AIS Issues

[Alemao]

I'll have to cruise almost 6,000miles do Rio de Janeiro. I have an old Simrad that's the screen doens't work.
My question: can I change just the screen? How can I check it?
If I have robust another one, which one?

 

[Aquabelle]

If you are doing a trip like that, you must have a decent chartplotter...so why not get an AIS unit that will connect to that...and to a laptop as well if you wish. One of the best buys around right now is the Sitex Metadata Transponder. It is available on-line from Defender Marine for around $550 and comes complete with an internal GPS (with external connection GPS socket too); and can be connected using NMEA 0183; NMEA2000; and/or a USB. (no financial interest...just what I would go for myself)

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|344|2028691|2028908&id=1849984

 

[Steve]

Have you seen the site Uma Viagem Martima ao Redor da Terra of a couple from Brazil who made the trip North to Florida from Santos. They are also doing the "Great Loop" and not far from completing it.
Steve W

 

[rwidman]

I'll have to cruise almost 6,000miles do Rio de Janeiro. I have an old Simrad that's the screen doens't work.
My question: can I change just the screen? How can I check it?
If I have robust another one, which one?

You can't change just the screen. You might be able to find a shop to repair the unit, but if it's "old", it's probably outdated so repairing it would leave you with an outdated, obsolete unit that you've just invested several hundred dollars in.

My suggestion - replace, don't repair. Get something with all the latest features that you need or can use.

 

[Delfin]

I was told that Simrad no longer supports the old radar units so repair may not be easy.

 

[Alemao]

Thank you, I already have a cart to buy in Defender Marine and will add the Sitex like you said.

 

[Alemao]

Steve, thank you, from now on, I'm visiting the site every day, there are many tricks and ideas that I'll need

 

[BobH]

Just installed the Sitex unit. Very nicely built. Be aware though that the NMEA 183 output is at 38400 baud. But, there is a NMEA 183 input at 4800 baud and anything coming in on that port is repeated at the high speed output port. Saved me one NMEA port on the chartplotter.

Defender did all the setup for MMSI number and boat info. Plugged it in, connected the antenna and NMEA ports and it came right up. Shortly thereafter got an ASI alarm. Seems there was a boat in the marina next door heading right for my boat. Apparenly the unit did not realize there were two parking lots and a street between us.

Bob

 

[Alemao]

Thank you BobH. One question, my Boat will change the name and numbers when I'll arrive in Brazil. Can I change these informations or I have to ask Defender?

 

[BobH]

According to the manual, the vessel data must be programmed by a competent installer. It is a violation of of FCC rules for the end user to program the vessel data. This applies to US Customers only.

The USB connection allows you to program the MMSI, Vessel Name, Vessel Type, Call Sign and vessel dimensions. But I don't know if you can change that data after it has been programmed by the dealer. It does say that the MMSI number can only be programmed once using the USB port.

You may want to contact Defender or Sitex and explain your particular issues.

Bob

 

[Alemao]

Thank you again, from now on you are my Eletronic Guru

Sergio "Alemao" Sztancsa, Sent from my iPhone using Trawler

 

[BobH]

Actually I did ask Defender about what would happen if/when we sold the boat and they told me that the data could be changed but I didn't get into the details.

Not sure if I'm ready to be a guru though.

Bob

 

[Alemao]

Hi Bob,
I read that I can't change the vessel data after the AIS was programmed , then I intend to use just a Si-Tex Receiver MDA-2. I just need an AIS to cruise, in Brazil we don't use.
What do think about my Guru?

Sergio "Alemao" Sztancsa, Sent from my iPhone using Trawler

 

[psneeld]

you really don't need AIS at all...while it's a great tool, there are lots of vessels that can run you down that don't have AIS.

 

[Alemao]

Psneeld,
Great, I'll save some money
I'l spending a lot, equipping and reviewing equipment.
I'm buying a new batterie, fishing equipment, new outboard motor, new inflatable boat, new everything that I can

 

[psneeld]

A great RADAR and knowing how to use it is far more valuable...and for long distance coastal cruising...I would have a small backup before I bought AIS.

 

[sunchaser]

AIS is a great safety device especially for blue water cruising. Yachts, ferries and freighters do indeed collide. This past summer we had many calls from large yachts, tugs, ferries and freighters giving passing instructions as they noted us on AIS. I would never be without one especially when cruising in foggy weather in the PNW or in the open ocean at night.

 

[Alemao]

I don't intend to navigate at night, but I think that I'll need close the coastal in the North of South America.
A friend said to don't do that because I can find a floating tree trunk.
I'm looking for places to stop to just navigate during the day light.

 

[Larry M]

you really don't need AIS at all...while it's a great tool, there are lots of vessels that can run you down that don't have AIS.

