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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1. I replaced the original front motor mounts by first separating the prop to engine coupler so I could later tilt the engine to slide out the mounts, one corner at a time.
2. I noted the number of stud treads exposed on either side of the up/down adjustment nuts and marked the new motor mount stud for that engine corner accordingly so I could duplicate the same adjustment setting on the new mount for that specific corner.
3. Traced the outline of the original motor mount as it rested on the hull engine grid ( stringer) to ensure the side to side bolts adjustment template spacing is recorded before removing the engine mount to hull grid by removing the hull attachment bolts.
4. I then removed the stud adjustment nut securing the engine to the mount so the engine could be lifted above the mount
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