Hi all!
I set up this blog in order to keep notes on the development of what I call "the Ship Computer"
Some background notes first:
I have a Corsair F24 MKII.
This is a small trimaran, a pocket cruiser and (in other parts of the world) a racer.
It is this one:
It's great fun to sail, on the proper conditions it is much faster than what you would expect from a normal boat (i.e. monohull) of that size, and because of the nets, it has enough room to be used as a summer cruiser, sort of sailing camping that is, luxuries are what you would expect when backpack camping in the mountains. That is, the bare essentials and possibly a bit less than that!
Now, the boat has a rotating mast that is supposed to reduce drag and help with the mainsail shape on the luff. As a side effect, causes wind indicator to go bananas.
The same time, the instruments on board are not sufficient.
I have a GPS-Plotter that has north England and Scotland on rom. Living in Athens and sailing in Saronic gulf, the plotter is of not much use to me.
The GPS itself, without the plotter, has a 20-year old UI. It used to be nice if all you wanted was to get the current coordinates and plot it in a normal (paper!) map, but who does this nowadays (I don't...), adding waypoints and marking them is a total pain, and hence I tend to keep it switched off.
The wind instrument, a low-budget "NASA Clipper" is, as I said, of no use for showing wind direction and lately is also failing to show the wind speed, sometime this winter I'll take down the mast and check the transducer, hopefully it won't need replacing.
The "instrument" I use most onboard is my iPad with Navionics Marine:Europe HD app, placed in a waterproof(-ish) case.
From time to time, I also use a GPS-equipped watch (I had a Garmin 305 but it proved to be too fragile and I replaced it with a Sunnto Ambit) that I use for track recording and instant speed monitoring.
For electricity I have a single 12V battery, a 120W (nominal) semi-flexible solar panel and in case of emergency, the battery can by charged through the outboard that has a 60W charging coil.
Since I have been sailing mostly shorthanded (double-handed most of the time) I am also, when weather permits, using a Simrad tiller autopilot.
To make the long story short, I am not happy with the instruments I 've got.
I guess, I could go out and search for the instruments that fit my requirements. This has two disadvantages: 1. Cost 2. I have specific ideas on what I want and and I feel no matter how much money I spend, I won't be satisfied with the result.
So, I decided to design and build my own "Ship Computer".
Simple as that.
More on the next post...
I set up this blog in order to keep notes on the development of what I call "the Ship Computer"
Some background notes first:
I have a Corsair F24 MKII.
This is a small trimaran, a pocket cruiser and (in other parts of the world) a racer.
It is this one:
It's great fun to sail, on the proper conditions it is much faster than what you would expect from a normal boat (i.e. monohull) of that size, and because of the nets, it has enough room to be used as a summer cruiser, sort of sailing camping that is, luxuries are what you would expect when backpack camping in the mountains. That is, the bare essentials and possibly a bit less than that!
Now, the boat has a rotating mast that is supposed to reduce drag and help with the mainsail shape on the luff. As a side effect, causes wind indicator to go bananas.
The same time, the instruments on board are not sufficient.
I have a GPS-Plotter that has north England and Scotland on rom. Living in Athens and sailing in Saronic gulf, the plotter is of not much use to me.
The GPS itself, without the plotter, has a 20-year old UI. It used to be nice if all you wanted was to get the current coordinates and plot it in a normal (paper!) map, but who does this nowadays (I don't...), adding waypoints and marking them is a total pain, and hence I tend to keep it switched off.
The wind instrument, a low-budget "NASA Clipper" is, as I said, of no use for showing wind direction and lately is also failing to show the wind speed, sometime this winter I'll take down the mast and check the transducer, hopefully it won't need replacing.
The "instrument" I use most onboard is my iPad with Navionics Marine:Europe HD app, placed in a waterproof(-ish) case.
From time to time, I also use a GPS-equipped watch (I had a Garmin 305 but it proved to be too fragile and I replaced it with a Sunnto Ambit) that I use for track recording and instant speed monitoring.
For electricity I have a single 12V battery, a 120W (nominal) semi-flexible solar panel and in case of emergency, the battery can by charged through the outboard that has a 60W charging coil.
Since I have been sailing mostly shorthanded (double-handed most of the time) I am also, when weather permits, using a Simrad tiller autopilot.
To make the long story short, I am not happy with the instruments I 've got.
I guess, I could go out and search for the instruments that fit my requirements. This has two disadvantages: 1. Cost 2. I have specific ideas on what I want and and I feel no matter how much money I spend, I won't be satisfied with the result.
So, I decided to design and build my own "Ship Computer".
Simple as that.
More on the next post...
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