Scot: Very true plus you have to make sure you don't run someone down. On a previous trip, Lena and I went from Salvador, Brazil to North Carolina via Trinidad and the Caribbean. This summer we arrived back to Trinidad via the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Central America. While AIS is a great tool, the majority of the vessels that we encountered did not have AIS. Even using radar is a challenge. There are lots of fishing vessels less than 40 feet, made of wood or fiberglass that make lousy targets. We turned a local fishing vessel around in 2011 off the Guatemalan Coast. Two guys were sound a sleep in their 30 something foot open boat at 3am with no lights on. We were 6 miles off the coast when the starboard paravane glanced off the side off their boat. No one was hurt, it just scared the crap out of the four of us. After we stopped they turned their lights on, we said our apologies and off we went. All the navigation aids we have help make crusing safer but they don't all add up to 100% safe. **** still happens.

 

[psneeld]

Scot: Very true plus you have to make sure you don't run someone down. On a previous trip, Lena and I went from Salvador, Brazil to North Carolina via Trinidad and the Caribbean. This summer we arrived back to Trinidad via the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Central America. While AIS is a great tool, the majority of the vessels that we encountered did not have AIS. Even using radar is a challenge. There are lots of fishing vessels less than 40 feet, made of wood or fiberglass that make lousy targets. We turned a local fishing vessel around in 2011 off the Guatemalan Coast. Two guys were sound a sleep in their 30 something foot open boat at 3am with no lights on. We were 6 miles off the coast when the starboard paravane glanced off the side off their boat. No one was hurt, it just scared the crap out of the four of us. After we stopped they turned their lights on, we said our apologies and off we went. All the navigation aids we have help make crusing safer but they don't all add up to 100% safe. **** still happens.

Thanks... I know the Caribbean well enough to know AIS would have serious limitations and provide a nonsensical feeling of false security...which is where the OP is headed...not Puget Sound..

 

[sunchaser]

psneeld

By my count there are about 330 vessels in the Caribbean today with AIS on, excluding the 325 moving around the Canal Zone. Talk yourself out of safety gear, but don't try to convince the rest of us AIS has "serious limitations." As an ex USCG flyer I'm a bit surprised by your stance. It certinly doesn't fit with the top USCG Admiral's position on AIS.

I well remember when radar for yachties was a "waste of $$, GPS would never work and EPIRBs were a nuisance and too expensive. Well, guess what -----

 

[psneeld]

psneeld

By my count there are about 330 vessels in the Caribbean today with AIS on, excluding the 325 moving around the Canal Zone. Talk yourself out of safety gear, but don't try to convince the rest of us AIS has "serious limitations." As an ex USCG flyer I'm a bit surprised by your stance. It certinly doesn't fit with the top USCG Admiral's position on AIS.

I well remember when radar for yachties was a "waste of $$, GPS would never work and EPIRBs were a nuisance and too expensive. Well, guess what -----

You have completely missed the point.... and there's another Caribbean cruiser that supports my way of thinking.

If you think the top USCG Admiral has any idea what us little guys do...you are overestimating the US Government that I had a great insight on for 23 years. Most USCG officers have very little experience with rec boats.

And I could care less about convincing you...I'm just passing along realistic experience on the water and on waters you may have or NOT have any knowledge of....and already had one other supporting comment from a member with lot's of experience in those waters.

Wow... 330 vessels in the whole Caribbean on AIS...I'll bet those are the only ones creating a hazard for cruisers down there...excluding 300 some more right around a known choke point...you just proved my point...

Plus I never said anything about those other technologies...now or before...

Sure buy and use AIS...just don't think it's all that "yachtie" mags say it is for a LOT of cruising. Sure in Heavy comm areas it's very useful...as a rec boater I avoid those areas just because of the collision issue...

 

[BobH]

Just my two cents. We went from Norfolk across to Block Island. Crossing the New York shipping lanes, an AIS would have been really helpful. Yes, radar and MARPA are good, but AIS would have beeen much better. Same applies coming south and going into Hampton Roads.

It was a dark and stormy night coming into Galveston Bay with a partiallly unfurled jib, too windy to roll it out and try again. While tacking back and forth in the dark, AIS would have been really helpful to see which ships where moving and which where at anchor. Again, radar helped, but under the conditions really hard to keep track of all the targets.

Crossing the Gulf from Clear Water to Galveston, one night we picked up a target which looked like it would cross in front of us. He finally hailed us on the radio to let us know that he was trailing 8 miles of sonobuoys and we had the choice of really speeding up to get in front of him or to change course to 8 miles behind him. AIS would have helped us indentify him as a survey ship and also helped him to contact us directly.

While we have not done any long offshore cruising, in our experiene in coastal cruising, AIS is definitely worth having. Not sure it's worth that much in the Bahamas or Caribbean, other than to keep track of buddy boats.

Bob

 

[SomeSailor]

Don't underestimate the value of "being seen" that a Class B transceiver adds to the equation. Watch standers aboard US Navy ships certainly do acknowledge and track them as they pick them up. I've spent many watches aboard US aircraft carriers and maintaining target contacts was always our highest priority.

 

[Alemao]

Larry M
Where did you refueled in the North of South America. I´m afraid because I have just about 700/800 miles of autonomy and agains stream from up to 3 miles.

