Marine Electronics

Letters to Practical Sailor, October 2010. Subjects include an owner's comments about MacGregor boats, digital maps, teak cleaners, props and adhesives.

Joe and Lee Minick added an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver to the nav station of their Mason 43, Southern Cross, and have used it for several years in some of the most heavily traveled waters of the world. Required on large commercial vessels, AIS devices add a whole new dimension of collision avoidance, transmitting dynamic information about a vessels speed, course and position plus static information including a vessels name, call sign and Mobile Marine Service Identity (MMSI). With a Class A AIS and a more recent Class B AIS system for small craft, AIS changes the landscape in marine navigation. The Minicks report in Practical Sailor proves how useful AIS can be for cruisers and other small boaters.

I’ve got an old manual anchor windlass with a badly corroded gypsy that needs to be replaced. There is a 1:1 bronze "cross" on the outside of the gypsy—where the lever fits to turn it when not using the geared mechanism. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to get the bronze cross off, which needs to happen in order to replace the gypsy. There’s a grease zirk/fender washer on the outside of the cross, but unscrewing it still doesn’t get the cross off.

Letters to the editors of Practical Sailor in July 2010 include questions and comments about mildew, galley blenders, teak cleaners, online captains courses and personal hydration.

While it sometimes seems marine electronics marketers are piling on unnecessary features just because they can, anyone who has watched their $300 cell phone disappear over the rail or has missed a call from the boss while they were playing hooky on the water can appreciate Cobras newest handheld marine VHF. The MR HH475 FLT BT is a full-feature, floating handheld VHF that can also link up to any Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. The radio uses a tiny wireless Bluetooth transceiver (the same technology used to link cell phones to wireless ear buds) to synchronize with your cell phone. When you go for a sail, you can put your cell phone belowdecks and use your VHF to monitor and receive any incoming phone calls.

According to multiple reports, most AC electrical fires occur at the boats shorepower inlet. To address this and other shortcomings of the standard twist-type boatside connection, SmartPlug Systems developed a new AC shorepower system that the company hopes will become the new marine standard. Loose and corroded connections are most often the culprits when overheating occurs. Corrosion typically results when moisture gets in at the plug-inlet connection, while arcing-which in turn leads to pitting, scorching, and heat build-up-is partially due to the shape and small contact area of the connector pins.

The June 2010 issue featured letters on subjects such as: spiders, addition of color to handheld electronics, DIY boatyard recommendation and propane fridges.

Practical Sailor looked at three Wi-Fi antennas suggested by readers: the Bad Boy Xtreme from Bitstorm, Rogue Waves Wave Wi-Fi from GeoSat Solutions, and The Wirie, developed by cruising couple Mark Kilty and Liesbet Collaert. All three are marketed specifically to boaters, and they represent the two principal types of devices that users will find: USB-type units that plug into computer or laptop USB ports and Power over Ethernet (PoE) bridges that network via your computers Ethernet port to provide a pathway to the Internet.

After testing navigation applications for Windows-based smartphones and PDAs, Practical Sailor focuses on three apps available for the iPhone. iNavx, Memory-Map, and Navionics can each be downloaded for a reasonable price and used as backup to primary navigational aids such as a chartplotter or handheld GPS. Cellphone-based programs are not recommended as a standalone approach to navigation, but the iPhone apps are a great way to investigate, plan routes, and set and send waypoints at a very low cost for cartography.

Spring is here, and that means its time for systems and safety checks. Among the items that should be on your to-do list are checking your seacocks and making sure essential safety gear is on board. For us, that has always included keeping an inventory of soft wood thru-hull plugs for plumbing emergencies, but this year, we decided to also add a few of Forespars new closed-cell foam TruPlugs.