This is a question primarily for those experienced sailboat folks here who've come over to power cruising.
Our boat came with a perfectly functioning, top-of-the-line Furuno Loran-C navigation receiver and display. We used it as a backup to the Echotec green-screen, C-MapNT GPS plotter we installed on the boat when we acquired it in 1998. At the time, GPS still had the big skew in it so its accuracy was about 300 feet. Loran, on the other hand, would put you right on the dot. I"v always thought of Loran as an inaccurate way of getting accurate information.
We continued to use the Loran as a secondary navigation system until they turned the northwest chain off. So now we have this nice piece of elecronics in our panel that does nothing whatsoever. So from time to time we think about what could go in its place.
We've considered an AIS transponder but in our waters we don't see any value it it other than finding out the name of that ship over there. The waters used by shipping here are very well covered by three VTS systems--- Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver--- and when in poor or no visibility we have to cross shipping lanes or simply want to know what's headed our way, we talk to the VTS folks.
What we keep coming back to is how nice it would be to have a proper windspeed/direction indicator on the boat. Right now, we use the club pennant on the bow pulpit jackstaff.
What we have in mind is what we see on the mastheads of the sailboats in our marina. I used to crew on a racing sloop for a few years after moving to the area and we had one with a nice dual dial display showing the wind direction and speed.
We can mount the direction and speed head on a pole where the Loran antenna is now, and getting the wires down to the display in the panel would be very easy.
So my question to those of you who've had experience using or outfitting a sailboat is what brands of these systems have the best reputations for accuracy, reliability and longevity?
Thanks much in advance.
Our boat came with a perfectly functioning, top-of-the-line Furuno Loran-C navigation receiver and display. We used it as a backup to the Echotec green-screen, C-MapNT GPS plotter we installed on the boat when we acquired it in 1998. At the time, GPS still had the big skew in it so its accuracy was about 300 feet. Loran, on the other hand, would put you right on the dot. I"v always thought of Loran as an inaccurate way of getting accurate information.
We continued to use the Loran as a secondary navigation system until they turned the northwest chain off. So now we have this nice piece of elecronics in our panel that does nothing whatsoever. So from time to time we think about what could go in its place.
We've considered an AIS transponder but in our waters we don't see any value it it other than finding out the name of that ship over there. The waters used by shipping here are very well covered by three VTS systems--- Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver--- and when in poor or no visibility we have to cross shipping lanes or simply want to know what's headed our way, we talk to the VTS folks.
What we keep coming back to is how nice it would be to have a proper windspeed/direction indicator on the boat. Right now, we use the club pennant on the bow pulpit jackstaff.
What we have in mind is what we see on the mastheads of the sailboats in our marina. I used to crew on a racing sloop for a few years after moving to the area and we had one with a nice dual dial display showing the wind direction and speed.
We can mount the direction and speed head on a pole where the Loran antenna is now, and getting the wires down to the display in the panel would be very easy.
So my question to those of you who've had experience using or outfitting a sailboat is what brands of these systems have the best reputations for accuracy, reliability and longevity?
Thanks much in advance.