 

[Larry M]

Larry M
Where did you refueled in the North of South America. I´m afraid because I have just about 700/800 miles of autonomy and agains stream from up to 3 miles.

We fueled in Fortaleza and then Trinidad (this trip was a sailboat). We stopped in French Guyana but there were no fuel docks but fuel was available close by. Take a look at the current charts. You will be facing a north west setting current of about 1 knot average from Trinidad to about 7 degrees south. Maybe 55 gallon drums on the back deck?

 

[Alemao]

O already bought a cage tank that can fit 275 gals. I'll need some place to refuel.
In my 4 tanks, I can fit almost 800 gals.
I'm going tomorrow to Fort Lauderdale to fix and instal the rest that is missing and I'll make a sea trial and a chart of consumption.

Sergio "Alemao" Sztancsa, Sent from my iPhone using Trawler

 

[Larry M]

I thought I would pass this along. I just received this from some friends who were on their way from Morehead City to St. Augustine. Paul & Chris have sailed from Seattle to FL and Nova Scotia to FL plus some. Not rookies. They do have AIS on their Outbound 44.

...Now comes the exciting part. At about 4am we were motor sailing 32 miles offshore approaching Cape Fear. There was some moon, but the overcast skies made for a dark night. I was on watch, while Chris was sleeping in the starboard bunk. Crunch! The sound was like the old soda and beer cans, when they were thicker than todays paper thin ones, being stomped on on the sand. A metal crush muffled sound. I jumped up and pulled the throttle back to idle. Chris jumped up and reinserted her heart back into her chest. Having a medical background can be helpful in these situations. I looked behind me and there was 20-25ft cabin cruiser style fishing boat a few hundred feet off my stern. No lights! Just the gray looking outline of a white boat in the dark. It looked like a boat that was abandoned or just drifting. I turned the boat around to investigate. Then the green and red running lights turned on on the boat. I tried raising them on the radio, but no response. Eventually we came up close enough to yell to them, “Are you OK?” They said yes. We then yelled at them to pick up channel 16 on the radio. After a brief, somewhat strange conversation, he said he was fine, that we didn’t need to stand by.
Looking at our boat showed no damage. The best I can figure out is that we did a glancing blow with our 77lb Spade anchor on our bow. I had the Radar running at the time with a 2 mile guard zone. It is supposed to sound an alarm if anything enters the zone. This boats radar signature was just too small. Night watches became even more diligent from then on.

 

[Marin]

And AIS would have been of no value whatsoever in this incident since the other boat didn't have it. Radar, yes, eyeballs, yes. But AIS, no.

Which is one reason we have not bothered to get it. Other than being able to find out the name and destination of "that container ship over there," we so far see no value in it for the kind of boating we do here. When the visibility is low we use whichever of the three VTS services apply to our location if we are in an area with commercial shipping. And we use our radar all the time regardless of the visibility.

We can certainly envision situations or locations where AIS would be invaluable on a recreational boat, but these waters do not strike us being one of them.

 

[rwidman]

I thought I would pass this along. I just received this from some friends who were on their way from Morehead City to St. Augustine. Paul & Chris have sailed from Seattle to FL and Nova Scotia to FL plus some. Not rookies. They do have AIS on their Outbound 44.

...Now comes the exciting part. At about 4am we were motor sailing 32 miles offshore approaching Cape Fear. There was some moon, but the overcast skies made for a dark night. I was on watch, while Chris was sleeping in the starboard bunk. Crunch! The sound was like the old soda and beer cans, when they were thicker than todays paper thin ones, being stomped on on the sand. A metal crush muffled sound. I jumped up and pulled the throttle back to idle. Chris jumped up and reinserted her heart back into her chest. Having a medical background can be helpful in these situations. I looked behind me and there was 20-25ft cabin cruiser style fishing boat a few hundred feet off my stern. No lights! Just the gray looking outline of a white boat in the dark. It looked like a boat that was abandoned or just drifting. I turned the boat around to investigate. Then the green and red running lights turned on on the boat. I tried raising them on the radio, but no response. Eventually we came up close enough to yell to them, “Are you OK?” They said yes. We then yelled at them to pick up channel 16 on the radio. After a brief, somewhat strange conversation, he said he was fine, that we didn’t need to stand by.
Looking at our boat showed no damage. The best I can figure out is that we did a glancing blow with our 77lb Spade anchor on our bow. I had the Radar running at the time with a 2 mile guard zone. It is supposed to sound an alarm if anything enters the zone. This boats radar signature was just too small. Night watches became even more diligent from then on.

I don't know what a "20-25ft cabin cruiser style fishing boat " is, but if they didn't bother to turn on their anchor light, I doubt they would have turned on an AIS transciever even if they had one on board. As rare as an AIS receiver is on small boats, a transciever is far more rare.

As far as radar, fiberglass doesn't show up on radar very well. Some folks install a metal radar reflector to improve the radar visibility on their fiberglass boats.