Advice on electronics upgrade

[Pizzazz]

Putting the compass at the mast top is really bad in my opinion. It will not be accurate at all (unless you are joking now). Try MARPA with a masthead compass. Best place for the compass is low but away from the keel and the engine. The deviation can be adjusted for.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

Putting the compass at the mast top is really bad in my opinion. It will not be accurate at all (unless you are joking now). Try MARPA with a masthead compass. Best place for the compass is low but away from the keel and the engine. The deviation can be adjusted for.

Keel is OK if it's lead.

Compass should be as near the roll and pitch centers of the boat as possible. Masthead is literally the worst possible place for it -- the furthest place you can get from there.

[Catapault]

Originally Posted by bmz

Large commercial vessels are constrained by their lack of maneuverability and are therefore always the stand on vessel, even in blue water.

Such a stunning misunderstanding of the Colregs, shipping etc repeated over and over in this thread is, to me, mindblowing. I can't tell if its actually serious or taking the piss.


As for large vessels using AIS and manoeuvring. I call BS.

I watched 4 of them clearly alter course to avoid me / increase CPA on passing, in in the last 2 days on our passage from Rhodes to Cyprus (running DDW). Sure as heck they did it based on my transmission of AIS Class B, and they adjusted at 10-15 miles out. (I had them on AIS at 20-25 miles). Tankers & Cargo ships.

Even crossing from Marmaris to Rhodes, the merchant ships in the channel manuvered according to the ColRegs.

AIS, one of the best recent addition to saftey at sea. EVERYTHING on the water should have one, and be transmitting it if it were up to me.

Does it negate all the other ways, no, is it an AID, and a valuable one, hell yes.

Mark.

PS: I subscribe to the rule-of-tonnage in that I'll generally try and not be in their way at all if I can be out of the main shipping route. But that is not always practical.

The biggest hazard here are the fishermen, who seem to obey NO rules at all, of any kind.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

Putting the compass at the mast top is really bad in my opinion. It will not be accurate at all (unless you are joking now). Try MARPA with a masthead compass. Best place for the compass is low but away from the keel and the engine. The deviation can be adjusted for.

We clearly have different experiences with a masthead compass. I can only say how well it works for me (although I don't have a RADAR so have no experience using it with MARPA -- and to date I have not disabled my autopilot compass to see how the autopilot works with the PB200). For a digital readout of heading, it's amazing.

I really don't care how bad it might be in theory -- I only enjoy how well it works in practice. In a heavy seaway, it is very steady. When turning to a course, it never seems to overshoot. When motoring in a creek (to eliminate or minimize current impacts), it agrees with GPS COG to a degree or so. I can't discern a "negative" so for my purposes, it is a straight-up "win."

For those reading and pondering the usefulness of a PB200, you need to decide your use and make a judgement. If you would like to have a compass heading on your MFD, if you would like to have a readout on your digital display, if you'd like to have something to compare with your binnacle, if you want this for a trivial increase in cost, then you'll be pleased with a PB200. If you are inputting the data into a RADAR or using it as the compass on an Autopilot, well, there are other opinions from folks that have used it for those purposes and seen the outcome, and their first hand experience is probably more credible for those uses.

[lateral]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

We clearly have different experiences with a masthead compass. I can only say how well it works for me (although I don't have a RADAR so have no experience using it with MARPA -- and to date I have not disabled my autopilot compass to see how the autopilot works with the PB200). For a digital readout of heading, it's amazing.

I really don't care how bad it might be in theory -- I only enjoy how well it works in practice. In a heavy seaway, it is very steady. When turning to a course, it never seems to overshoot. When motoring in a creek (to eliminate or minimize current impacts), it agrees with GPS COG to a degree or so. I can't discern a "negative" so for my purposes, it is a straight-up "win."

For those reading and pondering the usefulness of a PB200, you need to decide your use and make a judgement. If you would like to have a compass heading on your MFD, if you would like to have a readout on your digital display, if you'd like to have something to compare with your binnacle, if you want this for a trivial increase in cost, then you'll be pleased with a PB200. If you are inputting the data into a RADAR or using it as the compass on an Autopilot, well, there are other opinions from folks that have used it for those purposes and seen the outcome, and their first hand experience is probably more credible for those uses.

I agree with Harry. I have a PB200 at mast head and the heading readings are similar than the GH2183 I have at deck level. I zero outputted the M/H one as I only use it for wind. The GPS on the other hand is not.
My erratic readings in rain have improved dramatically on the cable fix.