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Ask Slashdot: What Tech For a Sailing Ship?

Posted by timothy on from the sextant-and-anchor dept.

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?"

2 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. EPIRB by etnoy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Get an EPIRB. If the ship collides with a floating container and sinks quickly you will have no time to manually send a distress signal before abandoning ship. A free-floating EPIRB will automatically engage in case of sinking and with its encoded distress signal you will get aid within hours. For communications on the oceans I recommend getting a good shortwave radio with a decent grounding and antenna that can communicate further than any VHF-based system. Source: I helped build and design a Swedish 131' sailing yacht.

    --
    Quantum hacker.
    1. Re:EPIRB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      When we run off-shore we have two EPIRBs and a Spot. One ship EPIRB, on personal EPIRB that is always in a zipped pocket on your person when out of the cabin, and a Spot unit for status reports to friends/family.

      Nav instruments are Seatalk/Raymarine (Depth, forward scanning depth, wind, GPS, plotter at helm) with one redundant Garmin plotting GPS at nav station and a handheld Garmin GPS. Fixed VHF with controls at the helm and nav station and a separate handheld VHF, one fixed HF radio with antenna running up the main mast rigging. Finally the boat doesn't go anywhere without the integrated RADAR and AIS systems working with the display at the helm. Lots of freighters and cruise ships barreling around in the fog.

      And most importantly a mast mounted wi-fi range extender for reaching any hotspots on shore while anchored near a town.