IPad for Navigation FAQ 2018

[rosco4271]

Hi have 10.5 Ipad and despite having a full Furuno system on board I found the Navionics package great. especially sailing down the queensland coast within the great barrier reef we had the wind against most of the time so we could plan our tacking and change things much more quickly than the furuno system. We tested the accuracy on many occassion so we are happy to rely on it but we also check on the Furuno charts as we go.
We had to have the Ipad charging most of the time and installed a charging point on the binical. We also rigged up a bracket to hold the Ipad and had it in a waterproof case as well. Now I am using Isailor as I can wifi in my wind and depth which you cant do in Navionics.

[Ferrari]

Your IPad will work great in any format you choose. But ask yourself how you will navigate if your primary charging source fail’s. In an emergency situation where solar is not available, you will need a mechanical hand/foot cranking device to power it. With an outboard GPS you will need to power that also.
F

[dwedeking2]

I've used a folding solar cell (you see them for backpackers) as backup charging. Course you have to do that during the day but I kept a tablet, cell phone and inreach device charged for 6 days (no other charger on boat)

[woodyapex]

I use the pro 12.9 in the cockpit
In the early days I tried buying 2 “waterproof” cases for it . Both arrived and neither could have been water proof although one was slightly better but bulkier . I now have a nice iPad holder . At the minute I genuinely use a ziplock bag . Touch screen works through it perfectly and if you want to be really inventive you can poke a hole at the charging end and put the cable through and seal it . You’ll get a 100% waterproof case for nothing .
My pro is cellular so I have gps .
It’s accurate .
But I also have a bad elf if I needed back up but I’ve never used it .
I have navionics and really like the auto route function but I only draft 3.5 ft on my 58ft oa sail boat but I set the depth ( within reason to around 8 ft ) if it’s going to take me a route to avoid 7 ft I obviously have to re think that .

I also use iSailor most of the time a love it . I see the extra little subscriptions as a investment . Ais ( needs internet )
And the other bits .

Sun is never an issue !
Battery power is more of an issue but make sure it’s plugged in and you’ll not use the 1% per minute but make sure the input is more then 2 amp or it will still go down and probably turn off just at the wrong moment .
ISailor now has live weather !
But I use 4 d weather too .

You can even seperate the screen and watch films and have iSailor on at the same time while at ocean .
Treat yourself !
We used a garmin with a 4” screen for years and the iPad Pro looks like a 4K nav system but better .
I know I know I know the real sailor will poo poo the iPad idea . But there’s no way the charts on iPad are not as good as the iPad . Get with the 21st century ! . I’m sure when we stopped using lead lines and sextants there was the same uproar . Any questions on iPad just ask .
O ps I sailor now has a active captain setting too .

[Smart555]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

FAQ 10
What Memory Storage space needed by your nav app and charts?

What app and chart combination are you using, where (location of charts), and how much storage space is required on your iPad for the combination of the navigation app AND the charts you use. Please be as specific and descriptive as possible.

On my IPad Pro 9,7 from 128 Gb - used 60Gb :

Garmin BlueChart full North America,Bahamas and Caribbean - 2.06Gb

ActiveCaptain the same chart - 2.29Gb

[Red Sky]

Steady, I have an Air 2 and just bought a 10.5 on Black Friday in November. Both have gps and are running Navionics and work great. Both are in Lifeproof cases when onboard, they just released the Nuud case for the 10.5 a couple of weeks ago. I replaced my Pathfinder chart plotter in the cockpit and an RL70 at the nav station with an es120 in the cockpit and am going to make the Air 2 the nav station display using the Ray control app. Very slick to be able to monitor things while off-watch using the 10.5 pro and Ray control.

[Billnpr]

NuShield is a sun screen film which I have used on my phone and Tablet, on land or on my sailboat. It was developed for use in surgery rooms. They have one for any phone or tablet.

[northwestsailor]

Hello Steady Hand,

I have been using iPads for navigation since the beggining on the iPads and iNavX. I have also used Navionics stand alone apps. They are in general very buggy and crash often but the charts are basically the same as used in inavx but of course incompatible. For Active Captain I use a program called Charts and Tides. For US, Canada and Alaska it is fine for other areas they still don’t have charts that I am aware of.
My main navigation hardware is a B&G Zeus 2 system with radar, AIS, wind and depth feeding in through various NMEA interfaces. This information is then broadcast over WIFI to an assortment of iPads, Macs and whatever. One one Mac I usually run OpenCPN and MaENC simultaneously. I usually have the iPad Pro 12.9 set up in the cockpit in Beetle Unicorn water resistant case which makes the iPad fairly heavy but does sit still in except in the heaviest of seas. The iPads can also run a program which mirrors the B&G screen. All programs on all devices can been running simultaneously so we move back and forth depending on whether we are navigating, checking weather or route planning. Each has its own unique advantages an disadvantages. I wish that one program could do it all but I haven’t found it yet.
Can one navigate the world with just a couple of iPads? You bet, but there would be a list of contingencies that I would insist on.

