Yearly Archive: 2007
Tacktick Micronet, part 1
I finally launched Annie G., my Rhodes 18 (named after me mum), and am getting pretty excited about the various Tacktick instruments I’ve installed…
“Lost Claws”, a homie
Maybe my favorite-named lobster boat ever, caught here in pristine just-relaunched condition, before she went to work in Penobscot Bay…
Distributed power, no bus, no code
This (bigger here) is one of the DC panels on Electra. What’s unusual is that its modern electronic breaker/switches do not connect to a bus and then to various microprocessor-loaded control panels, like, say, Moritz’s Octoplex. Instead…
Freestyle MP3 player, really waterproof
Man, there’s a lot of waterproof iPod cases, but if you’re really active in/on the water you might want to consider a dedicated, if limited, solution. The Freestyle waterproof MP3 flash player is waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof, and it floats…
Seetrac Solo, more tender tracking
Well, my entry on how Rendez-vous tender tracking uses AIS message conventions seems to have confused even some AIS savvy folks (sorry, Del). To be clear, Rendez-vous will not show up on anyone’s screen unless that screen is connected to a specific network of Rendez-vous radios. Rendez-vous just uses the AIS data structure so that plotting software does not have be modified to see the tenders in a network. Get it? I think it clever, but the folks who developed the Seetrac Tender Tracking systems aren’t so sure:
Lowrance N2K FM/VHF, and more
If you check the bigger image, you’ll see the FM band button, a welcome first for a fixed VHF radio. But maybe better yet, I think, is the Lowrance style NMEA 2000 plug on the back…
Hurricane tracking, XM & more
Panbot Allan Seymour (thanks!) sent in this image of Hurricane Dean showing on his XM-enabled Garmin. It also happens to show the southern limit of XM’s cloud coverage coverage…
Rendez-vous, clever use of AIS standards
Tender tracking systems, like the Nobeltec/Seetrac combo discussed here last year, are a bit exotic (even a bit mockable). But I’ve seen the captain of a big charter yacht worry over a ditzy guest out on a PWC, plus I see how over-the-top some mega yacht tenders are getting (like the Vikal Limo). In fact, when I was in the British Virgin Islands last spring, it seemed like every big, really fine center console I saw turned out to be the “little” boat of something much bigger. In other words, tender tracking can be serious business, and I think the new SeaCas Rendez-vous system looks to be a powerful solution.
TDI inverters & converters, modular & hot swappable
This week I spent some more time aboard the fabulous Electra, back at Lyman Morse after a month long trial/pleasure cruise to New York. I’ve come to realize that her owner, George Wallner, has a deep understanding of electricity that’s similar to the way some fine chefs I’ve met know the science and mechanics of their basic materials like, say, butter…
