Cheap Instruments

[Guest]

Faced with paying over $700 for a map of NZ for my banged up Chart Plotter I thought I'd best move into the 21st century.

Hooked up one of those imux things that gathers all the data and pokes it out on wifi. Bought about $70 worth of nav and instrument apps on the ipad. Grabbed a waterproof case (life something) made a mould and layed up a carbon tray that now is fitted into the bulkhead. No GPS data from the CP(it's gone) so got a super cheapo little GPS receiver which sits behind the switch board and gets a fix faster than anything I've seen before. Plugged that into the imux as well and all that data whizzes around and feed the autopilot and the ipad and everything else on board. Now have the best touchscreen chartplotter and every imaginable instrument combination including analogue look wind if I wanted it. Enough battery to do a coastal classic or just use the smart phone as a backup. Could even sit on the beach and check the depth and wind at the boat if I was that anal. Weather, email, porn, you name it. Flip it out and take it home.

It's pretty hard to see why I'd spend money on a new chartplotter.

[Guest]

Another photo

[Black Panther 1,586]

 

I'm waiting till the last moment before committing to anything, I figure it will only get cheaper and better. That is seriously slick though.

[Guest]

I wonder if I should knock up a few off the mould.

[wheels 543]

Soo, what's that screen? It looks awesome.

[all fired up 6]

I use Navionics on the iPad, plus a few handy racing apps as well. The iPad goes into a waterproof jacket that velcros onto the hatch top.

I see no need for a fancy & expensive chart plotter.

 

Zen, the only issue I see with the iPad mounted where it is , is that when somebody is cranking on the winch above it there is a chance of them putting a knee or hip into the screen.

 

a.f.u

[Guest]

Soo, what's that screen? It looks awesome.

 

Its an ipad

[Changed 10]

Hi Zen what apps are you using. By the way I like the bulkhead mount. I crushed my first iPad in the RNI. It was in the soft WP bag. The permanent mount is the way. Do you use a 4G ipad? The pairing with the iphone works well for everything except the GPS (in my case).

[Changed 10]

Can someone help?

 

SOG - speed over ground.

MSOG -

ASOG-

[k88 7]

Zen, whats the screen like in bright sunlight? Do you have it connected to power?

[Young Entertainer 59]

start building I think Steve, I will have to check out mount and apps, just got the ipad to use on the boat and waterproof case, now all I need to do it figure out the right apps and how to use them

[Island Time 1,235]

This is the way of the future. High priced plotters etc will become a thing of the past. Still a couple of issues with an Ipad. Not great in sunlight. When in the waterproof case, no power connection available. No radar connections via wifi, and no cable connection ability. I'd be happy to be updated if anyone knows different.

Oh yes, and the imux is nmea0183 only.

Quite a few transducers are available now with NMEA 0183 or 2000 direct, so any of these systems are good then.

For a full working system use a laptop with opencpn. If you want to ad a screen in the cockpit, a proper sunlight viewable, rugged, waterproof touch screens are available from about $600.00.

Touch screens sound good, but can get accidentally activated in a position like the ipad pic.

Nice tidy install!

[Guest]

Hi Zen what apps are you using. By the way I like the bulkhead mount. I crushed my first iPad in the RNI. It was in the soft WP bag. The permanent mount is the way. Do you use a 4G ipad? The pairing with the iphone works well for everything except the GPS (in my case).

 

iNavx is the one that works with the imux.

NMEA remote is the instrument thingy.

Ordinary old ipad, not using the ipad GPS as it doesnt go both ways. So the nav info is from the little receiver hidden deep in the boat, bloody amazing. That way I can feed the AP. The AP can almost be controlled from the ipad. Just have to confirm on the AP head unit once the route has been set up on iNavx. It's all a bit much actually. I'd rather just get the bearing and either steer to it or push auto once I'm on it but it's interesting anyway.

[Guest]

This is the way of the future. High priced plotters etc will become a thing of the past. Still a couple of issues with an Ipad. Not great in sunlight. When in the waterproof case, no power connection available. No radar connections via wifi, and no cable connection ability. I'd be happy to be updated if anyone knows different.

Oh yes, and the imux is nmea0183 only.

Quite a few transducers are available now with NMEA 0183 or 2000 direct, so any of these systems are good then.

For a full working system use a laptop with opencpn. If you want to ad a screen in the cockpit, a proper sunlight viewable, rugged, waterproof touch screens are available from about $600.00.

Touch screens sound good, but can get accidentally activated in a position like the ipad pic.

Nice tidy install!

Agree with all of that. This is bloody cheap though. Already owned the ipad. I thought long and hard about the charging thing. Umless I was doing another RNI it's not a problem though. Even then you only turn the thing on a few times a day. 2 ipads would fix the problem. One downstairs on charge. But I didnt want to compromise the waterproofing.

The coolest thing about this is it's simple. The case is very secure in the tray and won't fall out ever. But you can see the bottom right is not only for turning it off but also for getting a finger under to pull it out.

 

Zen, whats the screen like in bright sunlight? Do you have it connected to power?

 

Pretty good really. The life something or rather case from England has some sort on anti glare thing going on.

[Island Time 1,235]

Zen, the advantage of the route following by the AP is that it will automatically adjust the course for leeway and tide. Pushing auto wont do that. It means you can follow your course with very little cross track error - almost always less than a helmsman, as it has 100% concentration! Depending on your AP, and your ipad software, it may also steer to wind angle. But I'm sure you knew that! Others may not have, so I thought it might be useful for some.

[Guest]

start building I think Steve, I will have to check out mount and apps, just got the ipad to use on the boat and waterproof case, now all I need to do it figure out the right apps and how to use them

 

You know where I am Craig.

[Guest]

Zen, the only issue I see with the iPad mounted where it is , is that when somebody is cranking on the winch above it there is a chance of them putting a knee or hip into the screen.

 

a.f.u

 

Yes, I'm a bit worried about that as well. Wait and see.

[Guest]

Zen, the advantage of the route following by the AP is that it will automatically adjust the course for leeway and tide. Pushing auto wont do that. It means you can follow your course with very little cross track error - almost always less than a helmsman, as it has 100% concentration! Depending on your AP, and your ipad software, it may also steer to wind angle. But I'm sure you knew that! Others may not have, so I thought it might be useful for some.

 

Yes, does all that as well. If you want it to.

 

The thing that really bugged me was that the bloody thing sailed faster than I did in 3 knots of breeze.

 

I DO NOT use it racing.

[Guest]

Bought a cheap tablet on line from "Tablet World . com" Has built in GPS as well as Bluetooth, phone and all other bells and whistles . $230.00 US. Have only got Navionics on it at this stage. It comes with a couple of GPS test thingys but one is in MPH ( could probably change it if I knew how )

Worth a look if you are looking for a cheap ipad copy.

[Island Time 1,235]

Yep, an andriod tablet will work as well. However the quality of the Nav apps is not as good at this point.

 

For a blue water/cruising boat, if you have opencpn on a pc below, an andriod tablet with an application like teamviewer, will allow you to view and control the PC (with every instrument you might want, incl AIS, Radar, Email, movies, music etc, etc) from the tablet, which can, of course, be mobile or in a bracket mounted anywhere on board. So you get the best instruments and apps for very few $...., + if you break the tablet, or it's flat, it doesn't really matter!