[Ahneema]

This is a great thread. I’ve been waiting someone to Star the IPad navigational options out there. I just downloaded Navionics and purchased a Seasucker for the mount. I’ll let you know how it works. Thanks for starting this thread!

[jimp1234]

Interesting thread and I don't want to hijack it, but the two things you'd need to give up the Chartplotter MFD particularly offshore are AIS and radar. Anyone use VesperMarine Watchmate AIS wifi transceiver with Ipad Mobile app? And what about radar? TIA

-Jim

[ranger58sb]

Steady, I haven't read all this closely since it's about iThings and we do Androids...

But FWIW, I can say we've been happy with MaxSea TimeZero on our laptop (and it's functionally the same as the engine in our chartplotter)...

And it's available for iPads.

I dunno how much $$$ for the app. The laptop version is not inexpensive.

US chart options so far include NOAA raster (free), NOAA vector (free), C-Map vector (???) and Navionics Gold vector ($$$).

Another FWIW, Jeppeson's Plan2Nav app is available for iThings. Might be free (the Android version is). Uses C-Map vector charts, cheap. ($49, I think; something like that.)

In case all that helps...

-Chris

[TomNH]

I've used iPads on deck for a few years. I've learnt a few things:

- The Lifeproof Nuud cases are worth the money - there is no film over the screen, so daylight viewing is better, yet they are properly waterproof.

- I use Wifi iPads with no GPS, but broadcast NMEA over WiFi from my instruments (there are lots of cheap black boxes that do this). This gives me AIS, position and boat position data in apps that support it.

- to which end iSailor is great. What appears to be good charting and proper support for NMEA over WiFi data.

- I keep a bluetooth GPS in the chart table for redundancy - at least if the ship power packs up I've got the battery life of the iPad available. My instruments print out a paper log entry every half hour too.

- I also use M$ Remote Desktop to mirror my nav PC on deck providing access to Expedition, when I need it.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

FAQ 10
What Memory Storage space needed by your nav app and charts?

What app and chart combination are you using, where (location of charts), and how much storage space is required on your iPad for the combination of the navigation app AND the charts you use. Please be as specific and descriptive as possible.

Hi Steady, I think storage is important. Charts don't take up that much space but programs like ovitalmap do, unless you go back and delete previous downloaded imagery.

I have zero beef with Ipads, but one of the reasons I prefer Samsung androids or equivalent is they take a mini Sd card.
Some places I've been have extremely poor chart coverage, offline satellite imagery has been a awesome tool, the sd card gives more storage for apps like ovitalmap.

Cheers Dale.

[daletournier]

Just one more thing. More and more I'm using tablets due to their ability to run various programs simultaneously. I run navionics, iSailor and ovitalmap on my main tablet and can flick between them. In some places I've found Cmaps to be more accurate than navionics and vis versa, thus I like to have several options to compare.
My girlfriend just got back onboard, she downloaded navionics on her tablet, more redundancy! Between phones, old and new tablets and laptop's redundancy is now huge, all offline...... great stuff.

[Steadman Uhlich]

WOW! Lots of great info has been shared already!

I appreciate everyone's contribution to this discussion and hope more will participate too.

I am going to "curate" this thread with some additional FAQ Topics (Questions) as I think of them (I will add these into the stream of comments). These may seem redundant to some folks who read all of the comments in a thread, but my intent is to make them easy to see so others will consider them as they skim or scan down a thread. Unfortunately I cannot go back to my Opening Post to add them there. My method is to add them in the thread to help others. Bear with me.
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I want to thank everyone who has posted good tips and observations based on your experience. I hope I don't miss anyone, but here are some from my notes so far:

ROLAND: Thanks for the very good detailed comment, and even though you are not using an iPad, the tip about use of a Power Bank (of some brand) is good too. I intend to purchase one of those too, as they are low cost.

MIKE OREILLY: Thanks for mentioning WaterWay Guide app and Active Captain use. I am interested in using both in the future.

REDLINE 452: Thanks for mentioning your mount and the alternative Axiom. I will look at both.

SV FINLANDIA: Thanks for mentioning your various apps you use, your opinion of AC interface with BlueChart, etc. Your comment with details is appreciated.

