Do I really need a barometer? Which one?

[TrentePieds]

@ Dockhead: 'Ere! I thot it was me that was being accused of being a "language cop" ;-0)!

One might have misgivings - out of simple charity - about a plan to "do" Cape Flattery to "Cabo" (San Lucas, I presume) by someone who needs to ask about the aneroid barometer, its purpose, its use and its utility.

FWIW, the ONLY time I've ever doubted that I would see snug haven again was a time I FAILED (mea culpa!) to make my own weather forecast, but relied on that of a professional meteorologist.

A friend of my youth got as far as Crescent City in a forty-five-footer, took a nasty knockdown, stove in a port-light, but managed to keep going as far as Eureka where he put in with a boatful of briney. He concluded, he told me, that there is truth in the old saw that there is no better bilge pump than two scared men with buckets. His crew went home by Greyhound bus. The boat was sold "as is, where is".

My brother-in-law (RCVR) got as far as Neah Bay in the Strait of Juan deFuca, rather short of Flattery, let alone the Swiftsure, in a brand new William Atkins "Erik". I rather gather that his Beloved gave him a choice: "We turn back, and I will stay with you, or you can put ashore and proceed on your own - FOREVER!"

My BIL is a sensible man. He chose the former and here they are, together, these fifty years later :-)!

The moral of this post is "Don't mess with the West Coast unless you have the humility to know what you know and what you don't know :-)

TrentePieds

[Uplander]

We have that one too (refer S/V Alchemy above) and on a passage log pressure every hour.

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by bcboomer

Snowpetrel

What is the app. I don't see it in the android store.

The one I use is called Barometer Altimeter Dashclock. Its the best I have found on android so far.

[RedHerring]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

One might have misgivings - out of simple charity - about a plan to "do" Cape Flattery to "Cabo" (San Lucas, I presume) by someone who needs to ask about the aneroid barometer, its purpose, its use and its utility.

I don't know if it ever occurred to you, but unsolicited charity is quite often perceived as an insult. Not this time, but...

Having run into my share of clueless weasels over the years, I can understand when someone assumes off the bat that everyone is a clueless weasel until proven otherwise. However, "about the aneroid barometer, its purpose, its use and its utility" is not what I asked about, is it?

Anyway, thanks for your concern, I've already been told (on this same thread) how to get a current pressure trend on a bulkhead without forking out another N hundred bucks, which is exactly what I'm going to do. And have a barograph app on both cellphones, for good measure. So, no worries.

[s/v Jedi]

You will surely perish without a barometer HAM's who have APRS aboard and sail within VHF distance to shore stations should be good as many APRS shore stations run a weather station.

For the Maretron fans, consider this display screen that replaces the traditional brass clock and barometer, showing local time, UTC time and a 24-hour barograph recording simultaniously. Times with satellite atomic clock accuracy and pressure with Maretron WSO100 wind/weather sensor accuracy.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[leftbrainstuff]

Our digital logging barometer is a key safety critical component.



Sent from my SM-N900T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[01kiwijohn]

It's kinda like having a compass. No electrics required, may not be totally accurate but does show the general trends.
I use mine all the time, record in the log every 3 hours and plot the trends on a plotting sheet. Never misses.

[nockerwhite]

Of course you do - no yacht is complete without a brassbound barometer and clock even if you never look at them!

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

My phone has a barometer sensor. I run a free barograph app. This plus writing the barometer value down in the log at the end of each watch works well

I will point out that I have aways also carried a cheap mechanical aneriod barometer. I generally don't trust anything electronic on a boat. And for the price a simple barometer is a useful tool, much like having a proper magnetic compass.

The phone app is a great addition, acting as a barograph to automatically log pressure and display the trend at a glance.

I still log the aneriod baro regularly as well in the log book.

As to if all this is needed? I dont know. I use a barometer, but you will probably live without one. However I definately think you need to decide what sextant you will carry!

[UNCIVILIZED]

Mechanical Barometers aside from being fine instruments. Are a good backup to have onboard, in case of say, a lightning strike. Which destroys all of your electronic toys.

But more significantly; they're good in that if you regularly log their readings, you tend to better stay in touch with what the weather is trending, & doing.
Particularly if you when you log the pressure reading, you also log; the temperature, humidity, wind direction & speed, wave data, cloud data & movement, sea life, sea temperature, & anything else of note.

As when keeping a log, or journal, etc. One tends to spot trends much more often & easily, than is the case, when simply glancing at an instrument from time to time. Whether it has a built in log or not.
Such is why key data is routinely logged regarding ship's mechanical systems. So as to detect problems prior to them becoming significant.


Thus, unless you're single-handing, there should always be a designated "watch keeper", even if everyone's awake. And part of the watch keeper's duties are to keep tabs (a log) of your; speed, course, position, shipping traffic, & the above weather/atmospheric data.

The watch sked can be formal, or non. But it needs to be taken seriously. Both so that the important chores aboard are taken care of, equally, & so that the off watch folk can; nap, cook, read, etc. And also know that they can chill out, as the watch keeper has things covered.


Plus, regarding the old school barometers & closely keeping watch on them, vs. the modern units, with built in alarms, etc. Consider this:
There are locales where, sometimes the only clue/warning that you get to indicate that a major system is headed your way, is a drop (or rise) of as little as 2-4mb. That's it. And yet in said locales, sometimes F8 & greater conditions soon follow such shifts, despite it being fully tranquil at the time.

