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Ask Slashdot: What Tech For a Sailing Ship?
Razgorov Prikazka writes "There is a lot of technology involved in sailing these days. EPIRB, FHV-DSC, GPS, NAVTEX, Inmarsat, fishfinders/depth sounders, different kinds of radar (with MARPA or ATA) — you name it and there are dozens of manufacturers out there willing to provide, all of them with a range of different products. Right now I am planning a 'round-the-world-trip,'' and my ship (an 18-meter Skerry Cruiser sailing yacht) is in its early construction phase, so I need to shop for some hi-tech gear and, basically, I got lost in all the possibilities. What kind of hardware would you recommend as necessary for a trip of this kind? What would you have installed in your ship in order to have a safe trip?"
With the advent of cheap touchscreen devices in the last six years, Garmin and their like have really had to reinvent the wheel. Mapping technology is lightyears ahead of where it was even 15 years ago, Navionics is to the point where you can mark new obstructions on your map, and then upload them to the web for other people, and many are eventually included in newer additions. Digital maps and charts are no longer X months out of date when you buy them, they're X hours since your last synch.
That said, as of two years ago you couldn't buy a whole system (engine/nav/radar/battery/depth sounder etc) that used Cat-5 for less than $15,000. Now they're getting to be under the $8,000 range, and even offer a non-proprietary VGA out for your Nav station. You can get 12" primary waterproof displays with decent resolutions for under $1200 now.
There's been a huge turnover in the industry with the advent of cheap GPS enabled electronics (Smartphones) and the industry is scrambling to catch up, with prices finally falling. You can buy a 4" B&W chart plotter for $172-199 online these days, medium resolution US costal & lakes charts included.
Go check out what Garmin had for marine GPS 12 years ago. Big squishy backlit numpads with B&W LCD displays that made a TI-83 look high tech. There are major changes happening in Marine technology these days. You can pick up low end radar equipment new for $1000 these days. That used to be $10,000 ten, fifteen years ago.
moox. for a new generation.
Some credentials: My folks own and operate a boatyard. We built a 64'8" (20m) Alden staysail schooner in the early 2000's called the Lion's Whelp. This boat was to be used by the family as an blue water cruiser. Many trips to the carib via Bermuda and along the Maine coast, but nothing across the Atlantic yet. Also used as a design tour-de-force displaying our company's know how. We won the Concours D'Elegance at the Antigua Classic yacht Regatta our first year there, a 2nd place the next year. The boat hasn't been back in subsequent years.
Full build history plus many, many photographs and discussion can be found on the yard website: http://portlandyacht.com/lionswhelp
Some of the systems we have onboard include: Reverse osmosis watermaker, EPIRB, GPS, IBM Blade server, AC, diesel heater, diesel generator, deep cycle batteries, LCD movie projector, Stereo/DVD/CD/MP3/iPod, main engine direct powered 3000 gallon per minute bilge pump, RADAR "pinger" (makes us look bigger to cargo ships), Sauna (yes, a sauna), full wind instruments, satellite modem, satellite weather station, universal shore power inverters (europe,japan is 50hz, etc), autopilot, VHF, shortwave radio, cell service repeater, wifi, etc, etc, etc.
If you read through our site you will note that we deliberately overbuilt the boat because the owner is the builder is the captain and any disaster onboard would kill his family. Stays and shrouds are each strong enough to hold up the entire 42 ton boat. Anything that could save lives was installed on the boat. As a consequence, the boat was 3000 pounds over the original design weight. Doesn't really matter because it's a cruiser not a racer. Righting arm would still right the boat at 178 degrees (almost upside down), while most modern fin keel boats won't right at 120 degrees.
After years of being onboard we've realized that there needs to been a dedicated systems expert onboard at all times if you expect to have every piece of the systems up and running at all times.
Not sure where you're building your Skerry, but we'd be happy to discuss your needs and right-sizing your equipment needs without overloading your day-to-day maintenance. (or today's budget) If you're in Portland Maine you could come by the yard and see the boat now for a full tour and more discussion.
207-774-1067 - Owner Phin is on site and wife Joanna is in the office answering phones.
One more reason to keep an eye on your money.
What would you install for a safe trip around the world? Electronics won't give you safe seafaring or your sanity. Can't count the number of times in good weather when one or more pieces of nav gear was MIA.
Sextant and compass are fine but you need a couple mechanical chronometer watches at a minimum. Then comes the charting and math when you have to do the navigation by dead reckoning. The first time you take a lightning strike or a knockdown or rollover and all the electronics goes, the non-electronic equipment will be gold. Yup, I've heard the guarantees about "our grounding is guaranteed to work", but guarantees in the middle of the ocean are worthless. Radios in a water tight aluminum box with batteries as a backup. Typical abandon ship gear.
Enough experienced sailors as crew to maintain a wide awake watch at all times. A container ship at 25 knots can be invisible now but on your beam in 20 minutes. The other thing which can sneak up, though it is rare is a nearly submerged but still floating metal cargo container that you can barely see. Some small yachts do disappear each year without a trace.
Traveling without experienced sailors can be exhausting, all the way from "when are we going to get there" to people who become paranoid a week out on the way across the ocean, to those who don't want to share in the inevitable cleaning and fixing and night watches. Then some will just bail out after the first 6 week crossing and you have to "pick up" more crew, which has its own problems.
Common sea sense enough from experience to think ahead and avoid sailing into a bind, whether pirates, political, weather, lee shore or a bad anchorage... That might include a professional skipper for the first third of the voyage...and a pile of cash. Accidents happen and parts and repairs are expensive.
Anti-pirate gear? Best is a course to avoid those areas. Thieves in the night in major harbors is a different and all too common story. Slocum used the lowly thumb tacks on the deck near the rails to grab the attention of boarders in the middle of the night. Lots of stories are swapped amongst sailors in every port.
No easy answer. Everyone is different in attitude and ability. Boy scout motto applies at all times.
Personal history (3.5 years of blue-water cruising, 12K+ sea miles) suggests you're safer without one anyhow. The people we heard of getting shot were either the ones who pulled a gun on their boarders, or who had a guun on board when the boarders snuck on at night (the boarders found the gun, shot the owner, and left).
"Pirates" in the usual sense aren't really the problem. The much bigger problem is people sneaking onto your boat while you're either away or asleep, and stealing things. They aren't always armed, but if they are, going for your own gun probably won't help, and if they aren't, they may find your gun before you can get to it.
Incidentally, dinghies are the first to go; use a steel cable or chain and haul the dingy out of the water at night. Make sure the outboard is *very* well secured, as well; a strong and high-quality stainless steel padlock works well, but remember that a hacksaw can get through that too. Unlike pirates, which can generally be avoided just by having some caution rgarding what parts of the world you sail, boarders are more-or-less a risk everywhere; consider investing in a simple motion sensor alarm for the rougher areas.
Oh, for anybody who is curious, my family's website: http://svocelot.com/ . Check out the section devoted to the boat gear in particular (for relevance to this Ask Slashdot).
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...