TAYANA42: Thanks for responding about the overheating issue (or possibility). I am not overly concerned about this right now, but think it should be questioned and answered, but only because I have not encountered it myself yet. I think that is why getting many sailors involved in this discussion will help us all, since different experiences can be considered. It is a possible failure issue (overheated at the worst possible time) so I consider it good to understand it can happen and what to try to do to avoid it.

WRWAKEFIELD: Thank you for adding lots of good tips, details, and the links to your excellent blog. I truly admire your detailed writing about your boat and gear choices. I like how you think and share the stuff you do. I also liked seeeing what you wrote about the overheating topic (FAQ 12) and how you tested with a case and without. I was also interested in how it may happen in higher latitudes. I have traveled to parts of Alaska before, so I also know it can be sunny and even warm at times (summer). Thanks for adding what you did to this thread. I also appreciate the link to your USB port (hardware) and mention of the needed power for charging iPads. Good points!

JUHO: Thanks for adding lots of details in your comment! And I appreciate you followed the format of the FAQ numbering too. While that is not required, I know it may help others later.

JAQUN: Thanks for your comments and USB port link.

KELBYLINN: Thanks for mentions AquaMap app. I will look at it.

SAILM*: Thanks for mentioning the mount you use and ziploc cover too (something I used when I was sailing offshore with my own iPad).

EMOUCHET: Thanks for describing your use of various apps, with your opinion and mentioning some limitations of them. I will look further into iSailor (which is popular). I appreciate your detailed post.

ZEP: Thanks for mentioning tracking (recording) as it is something I like too.

KEELHAULED: Thanks for your comments on the apps you prefer.

SMART555: Thanks for responding to using both size iPads (specifically the 12.9) and the hard to find case (I have spent a little time looking at options but not yet decided). And for mentioning the battery charging too.

ROSCO4271: Thanks for mentioning how you use WIFI to bring in your wind and depth data to iSailor and how you cannot do that with Navionics. Good to know.

FERRARI: Good point. I would have a couple of battery banks (small recharging batteries) with me, and possibly the solar pad mentioned by DWEDEKING2 on my own boat, in addition to solar panels, battery bank, etc. But, for my current needs (I crew on OPB, so not on my own boat) I will travel light and my own iPad will not be the primary navigation system on the boat, it is just for my own use (for non navigation apps) and as a good backup system.

DWEDEKING2: Thanks for mentioning your use of a solar pad for recharging. I have one of those on my wishlist for remote travel.

WOODYAPEX: Thanks for adding your detailed comments with lots of good content. I am glad you mentioned the use of the 12.9 iPad as it is the size I may travel with as my primary iPad (I am an artist and have a preference for the larger drawing screen size). Thanks for mentioning all of the products and apps you did and the battery use too. Good post!

SMART555: Thanks for mentions storage usage. I hope others will do so too. I am interested in how the various apps with charts take up memory on the iPads.

REDSKY: Thanks for mentioning what you did, especially mirroring, cases, etc.

NORTHWEST SAILOR: Thanks for your detailed post too. You provided several things I added to my notes for further research. I like that you mentioned your Mac running OpenCPN and the case and mirroring and the apps. I am sure I could learn a lot by visiting your boat and watching you use the networked and redundant system you have developed for navigation.

AHNEEMA: Thanks for the positive feedback on the thread. I am very happy it has developed as it has so far. I hope this one continues to get input as more view it and as new apps and products are developed during 2018.

JIMP1234: Thanks for bringing up the issue of AIS and RADAR mirroring using a WIFI box/method. I would like to learn more about that.

RANGER42C: Thanks for mentioning MaxSea TimeZero. I spent some hours last summer learning what I could about the latest version of it. It is a very impressive navigation software app. I would love to have it, but it is overkill (and overly expensive) for my current needs. I do like it, but just can't justify the expense now. I also appreciate what you wrote about the other charts, as I think that is something everyone should consider too.

TOMNH: Thanks for your opinion on the case you like, NMEA broadcasting, iSailor. You brought up some good points. Interesting.

DALETOURNIER: Thanks for mentions storage issues or needs. I have not seen OVitalmap yet, but will look at it. I appreciate what you have written in other threads about your use of sattelite imagery (Google Earth images) matched with your navigation software. I like that, and hope to learn more about it in the future. I also like your mention of redundancy. At this point, I would be the "redundant system" when crewing for others on their boats.
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Thanks to everyone, please continue to add insights, opinons, advice, and observations in this thread. I have found everything posted so far to be helpful to me, and I expect this discussion with help many more too.

Together you are making this a great, helpful, online sailing community!