March 27, 2010 15:24
It depends on where you will be cruising. Crossing the Atlantic is one thing, cruising the ICW is something else.
For cruising the ICW, I certainly would not waste money on a chartplotter. Instead I would go with an I-pad G3. and a Macbook pro with a sunlight viewable monitor and a USB GPS. An autopilot is essential, as is a good depthsounder. A second forward looking sonar would be useful too. Two vhf are on the list, but radar and AIS is not. A cell phone amplifier, and a wifi amplifier would be on my list too.
For software, MacENC, Mr. Tides, ActiveCaptain, and the latest nav software for the I-Pad.
The I-pad is not available yet, but I think it will revolutionize marine navigation when it gets here.
It's nice to dream!
Richard
Chez Nous
For cruising the ICW, I certainly would not waste money on a chartplotter. Instead I would go with an I-pad G3. and a Macbook pro with a sunlight viewable monitor and a USB GPS. An autopilot is essential, as is a good depthsounder. A second forward looking sonar would be useful too. Two vhf are on the list, but radar and AIS is not. A cell phone amplifier, and a wifi amplifier would be on my list too.
For software, MacENC, Mr. Tides, ActiveCaptain, and the latest nav software for the I-Pad.
The I-pad is not available yet, but I think it will revolutionize marine navigation when it gets here.
It's nice to dream!
Richard
Chez Nous