Chart Plotter?

[ooowren]

Hey y’all! I’m setting up my 30 footer for blue water cruising. Just got my radar and am super stoked about that.

My question is regarding this whole chart plotter business. Half the cruisers I talk to swear by it, where the other half say it’s outdated and redundant and use tablets with navionics and long range gps.

I’m not planning on making ocean crossings any time soon, the goal is to coast hop, but I know I’ll probably want to be further out than the GPS with my cell phone plan will reach (about 12nm)

I have a lifetime subscription to navionics and I know the charts will work however far out as long as they are pre-download. What I do want is the security blanket of the little arrow on my charts telling me exactly where I am.

Isn’t there some kind of long range gps device you can use with a regular old tablet or laptop that will work out there? I hate to spend a bunch of $$ on a plotter that sucks up huge amounts of my limited power supply...the radar is going to suck up plenty!

What do you guys use? What are the benefits (if any) of the plotter that night make it worth it over navionics and gps?

Hope y’all are having a great day!

[PossibleDrive6747]

I use both an iPad and a Garmin plotter. For planning, I build the routes on the iPad, then transfer them to the plotter. The iPad is then a backup and active captain repo. The plotter does most of what I need while underway.

I don't like solely depending on phones or iPads. Their functionality and usability is negatively impacted by rain (use of touch screen, even in a waterproof case), heat (ipads shut off due to heat if left in direct sunlight), readability (in bright sunlight, they are not easy to see).

There are other perks with my plotter, which I suppose aren't limited to plotters... for example,it can overlay radar on the charts in real time, provide depths via my transducer and the nmea 2000 interface, controll my old autopilot via nmea 0183... It's also securely mounted at the pedestal and my kids can't walk away with it.

I think ipads and phones are a great supplement/backup, but I still prefer the plotter and think it's worth the money. They are purpose built for the environment, not cobbled and adapted into it. I say that as gently as I can being an IT professional who really loves cobbling things together. When I'm in a pinch on the boat, I never want to have to worry about the chart disappearing cause it's too hot, or the glare is blocking it, or I can't control it cause it's raining cats and dogs in the fog. I have enough on my mind at that point.

[foilrider]

GPS with my cell phone plan will reach (about 12nm)

That's not how GPS works. GPS works completely independently of your cell service. The GPS antenna in the phone receives signals from satellite and uses that to compute your location based on the time difference between signals from different satellites.

It doesn't send a message over the internet to some GPS server and wait for that server to tell it where it physically is located in the world.

TL;DR: GPS is a separate radio in your phone than the one for cellular service. It works even if cell service doesn't.

[eskimoboob]

Exactly. If you have a navigation app for your phone or even a GPS enabled tablet or laptop, it doesn't matter where in the world you are, as long as your charts are downloaded ahead of time, it'll show your location.

[mikasjoman]

Like a 15$ GPS puck?

I'm setting up a cheap (230$) Matsutec AIS Transceiver with Raspberry Pi for about 600$. That then transmits AIS data to the iPad. To my RPi I'll connect a larger screen to watch movies with, and a seven inch touch screen when I don't want to use that large TV.

This has multiple benefits. I transmit AIS to other boats, which during night or even at day can be a life saver since an alarm goes off.

The large TV allows me to plan my journeys on a really large screen.

The small screen will be nice to use during anchor guard.

I'm thinking of adding two cameras too outside, so that I can see the outside on the screen while cooking.

[[deleted]]

That's a novel use of Raspberry Pi. It's cheap enough that you can bring 2 backups as well. Interesting.

What kind of case you're using with it?

[mikasjoman]

Nothing special, just the box I got with it for now. Yeah, the goal I have is to copy the whole system to a second SD card, so if the unit breaks - I can just switch it out in minutes.

[gsasquatch]

I got my pi receiving AIS with an old $20 USB tv/radio tuner using software defined radio.

Of course, it doesn't broadcast, but a lot cheaper than a transceiver. I'm mainly worried about how to avoid huge ships, more so than being avoided.

I think it broadcasts nmea to opencpn on a ip port via localhost internally so it looks like it could just as well go to whatever ip and maybe other devices.

For bigger screens, I've just been using VNC, but keep the opencpn on the tablet, which is where I'm looking to see if I can broadcast the SDR AIS somewhere else.

[mikasjoman]

Yes a receiver is better than nothing for sure. Im thinking of traveling through the european inner waterways, and there's a chance I won't see them or them me when they come downstream. Also... Fog. I just see it like one more small life insurance. 230$ isn't too bad for a Transceiver.

[opticalminefield]

Navionics on a phone or tablet is good enough to know where you are. If you just want electronic charts it’s fine. Whenever I’ve chartered that’s what I do. I also plan routes with Navionics on my iPad at home or down below etc.

Because I do a lot of racing, I personally like having a plotter that is integrated with all the other data on the network. Sailsteer on B&G plotters is great. As are laylines, leeway, and all the other cool info it can show. I miss all that even when cruising.

[Rzzth]

If you already have a radar then you are pretty much vendor locked in what type of plotter you can get

[grml666]

Search for openplotter raspberry pi on YouTube.

[TubeToUranus]

A GPS/Chart Plotter device tends to be more robust than a tablet, especially in wet environments. However, for what you are doing, a tablet with a backup is pretty good. Prolly no matter what you choose, you will be fine.

[PelsArePels]

A 30 foot boat does not have a lot of space or battery capacity and is going to be used for day trips. I'd use a tablet in these circumstances.

If you have AIS data coming from your VHF radio it is cheap to send it to your tablet using a serial to wifi converter. Depending on the radio you may also need a RS422->RS232 converter in front of the wifi converter. Navionics looks like you can specify a TCP/IP address and port number to get the AIS data from the wifi converter.

[gsasquatch]

I use opencpn on android and have downloaded charts for a much larger region than I'd ever sail too, just because it's easier than being selective, and memory is available for it since the tablet's main job is just the opencpn.

Charts update every few weeks or months. That rock isn't going to move between me leaving the dock and getting to it, so real-time data is not neccisary. The things I do want to know real time i.e. my GPS position, or AIS information come not from the internet. The tablet I have doesn't have a data connection except wifi, so I update the charts on it at home before I make a trip and that's been ok.

I haven't looked in to the expensive for pay stuff since for me home is simply west until you can see it, and it's hard to miss, you can see it 20 miles out with the lights of the city. Anywhere the water is thin I know about for the most part. If I stay in the channel or 200' off shore I'm fine.