GPS settings, and Wind Turbine charging

Hi all, just back from a week out, including negotiating up the Brisbane River to watch the New Year fireworks display.* Two interesting things emerged.* The Airbreeze was so effective in adding its share of charge to the engine when running and the solar panels when sunny, (we don't have a diesel auxilliary charger), I found myself going round turning on lights we didn't really need, even ones with incandescent bulbs, (having installed low draw LEDs in most places to save power drain), to give it a fair go...otherwise the full charge kept shutting it down rudely just when it was getting into its stride.* Now that's what I call a nice problem to have.

The other point of interest relates to the issue which has come up before as to how people set up their GPS, ie North up, or course/track up..?

Well, thanks to inadvertently re-setting all my pre-sets by accident trying to alter the depth frequency from 50Hz to 200Hz, (because it kept ignoring my commands - still not sure why - bloody computers), I ended up with North up, and for quite a time it proved impossible to get it back to Track up.* I'm still not sure why, as I was following the instructions to the letter, but the upshot was that for a couple of days, particularly those when we were negotiating the river, she steadfastly stayed on North up, and I can tell you it was weird.* It is one thing to look at a chart and mentally follow courses in varying directions, up down or across, but when you are following a line in a channel on the move, and the boat icon arrow is not course up, it is not impossible but much less natural and convenient, and I was very pleased when the Lowrance stopped its hissy fit and allowed a change back to track up.* The comparison between the two different settings in real time was...well...quite convincing as to which is best in my view.* Track up any day.* FWIW.

I'm with you, Peter...track up makes more sense to me. This weekend, I ran Navionics on my droid wile cruising the river. I can't seem to find an option for track up on that app, so it ran north up all day. It takes a little getting used to, but I liked having the redundancy.

Good luck on finding your resets. Gotta love those computers!!

I find the North Up to be the best for my use, primarily I think because when I first started using a plotter I thought it only made sense to follow the same convention as the paper charts. So rightly or wrongly that is what I'm used to. I do the same in my vehicles although I sometimes find that to be a little bit disconcerting, epecially when going south.

I think it's whatever you get used to.

Peter I've always liked you a lot but I'm glad I'm not near you w that buzzing windmill.

Eric

Peter B wrote:
*The other point of interest relates to the issue which has come up before as to how people set up their GPS, ie North up, or course/track up..?

*

I have played with it both ways and I am more acclimated*to North*being up probably from years of looking at flat maps and grids which we typically setup with North up.**

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*Oh. .* . Come on Peter.* Everybody knows the real reason that*North is "Up."

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Because.



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****** Santa lives at the North Pole!!!!*

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Just as jet engine mfg have decided to poach on their competition , and create cheaper high priced replacement turbine blades,

The effort to create silent wind generator blades is giving some success from various new sources.

The newer quieter blades will even start at a lower speed , sez the advertising.

Conrad, no offense, but I definitely would not like driving with you. You too Edelweiss. Come on guys - get with progress. Just because you grew up with flat paper charts/street maps is no reason to continue the mental gymnastics of vertical transposition as you move along. North up is just a convention so one can compare one chart with another, and it so happens the magnetic pole is sort of up north, tho not exactly. We do not travel north only do we? I tell you now, having been forced to do that 2 days, it is a crazy way to navigate in a boat, let alone a car....I urge you both to give it a try (track up), once more, and see if you don't find it a great deal more intuitive and natural. It makes it just like driving a car round cones on a road. The GPS shows you where north is all the while with a wee North arrow in the corner or edge of the screen - you won't get lost, and the sky will not fall on your heads...really. But...each to his own I guess...

Eric, like FF says, the new carbon fibre materials and superior design of the blades make the modern wind turbines virtually inaudible to nearby boats. We in the boat even only hear a swishing noise and a faint whine transmitted through the pole to the hull via the mounts, but it does not intrude. Nowhere near as much as a motor, even a well-shrouded and sound-proofed one.

I find I like using both North Up and track up.* When moving at higher speeds in my assistance towing boat and*navigating narrow, unfamiliar*parts of the ICW ....especially at night...yes track up is preferred.

But when taveling in wide open areas or open ocean where instant nav isn't the issue I prefer north up.* When I'm thinking/planning ahead and using more brain cells than it takes for*droning along on a constant course...I just seem to*prefer North up.* It's probably from using paper charts for most of my life.* Just last year I*moved my trawler from Ft Lauderdale to NJ with a handheld and chartbooks - no chartplotter onboard.* Plus used*only paper as a 20 year USCG helo pilot (no chartploters there).

As far as mental gymnastics....for me it's second nature...no real effort unless as*I said I'm going by the channel markers and making turns so fast I can hardly take my eyes off the water ahead !* ...let alone even look at a chart.

I could argue after teaching boating for a long time...*that most people I know that are that dependent on chartplotters are usually behind in their nav skills compared*to the oldtimers that do it in their heads.



