NSW
7146 posts
I have one and nicknamed the bastard Beelzebub whilst sailing over here last year. I have no doubt that a lot of the problems I had with "it" are operator error!
However I'm stuck with the f ucker and need to know if anyone can give me some informed advice on an external arial. I have the unit mounted underneath the hood and believe that this hampers the satellite acquisition which was a huge problem On the way over here.
If I purchase a LGC 16W external antenna is it easy to do and will it fix the problem?
The othe question is a little more technical, well it is for me anyway.
Fiji was last surveyed around 1880 or so and the maps are largely based on aerial photos. Ie they are not accurate. Anyone who has poked around in these waters will know that it is quit common for depth to change from 30 meters to less than a meter very suddenly.
When this happens the crunching sound is immediately followed by frantic "PUT HER IN REVERSE" repeated!
It it happened the other night whilst out fishing only the reverse thing was too late and we had to pole her off. It was my Islander, not Minke.
So what I want to do is mount the chart plotter on the motor boat and map out some channels around my local area.
How to I go about this in such a fashion that the unit retains the info?
NSW
7146 posts
Just done a bit of reading in it. Doesn't look too difficult. Sure it will be!
Now another question! I have two transponders both of which are mounted in hull glued down with Sikaflex. The one I want to take off is in a dry tights spot. How do I get the bugger off or is,it jus bf and fi?
QLD
1197 posts
Hey japie, Navionics have this bit of gear you can buy that allows you to create/enhance your existing navionics charts on your iPad or iPhone. Maybe Lowrance have developed a similar product. If not, then navionics are fairly cheap for iPads but the sounder you need isn't so cheap. But the bundle would be a lot cheaper than salvaging your boat. Maybe you need to give the "devil" to someone you don't like and get the navionics gear.
http://www.navionics.com/en/sonarphone?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=iOS_SonarPhoneSCLive_FY15&utm_content=NAV454_iOS_SonarPhoneSCLive_Int
NSW
7146 posts
Beelzeebub does use Navionics Crusoe. When I sailed down the clast from 1770 to Coffs I couldn't fault the maps and to be honest I had little trouble with the actual system. I found that to get a more accurate sounder reading it was necessary to change the settings from deep to shallow or vica versa.
I am mucking around with my iPad and iphone on which I have all my maps backed up for safety. I have had a look at the Sonarphone product. Wish I had seen it prior to buying the Lowrance. For starters it would have been a huge cost saving. The Elite cost roughly a grand from memory and came with the gold maps for Aus but I had to fork out $200 from memory for the Fiji chip. The download for iPhone etc is a fraction of the cost and you can have it on multiple devices. In addition it can be simply updated AND you can join up and contribute edits which is what I want to do.
The only problem I forsee with the Sonarphone is not actually with the product but lies with the unreliability of iPhones and iPads in a humid environment. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have 6, that is SIX, charging cables which no longer function. When you plug in to charge the message this whatever it is is not supported.
The cables, well at least four of them, are genuine Apple products which all cost roughly $40 each. I've said many a time that if Steve Jobs were alive and came into my abode I would bash them up his bum and ram them home with a mallet. I have the same trouble with 12V DC chargers, this device is not supported Appears on the screen.
Anyway the Sonarphone is definitely an option to consider. It looks so flexible.
thanks
