SeaClear

[knottidedownalt]

If your mouse starts jumping all around it is in conflict with the comm port. Move it to another usb slot. for me usb on the right is comm 2 the aft most usb on the right is comm 6......hope this helps

Bill

[ColdDuckCapt]

I posted this on another thread. Have you given Geowake.com a try. It's not for use onboard but gives you free access to all these charts. I am curious how the SeaClear loyals think. I am downloading the SeaClear now.

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by ColdDuckCapt

...It's not for use onboard but gives you free access to all these charts. I am curious how the SeaClear loyals think. I am downloading the SeaClear now.

I visited the site and viewed their video. It looks to be a very slick product.

The only challenges I foresee is why a sailor would need a map/chart program that can't be used on board? The other minor glitch is this is not a plotter product. It will not integrate your GPS and show your position.

So, although it looks nice. It isn't a marine product. As for messing around at home? Hey, Google Earth and Google maps are already there. NOAA charts are a free download. The only thing these guys bring to the party is the buoy information. When you get right down to it, buoy info is seldom necessary when you're sitting at home using the internet.

Compared to Seaclear? Apples and Oranges.

Now, if they were to give it a GPS interface, and put the maps and charts on DVD... and include the instrument interface Seaclear has, they'd own the market.

[SouthernDrawl]

Hey, helloSailor and knottieddownalt.... thanks for the excellent advise. I found a number of sites that said exactly what you did, ie, disable the serial mouse that was supposedly connected to the com port. In device manager, open the pointer devices and disable the serial mouse that's not really there at all. Works great now. I really like SeaClear II after I got used to it by exploring the features and learing how to download free charts and putting them in the correct file under SeaClear. I really appreciate your help. To answer another question, I'm using a serial port on this laptop and Windows 2000. The othe laptop has Vista and only USB ports and I bought a USB -serial adapter for the GPS signal. But the newer Vista laptop has better display clarity, so I'll us that most of the time.
Thanks again for your help.
This is a great community!!
S'Drawl

[knottidedownalt]

Have you all seen what the AGLCA has to offer? You can download all nav info into googleEarth and interface it with your GPS to get a moving display of your boat, all nav info, sattilite overlays with actual moving weather radar. I am a member and have to say, it is very nice when the weather looks a little iffy or I am looking for a place to anchor or entering a new port. FYI.

Hope I am not busting any rules talking about another cruising association, sorry in advance.

Heading north to Canada on Monday....yea!

Bill Feller
Knot Tide Down
41' Lindmark Trawler
Melbourne, FL
ICW St M 915
MTOA 2988
AGLCA 6272
http://www.geocities.com/knot_tide_down/

[scotte]

Stop thread drift!

[SouthernDrawl]

Does anyone know of a source for downloadable charts for SeaClear for the Sea of Cortez? I have a friend cruising down there and will go cruise with him for a while and I'd like to use those charts on SeaClear, too.
Thanks for the help
SouthernDrawl

[Tropic Cat]

Unless someone has created their own chart in MapCal the chart can't exist. NOAA only publishes charts for American waters. It's the one limiting factor about Seaclear.

[Pathfinder]

Can you use Seaclear to plan routes? If so, how do you draw a line or route on the screen? ( I have installed the program and NOAA charts, and see all fine, just can't make a route to get vectors, distance...)

[tackdriver]

Tools -> Route Editor

When in doubt, oil the manual.

[Pathfinder]

Yes, I actually thought of that, and looked in the manual, but could find no mention of how to plan a route or create one.

[SouthernDrawl]

Hi, Pathfinder...Yes you can plan routes and set up waypoints with SeaClear. It will give you cumulative distance and you can also offset the cursor to measure distance vectors between points away from the boat cursor. I've done it a couple of years ago, but I'll have to go back and refresh my memory on the How. I remember you have to have "automatic Off". I'll get back with you. I'm sure if you explore and try things you'll find it too. Meanwhile, Have fun
SouthernDrawl

[gjorgensen]

You have to have automatic off. Then go to Tools -> Route Editor, which will put SeaClear into a specific non-nav mode for creating and editing a route. Anywhere you double click creates a route waypoint.

From there it's a lot of fiddling depending on your route and what you're doing. I've found several quirks that border on making is unusable:

- You can either edit the route using known waypoints or double-click to create new ones. But there's no easy way to mix the two. In general I find it easier to create the waypoints approximately where I want them, use the table editor to create the route, then tweek the waypoints.

- When double clicking, it always wants to create connections across the shortest distances. I haven't figured out how to make it stop that. So, if you need a "C" shaped route for example, it will automatically connect the ends of the C for you instead of following the route you created. Again, the only way I've found to avoid this problem is to create your waypoints first and then build the route in the route editor table.

- You can't use the same waypoint more than once in a route. So for a closed course that starts/ends at the same place, you need different start/end waypoints or SeaClear will collapse the route to nothing.

- Saving and loading are not intuitive, and you can only have one route open at a time from what I can see. You have to save each route independently.

- If you're going to be outputting things in a format for GPSUtility to open (for uploading to a chartplotter) be prepared to fiddle with the text files. The output formats are really screwed up.

On the whole I've found routes extremely difficult in SeaClear.

[idpnd]

What commercial charts would one be looking to purchase to complement NOAA for non-US-waters?

[scotte]

Originally Posted by gjorgensen

If you're going to be outputting things in a format for GPSUtility to open (for uploading to a chartplotter) be prepared to fiddle with the text files. The output formats are really screwed up.

One thing I've found helpful here is that Seaclear can import/export waypoints in g7towin format. I use g7towin or gpsbabel from there - between the two of them you can convert to or from darn near anything. Seaclear doesn't export routes in this format though - just waypoints.