The needs are drawing in

[Ocklepoint]

Yes. If you have a Vespermarine AIS receiver/transponder https://www2.vespermarine.com/xb8000-ais-transponder it will put out a wireless signal that iSailor http://www.isailor.us/will display on your iPad

[Mavanier]

Hebridean has to be worth considering. I know someone who used one to take his Co32 to Faeroe and back and thought it was excellent.

On liferafts, I'm currently looking into this as well and have concluded that you just have to pony up the money and buy a new one.
Brand new 4 man canister LR- cheapest I've found so far is the Crewsaver at £639, but I'm more inclined to go for the Ocean Safety at £649. Three services across its 12yr life at an estimated cost of £300 each time gives a total cost of £1550, for a cost per year of £130. And you might knock that down a bit by selling it afterwards- going rate on eBay is about £100.

For the plotter, I got a refurb Lenovo 12" laptop with SSD for £200. handy size, good on battery life, and plenty power. Currently at the tinkering stage but the plan is to set it up for dual OS and run it on Ubuntu to preserve battery life, with OpenCPN linked to a GPS puck and a TV dongle repurposed as an AIS receiver.

[Nick]

Yes. If you have a Vespermarine AIS receiver/transponder https://www2.vespermarine.com/xb8000-ais-transponder it will put out a wireless signal that iSailor http://www.isailor.us/will display on your iPad

. . . and of course if you have a spare £789

[Ocklepoint]

Yes. If you have a Vespermarine AIS receiver/transponder https://www2.vespermarine.com/xb8000-ais-transponder it will put out a wireless signal that iSailor http://www.isailor.us/will display on your iPad

. . . and of course if you have a spare £789

But that includes a transponder.

I suppose the whole thing is a complex balancing act: where are you going to be sailing? You hardly need AIS on the West Coast, but in the English Channel? How often will you use it? One day a year, the odds are good, ten days a year, not so good. Do you have a radar? An enhanced radar reflector. Are you sailing much at night?

Again I think it all depends on where you plan to be, how often you plan to be there. Then you have to balance your wallet to how risk adverse you are.

Day sailing on the west coast on a slow boat during the summer, very seldom any fog, good weather forecasting, very little shipping, you can save the £789..........hopefully

[mm5aho]

For an AIS system (if you need one,) try this...

https://shop.marinetraffic.com/

[wully]

I splashed out on a funcy Raymarine plotter what pumps out WiFi so the Aye-pad can mirror what’s going on anywhere onboard.

The (Superb) Digital Yacht AIS talks to the plotter who talks to the Aye-pad.. all very convivial.

Only problem is that grumpy auld fart of a radar refuses to talk to anyone, just glows away all green and indecipherable in the corner.

[Nick]

Again I think it all depends on where you plan to be, how often you plan to be there. Then you have to balance your wallet to how risk adverse you are.

Day sailing on the west coast on a slow boat during the summer, very seldom any fog, good weather forecasting, very little shipping, you can save the £789..........hopefully

It's for Avy-J, for Biscay and the Portuguese coast. Done it in fog twice and said never again. No radar.

[mm5aho]

I have instruments (GPS and AIS) feeding into a box with a Bluetooth transmitter (home made). This squirts it out to any Bluetooth receiver device (which could include iPad if I had one). It's certainly available to an android pad, and a phone. There's likely some commercially available equivalent.

[Ocklepoint]

It's for Avy-J, for Biscay and the Portuguese coast. Done it in fog twice and said never again. No radar.

Scary indeed.

Maybe the nastiest is crossing the Ushant Finisterre shipping lane at the very shallow angle to the course from the Scillies/L"s End to A Corunna. Nasty at night, it would be really scary in the fog without at least an AIS receiver.

I don't have a radar on my boat. I'm yet to be convinced that I have the money for one, the electrical power, the time to pay attention to it whilst singlehanding, or the need for it. That being said the radar was invaluable on one trip in the murk through the gas platforms and their attendant support vessels in the southern North Sea but that was on a bigger boat, at somebody else's expense and with crew.

[Nick]

Maybe the nastiest is crossing the Ushant Finisterre shipping lane at the very shallow angle to the course from the Scillies/L"s End to A Corunna. Nasty at night, it would be really scary in the fog without at least an AIS receiver.

It's funny you should say that, but I've done it twice and really enjoyed it - clear nights though. When Kathy and I did it in Fairwinds we did indeed cross at a very shallow angle (Scillies to La Coruna) and were in the shipping lanes for over 24 hours. It taught me a lot about being close to large vessels.

When we came back we had a lot of fog though, which was very scary.

[wully]

After a very scary, foggy night rounding Lands End I swore I’d have radar and goretex foulies...

I never got round to fitting it but this boat came with one. I’ve fitted an AIS transponder Which is a brilliant piece of kit but only shows you who’s out there if they are transmitting...

I’m still trying to learn to use th radar as being an old set it isn’t as idiot proof as the modern stuff - I’ve only managed to see one moving target on it , after seeing it out the hatch!

[mm5aho]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yacht-self-s ... SwExlaUKVS

[Nick]

.
Thanks Geoff. That's a weird looking system, looks like the trib tab mounts directly on the rudder?

I bought three quarters of a Navik on EBay yesterday, just need to get it here from Devon now.

[mm5aho]

What bits are missing from your Navik?

[Nick]

What bits are missing from your Navik?

The water vane and trim tab - which I am pretty sure I have a spare of under the port bunk on fairwinds - and the counterbalance weight that goes on the bottom of the actual vane.