Software

[Dennis wombaugh]

Looking for suggestions, just added a P C to my trawler looking to network with my nmea 2000 what softwares would you surf for coastal cruising

Thanks

 

[tiltrider1]

I like Coastal Explorer. I bought it back in 2004. At that time it was the best value out there. Times change, i’m Not familiar with what is the best value today. I do’s still have CE, I really like the way i can custom the AIS vectors. This really helps time the big freighters as we zigzag VTS lanes.

 

[Arthurc]

Ive used both Coastal Explorer and Time Zero Pro, If you have all Furuno gear then Time Zero Pro is truely fantastic, the radar overlay, cross MFD data sharing, AIS, FLIR integration are all super slick and it has some levels of Augmented Reality already built in. They also have a good iPad app that’s getting better quickly. I use NavNet to get the data to the PC with a Actisense NGT1 N2K to USB as backup.

If you dont have a Furuno package then CE is great too, good company too with good support, the Rosepoint NEMO is a good device to translate both N2K and N0183 to CE and has built in integration. I have this as my backup setup but frankly haven’t turned it on in almost a year.

AC

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I use a laptop with Coastal Explorer (CE) in addition to Raymarine. I use CE to plan my routes and as a backup navigation.

 

[Maerin]

Count me as a CE fanboy. I was an early adopter, have been using it for 14? yrs. I've logged over 38,000 nm with it, great product, great support, love the function. I'm all NMEA 0183 and use an Actisense NDC-4 as multiplex/interface with the USB. My PC is a 12VDC mini-ITX, it's perfect for on board use, nowadays the NUC form factor is a great match for PC-based nav gear. I have a fully redundant Furuno NavNet system that also serves as radar, I use it primarily for radar, CE does all the nav work and feeds the Raymarine AP which we use every time the boat moves.

If you've ever tried route planning with a chartplotter, there's simply no comparison with CE. Never had to put the Furuno into service due to a breakdown. I also have a redundant backup on my laptop that I use for planning, it can also step in to take over in the event of a PC failure. Never had to do it.

Unlimited waypoints, I've got nearly every track for every cruise saved in regional-themed files, they come in handy when revisiting an area or just recalling some history. I have a file for ICW south, ICW north, the Bahamas, FL west, FL east, NY Canals, DownEast, all over. Very easy to keep all that stuff organized and be able to recall it.

 

[CaptTom]

My first pick would be OpenCPN.

Next would be whatever your MFD and/or chart card manufacturer offers, so you can easily upload/download between the PC and MFD.

 

[ranger58sb]

We have Furuno electronics, so we use Time Zero on a back-up/planning laptop. Good.

-Chris

 

[Retriever]

Coastal Explorer. Simple, reliable, easy on system resources, great support.

I've been playing with TimeZero in my iPad and I like it, but it crashes too frequently (at least once every 24 hours) and occasionally AIS targets stop updating but stay on the screen. Rebooting the app fixes the AIS problem, but it's disconcerting, especially because the continued presence of old AIS targets can cause all sorts of problems.

Just got off a friends boat with full Furuno TZT2. I noticed the same issue with AIS targets not updating (solved by switching to a different screen for a moment then back to what you want). TZ Navigator on the PC crashed constantly. Probably a configuration problem (or problematic serial converters), but I played around with it for a few hours and couldn't figure it out. The most reliable chart plotter (and the one the owner uses 90% of the time, despite spending tens of thousands on TZT2 and Nobeltec) is Navionics on an iPad.

Coastal Explorer isn't as sexy, but it's rock solid in my experience.

 

[Doug]

OpenCPN has worked for us.

 

[sunchaser]

Just got off a friends boat with full Furuno TZT2. I noticed the same issue with AIS targets not updating (solved by switching to a different screen for a moment then back to what you want). TZ Navigator on the PC crashed constantly. Probably a configuration problem (or problematic serial converters), but I played around with it for a few hours and couldn't figure it out. The most reliable chart plotter (and the one the owner uses 90% of the time, despite spending tens of thousands on TZT2 and Nobeltec) is Navionics on an iPad.

Interesting, my Furuno gear and Trident have not had the issues you describe. Who set your friends's systems up? Most Class B AIS units can be slow to update, is that his problem? My Simrad Class B AIS data goes both to Trident and NN3, without issues. My next upgrade will be to add one of the smaller and newer Class A AIS units with a quick redraw.

 

[Retriever]

Interesting, my Furuno gear and Trident have not had the issues you describe. Who set your friends's systems up? Most Class B AIS units can be slow to update, is that his problem? My Simrad Class B AIS data goes both to Trident and NN3, without issues. My next upgrade will be to add one of the smaller and newer Class A AIS units with a quick redraw.

