long one of 3 days across the Black Sea from Russia to Ukraine - how long will the batter last? we would have 3 of them charging at all times and then start up and getting the gps working ect -
Second we are not fans of touch screen - we have gone into to to many foreign ports where we are so busy and need to zoom in that we just touch a button and it zooms and with touch screen we have actually take our focus off what we are doing to zoom and if we get it wrong it takes our focus off entering the port -




That does not mean we have not used a tablet or laptop as we have - we lost our chartplotter on a sail from Tobago to Trinidad and fired up the laptop and had a safe trip into Trini -
We have them but only for planning and back up strictly

[DrivinSteve]

Originally Posted by Time2Go

For sure, I was crew on a boat last summer and after a few days
I had to ask the owner if they knew how to plot a position
on a chart. Didn’t have a clue about set, drift, course to steer,
they just pointed the icon on the iPad to where they wanted to go
And hit the AP. I mentioned “True virgins make dull company, east is least
west is best” and they thought I was just nuts.
All that said I do like a good chart plotter / multifunction display at the helm.
Have used IPads and tablets and all have been problematic at some point
Battery life is an issue because I think they use ah quicker then they charge
and have always run down, so you need two and swap them back and forth.
Wetness and sunlight can also be issues.
I also like dedicated displays for wind,depth, and for sure a dedicated
display and controller for the AP.
And a Big Fat Well Lit Compass
Cheers
Neil

Big +1
Especially the working compass light.
Cheers,
Steve

[ZULU40]

Originally Posted by anacapaisland42

How about some suggestions for a reasonable ($, size. electric consumption/voltage) monitor/screen to view the data. I was wondering about the back of the car seat type things ??
Bill

You ought be able to port another screen off a laptop. Now lets say that screen is in the cockpit in a waterproofed enclosure and the laptop is at the nav station.

Not sure what the screen would be but the issue usually is being able to see them when sunglare is reflecting off them, or plain not bright enough to be visible in outside daylight.

This would give you the ability to view the moving map from the cockpit, it would protect the source resource (the laptop). I dont think a car screen is compatible with that, what you need is some sort of plug and play with the OS that utilises the same cabling.

Power consumption would be more than a dedicated CP, but could be low enough to justify having such a system, give the sum of all costs. Its never going to have such complete functionality either, but I think the question evolved around a simpler CP, no depth, speed, wind angle and strength or of course radar

[jkindredpdx]

I've used OpenCPN for 10 years with a couple different windows notebook/tablet computers with ~10" diag touchscreen. A Globalsat GPS and a dAISy AIS plug into the computer's USB ports. I do keep it pretty much under the dodger and I have an extra ~$300 notebook/tablet as a backup.

[AKA-None]

Touch screen tablets are horrible when the screen or your fingers are damp /wet

[Clipper4730]

East is least west is best? Wow haven't heard that term in decades. If your sailing in the tropics magnetic variation is what 3 degrees. We have been sailing with iPad iPhone navigation for 4 yrs with no problems whatsoever. We have 2 iPads 2 phones all equipped with navionics. Life proof cases on all. Never had a problem with charging etc as we use one device others are charging. I had paper charts but tried using at the helm with the depth sounder and they blew overboard😩 All jokes aside we do have a chart plotter but I can buy a tablet plus the charts for the cost of an nt+ card for a relatively small area. The plotter i$ for radar depth and speed. Also have a stand-alone gps unit(never used it) plus a Horizon handheld vhf with ais and gps. Last season bought a vexilar Bluetooth depth sounder for the dingy and made a mount for the big boat so depth info displays on the iPad which mounts on the starboard forward winch which is rarely used. Chartplottes are expensive and don’t have YouTube😎

[Sojourner]

I go the other direction to minimalism: Raymarine plotter in the cockpit, Open CPN on the ship computer at the nav station, Navionics on my pad which is usually attached to me when I'm below or, when navigating tight areas, in my lap... I like to have different zooms without touching anything. Plus all my phones on board have Navionics as well. Plus the old Furuno still works. Plus paper charts of wherever I am. Plus a sextant, and a wife who knows how to use it

[OrinocoFlo]

My ipads seem to work fine in the cockpit during even the worst conditions inside their Lifeproof cases. We have been using three of them for eight years for navigation without any problems.

Pam

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=roLIEIjsd18

[JC Reefer]

Originally Posted by OrinocoFlo

My ipads seem to work fine in the cockpit during even the worst conditions inside their Lifeproof cases. We have been using three of them for eight years for navigation without any problems.



Pam

Seeing more and more of this attitude all the time. I’m loving it.

[ZULU40]

Originally Posted by OrinocoFlo

My ipads seem to work fine in the cockpit during even the worst conditions inside their Lifeproof cases. We have been using three of them for eight years for navigation without any problems.

Pam

sure, but ask yourself if 3 worked out cheaper than 1 chartplotter
After all, isnt that what its really about?