On "So It Goes" we are in the process of updating and upgrading various systems and the next on the list is doing something about the awful Raymarine Bidata depth/log which has simply never worked very well. Hardly surprising as everything we have ever had on our boat that has had the moniker of Raymarine stamped on it has been, shall we say, less than advertised... When the Bidata comes out we will finally be a Raymarine free boat...Oh happy, happy day!
The plan is to replace the sounder with a small fishfinder (more about that another day) but the log and speed thing is still up in the air...
I still quite like the hockey puck styled Speed Puck by Velocitek but I don't like the battery as power source and while I have been waiting for sometime for them to (hopefully) come up with a unit that could be plugged into the ships power system so far I am still waiting which is a shame as I know a lot of cruising sailors who think this unit is the Bee's knees and would buy it in a shot with a different power source.
So I am still looking for a decent speed/log and almost feeling nostalgic for my old Walker log...
On a whole different tack is the very cool new App for an IPhone called the Sail Master which for $12. (really!) does just about everything one would need on a boat except make toast and walk the dog! VERY COOL!
Of course it is not suitable for cruising as battery problems and the fact that an IPhone is just not built to live in a cockpit for days on end and all the other abuse that is the day to day norm for gear on a voyaging sailboat.
That said if I actually had a phone (Globalstar certainly does not count as a phone but it is good for cracking nuts) I'd have an iPhone and I'd be all over this! The important bit though is it gives me hope... I've pretty much given up on the sailing gear big business folks actually coming up with any real innovation for the cruising sailor and it will be folks like Sail Master and Velocitek who will lead the way to better and more affordable nav products if they ever realized that the only folks sailing were not just racers...
Why Bikes?
2 weeks ago