Such a change isn't one that's likely to be caught, nor noticed by most alarms on electronic barometers/barographs. Ergo, the reasoning for watching, & logging the baro's readings yourself. Even when on the hook. Albeit, a bit more loosely, then.

Also, the same kinds of small changes in pressure when at sea, can be the herald of a new front. One which might bring majorly heavy winds & seas your way. Or when coupled with weather reports/data, allow you to sniff out some decent wind, after you've been stuck in a lull for a while.


BTW, below is one (of several) Good threads, about learning how to read & forecast the weather using only basic tools. In addition, of course, to using the modern ones, & electronic info sources as well. It's worth a read http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...er-158221.html


It genuinely makes you a better, safer, more effetive sailor, when you can sense, & predict the weather, accurately, on your own. Especially as the guys predicting it for you, via radio, computer, or fax, aren't in your exact location, but You are.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Aside from a Mechanical Barometer being a good backup to have onboard, in case of say, a lightning strike. They're good in that if you regularly log their readings, you tend to better stay in touch with what the weather is doing. Period.
Particularly if you simultaneously log; the temp., humidity, wind direction & speed, wave data, cloud data & movement, sea life, sea temp., & anything else of note.


As when keeping a log, or journal, etc. One tends to spot trends much more often than is the case, when simply glancing at an instrument from time to time.
Such is why key data is routinely logged regarding ship's mechanical systems. So as to detect problems prior to them becoming significant.


So unless you're single-handing, there should always be a designated "watch keeper", even if everyone's awake. And part of the watch keeper's duties are to keep tabs (a log) of your; speed, course, position, shipping traffic, & the above weather/atmospheric data.


The watch sked can be formal, or non. But it needs to be taken seriously. Both so that the important chores aboard are taken care of, equally, & so that the off watch folk can; nap, cook, read, etc. And also know that they can chill out, as the watch keeper has things covered.


Plus, regarding the old school barometers & closely keeping watch on them, vs. the modern units, with built in alarms, etc. Consider this:
There are locales where, sometimes the only clue/warning that you get to indicate that a major system is headed your way, is a drop (or rise) of as little as 2-4mb. That's it. And yet in said locales, sometimes F8 & greater conditions soon follow such shifts, despite it being fully tranquil at the time.


Such a change isn't one that's likely to be caught, nor noticed by most alarms on electronic barometers/barographs. Ergo, the reasoning for watching, & logging the baro's readings yourself. Even when on the hook. Albeit, a bit more loosely, then.


Plus which, the same kinds of small changes in pressure when at sea, can be the hearald of a new front. One which might bring majorly heavy winds & seas your way. Or when coupled with weather reports/data, allow you to sniff out some decent wind, after you've been stuck in a lull for a while.


BTW, below is one (of several) Good threads, about learning how to read & forecast the weather using only basic tools. In addition, of course, to using the modern ones, & electronic info sources as well. It's worth a read http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...er-158221.html


But it genuinely makes you a better sailor, when you can sense, & predict the weather, accurately, on your own. Especially as the guys predicting it, aren't in your exact location, but You are.

This is all excellent advice.

I also have to admit, that prior to this thread, I was not aware that so many sailors actually log baro data.

[Siberianhusky]

I use my climbing altimeter as a barometer on board, easy to track changes. Hangs right beside the VHF. Before people start to wonder the inner scale is in millibars if you bother reading that scale, Basically altitude goes up = pressure dropping, altitude down = pressure increasing.

[RedHerring]

Originally Posted by nockerwhite

Of course you do - no yacht is complete without a brassbound barometer and clock even if you never look at them!

As long as it's not required to work, I've got that covered. Beautiful, exensive, French-made one. Fusee chain rusted through. May even fix it once I have nothing better left to do on the boat.

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by RedHerring

I don't know if it ever occurred to you, but unsolicited charity is quite often perceived as an insult. Not this time, but...

Having run into my share of clueless weasels over the years, I can understand when someone assumes off the bat that everyone is a clueless weasel until proven otherwise. However, "about the aneroid barometer, its purpose, its use and its utility" is not what I asked about, is it?

Anyway, thanks for your concern, I've already been told (on this same thread) how to get a current pressure trend on a bulkhead without forking out another N hundred bucks, which is exactly what I'm going to do. And have a barograph app on both cellphones, for good measure. So, no worries.

I don't know if there is a problem with cheap aneroid barometers, but they can be had for as low as $20.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...21117275743343

[carlo de leo]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

This.

Mechanical barometers on boats are really for decoration. To get useful information out of them you have to log the readings or at least look often and have a really good memory. Never seen a cruiser do that yet.

A recording one like that one shown is worth its weight in gold. You see the pressure trends at a glance, and its the trend, not the absolute reading (hence the necessity of logging the readings from mechanical ones) which tells the tale. I think every boat should have one.

The one on my boat was inherited from the PO, and is an ordinary weather station. But it also shows moon phases and temperature and is amazingly useful for a fairly banal, household instrument. For people who know even less about weather than I do, the pressure trends are interpreted by the weather station with symbols like rain coming down, sun, partial cloud, etc. which I admit is incredibly useful to give an instant one-glance summary of what is about to happen.

Thats what I have. Very usefull and cheap. Also hás humidity measure-good tool too. Texas instruments. Good luck!