A must read article on the subject of diesel engines, an excellent choice for the BLM, and in the "Just dumb as a bag of hammers" files...
This morning I had a few emails asking why I did not include a lead line in my post yesterday. Well, I really should have one on the boat somewhere but since I never use it, I simply spaced it. But, yeah, it really would be handy.
Which, sorta/kinda brings us to depth sounders. On So It Goes we have two. One, a Fishfinder/chart plotter and two, another cheap (I think I bought it on sale for $60.) portable fishfinder set up to be used in the dinghy. The thing about fishfinders instead of depth sounders sold for sailboats is that the fishfinders provide a lot more information in terms of bottom features and type, plus they're quite a bit cheaper. Which, when you consider it, is very much a win/win.
As I mentioned one of the depth sounders is a chart plotter as well and it is a Raymarine Dragonfly 5PRO which I also bought on sale. It unsurprisingly outperforms most sailboat-oriented chart plotters at a fraction of the price.
What's even better about the Dragonfly is that it has a WIFI channel so will broadcast to your tablet, phone, or computer.
Designed for open boats and kayaks it's more than up to the rigors of being installed in the hard dodger which is pretty much all I need in the cockpit. The only other instrument in the cockpit is the VDO Sumlog.
Pricing on Dragonflys is all over the place. I've seen them selling for as low as $199 to as high as $599. As it is an old model, I'd hold out for something around the $200 dollar price mark or less. The only downside I've found with the Dragonfly is it is annoying that the icon for your location is a power boat.
We also have a Humminbird 785c2i chart plotter which is mounted inside the boat next next to our dinette/navigation table. Again, bought on sale for a fraction of its list price.
For our VHS we have a Standard Horizon radio which also has GPS and AIS receivers. We took advantage of the Defender sale which had a great price as well as a big rebate from Standard Horizon. Plus we thought that the RAM4 remote access mike which plugs into hard dodger gives us better communications and AIS monitoring in the cockpit.
On the radio front, we also have a couple of inexpensive handheld VHFs.
That's pretty much it in terms of electronics. Obviously there's a lot of redundancy on show with three stand alone GPS units, two separate depth sounders and three VHFs,
As far as new gear goes, the only thing I'm on the lookout for is an AIS transceiver but only when the price comes down a bit more and someone puts them on deep discount.
Listening to some best of April covers
So it goes...
