Some of us are just a bit obsessive about getting that last quarter of a knot out of our boat. We spend most of our time at the winches and very little behind the helm, which presents a problem. There are no instruments forward of the helm, so how do we know what all that trimming is doing to our boat speed? The usual solution is to have a crew member call out boat speed, or locate a wired repeater somewhere under the dodger. With the proliferation of Apple wireless devices, there is a much easier way to view all of your navigation information from anywhere in the cockpit or even below decks.
The iPad and iPhone have revolutionized many aspects of our lives, and now they are starting to change the boating electronics industry. I discovered this phenomenon last fall at the Annapolis Strictly
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Warren Elliot
C380 #44 My Bride II. Mainsheet Summer 2012
How can this be, you ask?? We’re talking about a pretty simple hunk of metal…so what’s the story??
The story starts back in mid summer last year, when the admiral and I were cruising our C380 in waters just short of Cape Cod, about 100 miles east of our Long Island Sound home port of New Haven, CT. Our mission was to do a bit of visiting/exploring for several days before heading into New Bedford, MA for the Catalina East Coast Rendezvous.
This was, by most standards, a pretty nice day except that, even with the sails set, it unfortunately required mechanical horsepower to attain any reasonable forward speed, particularly as our destination was quite a few miles off. The day passed uneventfully until I decided to do one of my “daily” engine checks. So the admiral took over the
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For anyone who has followed the long and tedious thread on my F-O-F prop, here is the conclusion:
I finally exchanged the blades to 18×11. This is either the perfect pitch or slightly under. An 18×12 would probably work fine too, but the 18×13 was clearly too much. My RPM is around 3750 while it should be 3600. Trouble is, my tach shows inconsistent reading when above 3500 RPM. Bottom line is at the top of my cruising range 3000 RPM boat speed is between 6.7-7.4 knots. This is as good if not slightly better than the fixed 18×12 prop I replaced. Sailing in light air gains ½ knot boat speed when folded. Haven’t had heavier air as of yet which is uncommon this time of year. Prop walk is virtually non-existent. I am very happy with the prop.
One word of caution if you are a prospective F-O-F buyer.
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The final version of this article has been sent to Mainsheet for publication and also added to this website. The following are notes that were not part of the final document but which may be helpful.
Notes:
– I experimented with two different WiFi routers for this installation, with mixed results. I used a $30 Netgear router and a $120 D-Link router. They both work very well at home, but the Netgear router proved unreliable onboard the boat. Connection to the iPad took 30 to 45 seconds and frequently failed. Also, the NMEA data stream was slow and sporadic. Since it worked well at home I suspect that the Netgear router is more susceptible to electronic interference than the D-Link router when placed behind the nav desk with all the electrical wires and other electronic equipment.
– The following Raymarine article describes the process of adding a WiFi router downstream
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Navoinics for iPad:
Connects to Raymarine NMEA and Seatalk streams via standard WiFi router
Upload/download waypoints and routes
No real-time instrument repeater
Navionics charts included in price
$35 USA. $50 USA & Canada
INavX:
Requires hardware such as iMux for WiFi and to translate Seatalk to NMEA – $250 approx
Supplied with NOAA raster charts. Navionics or others are addl $50 approx
Upload/download PLUS real-time instrument repeater capabilities
$50 with NOAA charts
I’d appreciate any corrections to the above. It would be nice to find out that the less expensive Navionics will repeat instruments, but I have not found any evidence of that.
Users report that iNavX has much better functionality overall. Even at $350 for the total package it is relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of an ST70 Multi repeater or a below decks chartplotter, assuming
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If you are interested check out the forum at iphonesailing.com. That’s where I found the answers to many of my questions. Both the iNavX and Navionics users on that forum were very helpful in clarifying the hardware and software required to interface both apps to the E80. Also, there is much good info regarding the capabilities of each app.
Jeff Church
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If there’s one thing I’ve learned, you can’t have a productive technical conversation based on fuzzy hypothetical options, and shifting objectives.
I can find no evidence that the mobile Navionics application “understands Seatalk”. What may be misleading is that the Raymarine Raytech RNS software, which “understands Seatalk without a mux”, uses Navionics charts. Brookhouse also stipulates the Program iNavx as a requirement for using their iMux combiner, again using Navionics charts. Navionics Mobile supports Plotter Sync which enables the wireless exchange of waypoint and route data. The following link is to a YouTube video by Raymarine which clearly demonstrates what is exchanged.
I don’t share the assessment that the Brookhouse iMux is for “somebody who is starting from scratch.” It was designed, built and is marketed to address the question and requirement you initially detailed…”Is it possible to access Seatalk information on an iPad thru its wifi connection and either
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I did a little more research. Called Navionics and Raymarine.
Navionics says that their iPad app is primarily intended as a stand-alone app and told me to contact Ray regarding interfacing with a chartplotter. That seemed odd considering that Navionics developed Plotter Sync and incorporated it into their app less than a year ago as an interface to Raymarine plotters.
Ray says that they have “stepped away from Plotter Sync” because it was not reliable. I suspect that another reason might be that it competes with their new E7 chartplotter’s WiFi connect features.
My takeaway is that the Navionics app is probably useful as a nav tool and it MIGHT interface, but since I’m looking for an instrument repeater I’ll be looking at the iNavX app instead. iNavX is a bit more expensive, but it gets good reviews from folks who are using it as a plotter and real-time repeater
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Some early Catalina 380″s may have void areas between the hull and the back of the refrigerators present insulation. Voids area will be found on both side as well as the frontal areas. Additional foam must be added to the bottom area, some sort of temporary cofferdam will be required in this area. The following procedure will increase the “R” value of the refrigerator.
Please Take Note:
This procedure will require great care in the drilling and injecting of the foam. Caution will be required when drilling thru the refrigerator outboard face to the void area. Drilling too deep will contact the hull or hull liner. Use caution when injecting this foam. It can become very messy stuff. Clean with lacquer thinner or acetone immediately. All drilled hoes to be 1/4″ diameter.
Step 1. Remove range
Step 2. Remove sole and sub sole in the area of
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I wanted to share with all of you the outcome of the companionway hatch
cover that I wrote about a few weeks ago. Here is what I said at the time.
Mine, a 2000, hull 226, I guess is what Warren described as the “old” slider
version, which is all smoked acrylic. I have a similar problem –hatch
sticks and, depending on the weather, it is almost impossible to open and
close. Two companies in the yard (general maintenance and a fiberglass
expert) have looked at the hatch and the hatch frame and both concluded that
the “sticking” problem is caused by a structural problem with the framing.
According to both, the cabin hatch frame has a wood base that the hatch
frame screws into. According to one person who looked at the framing, a
certain amount of non-orthodox adjustments were made to build up the frame
to accommodate the
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