Not sure who installed it, other than they're in Anacortes. The issue isn't related to Class B...all the vessels we were around were class A (transiting Panama Canal). The problem seemed to be the TZT2s (and separately, on a different boat, the TimeZero iOS app) just stop updating AIS targets. The targets don't disappear (or show as lost), they just stop refreshing.

In this case, there were two MFDs. When AIS stopped refreshing on one, it still worked on the other. Both MFDs exhibited the same behavior at various times. Switching to radar and then back to chart or vice-versa immediately resolved the issue. This indicated to me a software issue, but I'm certainly not an expert.

TimeZero on the PC was so unreliable I didn't bother to look at it. It literally crashed once an hour. Pretty sure it was a driver or serial adapter issue, but frustrating nonetheless.

I guess I was surprised to see an issue with the same symptoms on TZT2 that I've experienced using the TimeZero iPad app. Now I'm curious if it's a broader problem with the underlying software that drives the TZT2 MFDs, TimeZero iOS app, and TimeZero PC software (is that even a thing? or are each of these products engineered independently but with a common UI?).

Coastal Explorer, by contrast, works super reliably and without glitches or excessive fiddling on all the installs I've encountered.

 

[Simi 60]

Opencpn is awesome and free.
Software designed by actual cruisers for cruisers
Using a mouse and one click instead of getting lost in menus and endless button pressing as is found on expensive plotters makes things so easy.

Over the years it has moved from my #3 charting system on board to #1

 

[Salish Nomad]

I use a laptop with Coastal Explorer (CE) in addition to Raymarine. I use CE to plan my routes and as a backup navigation.

Same with us. CE on our tablets, Raymarine C120 that we "inherited" with the AT34.

 

[Rhinoc]

Opencpn is awesome and free.
Software designed by actual cruisers for cruisers
Using a mouse and one click instead of getting lost in menus and endless button pressing as is found on expensive plotters makes things so easy.

Over the years it has moved from my #3 charting system on board to #1

Where do you source your maps?

Rhino

 

[Simi 60]

Where do you source your maps?

Rhino

Wherever you can get them, google is your friend.

I had CM93 (the whole world) given to me years ago.

 

[PMF1984]

On OpenCPN, I don’t know where there come from, (somewhere in the web) but they are free and government issue. Just did an update, by clicking “update all charts.” Pretty easy.

 

[Dennis wombaugh]

All my electronics are Harmon do they interface with coastal explore?

 

[Maerin]

All my electronics are Harmon do they interface with coastal explore?

I presume that's Garmin via spellcheck? The Rosepoint Nemo interface will work with N2K or NMEA0183. The make of the gear doesn't matter much, it should all communicate. If your system is N2K it should be plug n play with maybe an adapter.

 

[Simi 60]

On OpenCPN, I don’t know where there come from, (somewhere in the web) but they are free and government issue. Just did an update, by clicking “update all charts.” Pretty easy.

Unfortunately, not in Australia.

 

[JDCAVE]

I have a NUC, with CE and a Nemo Gateway that brings in both NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183. Its seamless and easy to install.

 

[Cigatoo]

I've been playing with TimeZero in my iPad and I like it, but it crashes too frequently (at least once every 24 hours) and occasionally AIS targets stop updating but stay on the screen. Rebooting the app fixes the AIS problem, but it's disconcerting, especially because the continued presence of old AIS targets can cause all sorts of problems.

Interesting that you have had issues with Time Zero. I have had it running on iPad for over 2 years with no hiccups. I wonder if another app on yours is causing issues? I do not use AIS on the pad.

 

[Spinner]

I am hoping to replace the old, very large Dell PC tower that is currently running Coastal Explorer in my boat. I have just started looking at the NUC equipment. Could you describe what you have? Memory? RAM? Etc.... many thanks!

 

[Arthurc]

Interesting that you have had issues with Time Zero. I have had it running on iPad for over 2 years with no hiccups. I wonder if another app on yours is causing issues? I do not use AIS on the pad.

Similarly, I’ve never had an issue with the iPad app but I have a clean iPad Pro I only use for Nav stuff and Maretron.

 

[rochepoint]

We also have never had a problem with Time Zero running on our iPad or 2 PC's.........

 

[STB]

I'm also an OpenCPN user. I built a PC with a touch screen into the flybridge to use it and have a second one I'll soon put in at the lower helm. I've only used it for one short cruise so far, St. Pete to Clearwater via the ICW, but it worked well for me.

I have it fully integrated with AIS, DSC, radar, the autopilot, etc, etc, etc.

To the person who asked about how to get the charts...For US waters, they are free. it comes with a pre-installed plug-in to download them from NOAA, among other sources.
It is all integrated and works nicely. At least it has so far.

