Anchoring in a Crosswind
Once in a great while, we find ourselves trying to anchor under the most challenging of circumstances. Perhaps you have tried dropping the hook in soft sand on the west side of the Gulf of Suez during a sustained 50-knot…
Author: Bill Morris
Marine Electronics: Marine Power Inverters
An essential component of any offshore cruising yacht’s electrical system is an inverter, which converts 12V DC into 110V or 220V…
Optimizing Alternative Energy
A successful ocean voyage depends largely on the way we manage energy on our vessels, be it from the wind, the sun, the ocean, the auxiliary engine or a separate generator. As offshore sailors, our goal is to gain…
Affordable Instrument Packages
When looking for instrument displays to receive data from the various navigation, communication and security devices on our vessels, many…
Snagged anchors and empty gas bottles
Every corner of the world’s oceans has their own peculiarities. The roving squalls of the equatorial Pacific, the steep winter seas of the stormy northern Atlantic, the dreaded gales of the Gulf of Tehuantepec and the magically flat waters…
Wireless cellphone chargers
Charging a cellphone, for most of us, requires jamming a tiny electrical contact into the base of our phones and hoping the…
Marine Electronics, September 2020
Receiving weather GRIB files offshore has become much easier through the easy access offered by handheld satellite phones. No longer do you need to install a huge satellite dome on your vessel to receive this critical data while under way.
Satellite TV for cruisers
If you love watching television, you can still enjoy this pastime after you have sailed off for open water.
Graphic depth sounders for cruisers
An important function of a chartplotter aboard today’s cruising yacht is its sonar bottom-scanning system.
Storm tactics for small yachts
I chuckle every time I hear someone say, “You sailed around the world on that?”
Selecting the right VHF antenna
A flash of white light broke the darkness as Saltaire motor-bashed into a light gale late one night in the Bay of Panama.
Multisource charging
If there is one thing we all seek when we slip the dock lines and set out for an offshore cruise, it is independence.
The cutting edge in EPIRBs
Since emergency position indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) made their debut as an aid for tracking crashed U.S. military aircraft in the 1950s, this technology has steadily evolved into more compact, highly accurate, life-saving devices priced well within the budget of any serious cruising sailor.
GPS smartwatches
The race to combine a wide assortment of technology in small, hand-held wearable devices has recently yielded a new animal: the GPS-capable smartwatch.
AIS/GPS VHF with target display
AIS, GPS and a VHF radio with DSC are all must-haves on the modern cruising yacht. Now imagine having all of these features in one device.
Traditional depth sounders
Traditional depth sounders seem to get short shrift in dockside conversation these days, owing of course to the proliferation of multifunction chartplotters and the array of information they offer to cruisers with fingertip ease.
Dependable multimeters
The proliferation of electronic navigation, communication, power and security systems on modern yachts demands a dependable means of diagnosing these systems when they fail or fall short in performance.
Analog instrument displays
Most cruising sailors demand state-of-the-art electronic navigation systems for their vessels, but many skippers also like to preserve a traditional look in the displays they install in the cockpit.
Protecting hand-held electronics
As much as we love the water, the very thing we fear most with our personal electronics is an unintended dive into the briny deep.
Legacy GPS: repair or replace?
Many cruisers are seeing their legacy permanent-mount GPS units gradually fade, wither and succumb to an ignominious death.
Portable solar power
Long jaunts ashore drain personal electronics of battery power, potentially leaving us without the use of a cellphone, portable GPS, hand-held VHF radio and other personal electronics.
Hand-held chartplotting GPS
The navigation station in today’s offshore sailing vessel is bound to be equipped with a chartplotter linked to GPS, AIS, a radar, a depth sounder and other inputs.
Cruiser ham radio options
Ham radio continues to be the choice of many offshore voyagers who prefer the independence and adaptability offered by this traditional mode of communication.
Installing a boat security system
Installing a security system on your floating palace can involve something as simple as placing a couple of sensors for the main and forward hatches, or it can expand to a CPU-controlled network of a dozen or more touch screens and over a hundred wireless sensors distributed throughout your vessel.
