Quote:
Originally Posted by newsailor12
Hey Guys,
New to the site, I sail Lake Superior primarily along the coastline, I am looking to upgrade/install a naviagation/electronics system. Any recommendations? What is necessary vs. overkill? I have been looking at a garmin 73cv+, any experience or better recommendations? After you get a good navigation system is there anything else you should add to it or purchase or upload to make it better suited for where I sail?
Last question, does anyone have any experience with opencpn? What do you guys use on your ipad or tablet while sailing?
Sorry for all the guestions. Thanks
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I suggest thinking beyond the
hardware per se and determining your navigational procedures, i.e. how you will operate.
If you use only a fixed
chartplotter at the
helm, how do you plan your
route and/or alternatives at home before you go to the
boat? What about route planning on the
boat while at
anchor overnight during inclement weather/storm? What about complete
power outage...it happened to me.
If you use a
laptop at the nav station and a
chartplotter, how do you transfer the route to the
helm chartplotter or vice versa? Are they compatible or will you have to go through a third party system or another
software program? My experience has been that even within the same manufacturer transfers are not always possible between different models or generations of
equipment.
I voyaged solo to
Alaska years ago on my
San Juan 28 with laptop charts in the
cabin (no nav station) and a Garmin 45 on the
cockpit bulkhead. The planning on the laptop was great but I had to then transfer the coordinates to the Garmin 45 one waypoint at a time...but that still beat picking coordinates off of paper charts.
I still use laptop charts (Coastal Explorer v3.1) for planning and enroute but now at the nav station on a Tayana
Vancouver 42. The routes are then transferred electronically to a Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx for use at the helm. Enroute changes are handled quickly. This worked for me on round trips to
Hawaii and
Alaska. I was going to upgrade to a Garmin GPSMAP 78SC but just learned that transfer protocols are no longer available outside of Garmin (they want you to use their charts), so it will no longer
work as it did in the past if I upgrade
hardware. So, I have purchased a used Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx as a backup off eBay for $110 and will stick with what works.
There are tradeoffs to consider. So, think it through before you decide and be cautious of models and
software versions.
Good Luck.
~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH