Monthly Archive: May 2008

Gear puzzle, and Gitana Eighty’s nav station 15

Gear puzzle, and Gitana Eighty’s nav station

Gitana_80_stalk_cPeter_Nielsen

So Sail Editor Peter Nielsen sends me this shot wondering who makes that articulated stalky thing holding up the B&G autopilot, and where he can get some for his boat. I have no idea, and I’m interested too. Can anyone fill us in?  Of course I asked Peter where he’d seen it, and damned if he hasn’t …

EPIRB failures, where’s the meat? 13

EPIRB failures, where’s the meat?

EPIRB_investigation_screen

Is there a problem with EPIRBs? Robin Storm thinks so, and is even calling for a congressional investigation into what he perceives as an alarming number of failures and a flawed failure investigation system. But I read his whole report and, at the risk of sounding cranky, must ask: “Where’s the meat?”…

SeaKey v2, a field report 4

SeaKey v2, a field report

Preston_SeaKey_track_window

Preston Calvert is one of several valuable contributors to the HD radar discussion, which is how I got e-mailing with him last night. Which is how I confirmed that he is indeed the same Preston whose Riviera 45 was tested in PMY recently, except his Neuromancer3 is better looking, and a lot more geeked out, than the boat they used in the main photo shoot. It also turns out that Preston is a new user of SeaKey v2, and he

V4 & P+ #3, live tides & currents 2

V4 & P+ #3, live tides & currents

Raymarine_V4_live_tides_Delaware_cPanbo

Doh! There’s a pall of embarrassment hanging over Panbo HQ today. When I first reviewed the new Raymarine software and Platinum+ charts, I complained that I couldn’t see the live tide and current icons that were an announced feature. None appeared after the “real” reset either, and so I complained to Raymarine. Well, gosh, they were right under my nose: select any regular tide or current icon on a chart, hit OK, and—ta! ta!—there’s a new “Animate” soft key choice. Which gets you to the very able screen above, full size here. Every station…

HD radar, especially Furuno’s 19

HD radar, especially Furuno’s

NN3D_MFD8_chart_radar_split_Woods_Hole_cPanbo

I have a gripe about High Def radar, or Ultra HD or Super HD or whatever; as best I can tell there is no identifiable technology, specs, or benchmarks to compare one with another, or even to grasp what it is. But it definitely is something. I’ve seen screen shots of Northstar/Simrad HD that looked good, I’ve heard excellent reports on Garmin’s HD and Raymarine’s, which I also saw myself, though only in tight quarters and flat water. But last week I spent nearly six hours inshore and off with a Furuno UHD 4kW 3.5’ array, and…wowsuh, I was definately, and highly, impressed

V4 & P+, after a “real” factory reset 8

V4 & P+, after a “real” factory reset

RayE_4.29_after_master_reset_cPanbo

After I’d written my first impressions of the new E-Series 4.29 software and the Platinum+ charts it supports, I learned that I hadn’t done the “real” version of the recommended factory/master reset. You see, though Raymarine’s own FAQ is unclear about it, a reset done by powering up while holding down the leftmost soft key is apparently different, and deeper, than the one I’d done from the System Setup menu. I know for sure that this is true, as…