-- Edited by psneeld on Thursday 5th of January 2012 06:41:08 AM


-- Edited by psneeld on Thursday 5th of January 2012 06:44:08 AM

Peter B wrote:
Conrad, no offense, but I definitely would not like driving with you. You too Edelweiss. Come on guys - get with progress. Just because you grew up with flat paper charts/street maps is no reason to continue the mental gymnastics of vertical transposition as you move along. North up is just a convention so one can compare one chart with another, and it so happens the magnetic pole is sort of up north, tho not exactly. We do not travel north only do we? I tell you now, having been forced to do that 2 days, it is a crazy way to navigate in a boat, let alone a car....I urge you both to give it a try (track up), once more, and see if you don't find it a great deal more intuitive and natural. It makes it just like driving a car round cones on a road. The GPS shows you where north is all the while with a wee North arrow in the corner or edge of the screen - you won't get lost, and the sky will not fall on your heads...really. But...each to his own I guess...

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*Hi there Peter...

Too Edelweiss? How did you know I drive German steel? Anyway, I know I'm not going to convert you but I could flip your words and throw them back at you. Why is it important to you that up on the screen is the direction you are headed?

I'm also wondering if you are suffering from Polar Envy (PE); if the convention was south up would you be more inclined to adhere to it?

With my tongue firmly in cheek...*

Peter B wrote:
We do not travel north only do we? I tell you now, having been forced to do that 2 days, it is a crazy way to navigate in a boat, let alone a car....I urge you both to give it a try (track up), once more, and see if you don't find it a great deal more intuitive and natural. It makes it just like driving a car round cones on a road. The GPS shows you where north is all the while with a wee North arrow in the corner or edge of the screen - you won't get lost, and the sky will not fall on your heads...really. But...each to his own I guess...

*

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*Peter

Now this will probably really set you off. . . but in the car I do have the GPS set*to display with track up and it makes perfect sense.**

But I think the difference on the boat is my chartplotter doesn't have that sexy*female voice inside that say, "Turn right in 50*feet" and it just wouldn't seem right!! *

Larry B*****

psneeld wrote:
*I could argue after teaching boating for a long time...*that most people I know that are that dependent on chartplotters are usually behind in their nav skills compared*to the oldtimers that do it in their heads.


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Isn't that the truth!!** I was coming out of McKay Harbor, Lopez Island, last spring.**I decided to take a short cut and was*very carefully picking my way*through a series of treacherous rocks, islets and shoals where I hadn't*been in 20 years.**My*Chartplotter took that moment to reboot and reset itself which took about 30 seconds.* That was the longest*30 seconds*I've ever experienced, just because I had grown accustomed to counting on the electronics.**When you are not mentally prepared bad things can happen.

Larry B


-- Edited by Edelweiss on Friday 6th of January 2012 08:32:50 PM

Ok guys, I take your point about track up being less important in open ocean with long passages far from obstructions. Maybe I am more in favour of the track up because where we boat in Moreton Bay, the Southern part anyway is filled with narrow channels between sandy shoals, so there is a lot of buoy negotiating to be done. However, I must concede I still like to check GPS against a type of chart, in the form of an excellent book put out each year now by an organisation called Maritime Safety Queensland, but started by a local boating enthusiast here called Ken Brown, called Beacon to Beacon. This is a bit like a boat equivalent to your local street guide, but with all sorts of additional information, including aerial photos of the numbered anchorages with advice re depths, and bottom type etc. I guess you would have similar for the Chesapeake etc..? Do you have nav aids like this..?
Have a gander at it here.... http://www.marinasguide.com.au/planner/guidebeacontobeacon.htm
It's very helpful, and much more contemporaneous than outdated full sea charts.

Peter B wrote:
Ok guys, I take your point about track up being less important in open ocean with long passages far from obstructions. Maybe I am more in favour of the track up because where we boat in Moreton Bay, the Southern part anyway is filled with narrow channels between sandy shoals, so there is a lot of buoy negotiating to be done. However, I must concede I still like to check GPS against a type of chart, in the form of an excellent book put out each year now by an organisation called Maritime Safety Queensland, but started by a local boating enthusiast here called Ken Brown, called Beacon to Beacon. This is a bit like a boat equivalent to your local street guide, but with all sorts of additional information, including aerial photos of the numbered anchorages with advice re depths, and bottom type etc. I guess you would have similar for the Chesapeake etc..? Do you have nav aids like this..?
Have a gander at it here.... http://www.marinasguide.com.au/planner/guidebeacontobeacon.htm
It's very helpful, and much more contemporaneous than outdated full sea charts.

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*Many of our coastal "piloting"/chartbooks have detailed insets and noted courses/distances between major navaids.* Very useful for some of us that have navigated by piloting/handheld (and still are till a plotter is in the budget for my first trip back to Florida).

One more quick point for the North up argument. Elsewhere on the forum a recent thread discusses the use of paper charts. As many do, I always have a paper chart beside me while underway. It will generally give me a larger picture of where I am, and is instantly ready in the very unlikely event that the electronics crash.*

My paper charts invariably have North up, (except for the now rare to find strip charts) and so it is very easy to correlate between paper and plotter if the plotter is North up. My cruising area is primarily between the Gulf Islands and Desolation Sound, which is a mix of somewhat open water and lots of islands, passes, etc.

The bottom line though is that the beauty of modern electronics is that you can use it however you want to.

Okay, I'm done.

Conrad wrote:
The bottom line though is that the beauty of modern electronics is that you can use it however you want to.
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That's the point, isn't it. Different strokes for......................

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