Cheers!
-Greg

 

[Airstream345]

The most recent version of OpenCPN is intriguing; new UI, support for radar, multi panel on a single screen, etc. I’ve often thought when PC based platforms can read radar and sonar the MFD becomes the backup.

 

[STB]

Airstream345,

My last boat had a PC-based system circa 2007 that was branded an "i3 Navigator". It was a custom system that had radar, sonar (fishfinder/depth founder), 3D contour charts that integrated with the fish finder, normal chart plotting, autopilot integration, photo charts, (and, with the software upgrade) AIS integration, XM weather, etc. The screen was a waterproof touch panel that was an amazing 1500 nits. And, I could have most of it on both the upper and lower helm at the same time. The exceptions were that radar, weather, and the fish finder were selectable upper or lower, but not both at the same time.

The only two things that were, in my opinion, suboptimal about it was that it didn't knit chart grids together automatically, i.e. it didn't switch from one grid to another until the boat did or it was done manually, and the touch screen was finicky when wet with rain or heavy condensation, so I added an outdoor trackpad. The fish finder was very good, but circa 2007 and didn't do chirp, front/side view, etc. It had a huge 15" screen upper and lower.

...if the platform wasn't orphaned when the company's founder passed away and it was sold off, I'd have put another one in my new boat. But, I didn't want to put a 12 year old unit in to a fresh install. My point is that PCs have been able to do this really well for a while now.

Regardless, in my new boat, I put an OpenCPN system that most of what the old one did, except it doesn't do contour charts or integrate the fish finder. And, it works great (so far, it is new). And, it does do some things the old one didn't, especially with respect to wi-fi and being able to share radar on the upper and lower helm (versus having it on the upper or lower helm, but not both at the same time). My only complaint with it is that I put a 10" screen in on the flybridge -- and miss my old 15" screen. I might end up upgrading.

The shortcoming I've found on most of the PC based systems isn't the software, processing power, ability to integrate, or anything like that. It is that it is really hard to find a 1500nit, waterproof touchpanel for a reasonable cost. I paid a lot for a 10" screen that is, iirc only 1000nits, and is only 1024x600 native resolution (it scales to do higher resolutions).

I'm happy with it in that it works well. But, I'm not happy with it in that I find myself needing to put my nose to it to see detail or to constantly zoom in and out and it that it doesn't have room for anything but the chart view (with overlays like AIS and Radar) on the screen -- stand-alone radar and virtual instruments just take up too much space to stay resident versus popping up and down as needed.

Although I haven't put it in, yet, for the lower helm, since it doesn't need to be water proof, I was able to get a 15" touchscreen, the Elo, at a decent price.

 

[ranger58sb]

Just for the record, ditto no issues with the older Time Zero (V2.xxx) on a laptop.

-Chris

 

[Obx]

Guys, I have a problem that maybe someone can help with: I have NMEA 0183 with a simrad AP25 AP, I'm trying to use CE on my laptop, but can't figure out how to connect it. How can I hook up to the AP? I know I have to use a USB but does anyone how or where to connect on the AP or do I somehow hook into my 0183.

 

[STB]

I don't use either product. I'm only familiar with them from what I've seen around the docks and on forums.

But, my memory is that the AP25 has NMEA-0183 inputs. I think the plotter is conventionally connected to the one at TB14. Here's a link to the manual:
-- Simrad AP25 User Manual | 172 pages

So, basically, if all you want to do is to connect your PC with CE directly to your AP25, you just need to give your PC an RS422 port for the NMEA-0183 output and connect it directly to the AP25 NMEA input.

You can use something the marine specific Actisense USG-2:
-- https://www.actisense.com/product/usg-2/

Or a generic USB<->RS422 device:
-- https://www.amazon.com/Serial-Conve...rds=usb+rs422&qid=1554140372&s=gateway&sr=8-1

If you'd like to connect more things, since RS422 is a multi-drop (single sender, multiple receiver), not multi-point (multiper senders and multipler receivers) serial bus, you'll need to get a buffering multiplexer. to get all of the data where you want it to go. It'll basically let you take data from multiple sources and send it to multiple sources and, within reason (buffering capacity) do it without losing to collision, etc:

There are bunches of these, from inexpensive to top dollar, some include the USB connection so you won't need a separate device for that. they have different numbers of inputs and outputs. Some have USB, Ethernet, NMEA-2000, and/or Wi-Fi, too:
-- ShipModul Marine Electronics
-- https://www.navstore.com/actisense-...BWTfk3bITBL_QPlIjzE9x_GdVsqUd9h8aAjRhEALw_wcB

But, the basic idea is that NMEA-0183 is a RS422 serial standard, so just get yourself from the USB serial port on your laptop to that, and from there to the AP25. This can be via a simple, direct connection, or via a multiplexer, or even with wireless or ethernet in the middle. .