We're looking for the trash fence...

Panbo has a pointer to an Android App that shows tidal currents... it looks pretty good.

Finally...a cool Android app....

I migrated the web site to run on Wordpress. In the long run this will be easier to maintain and customize.

Be sure and come by the home page and take a look. You will also want to update your news feed URLs.

Since I've been laid up in bed, I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to be able to do things at work, let alone the boat with only one hand.  Microsoft Windows seven has built in speech recognition software which I'm using to write this blog post.  It works a lot better than typing with my left hand and where it lacks and speed it makes up for it but properly capitalizing all the sentences and words which is really hard to do typing with one hand.  Microsoft's products, like Internet explorer, windows live writer, etc..  Work really well because they have all of the accessibility hooks built in.  Applications like Google chrome and tweetdeck don't seem to have all of these hooks and you still need to use your mouse to click around which is OK for me since I have my left hand to use as my mouse hand but if you really needed to use voice recognition as your main way of using all functions on the computer you really only could use Microsoft applications.

Any way this was just a test for me to type in a long paragraph, or I guess dictate is the right word.  It works really well and I think over the next two weeks it will be how I type a lot of work.

I’m starting to get back into the electronics projects one of which is the AIS solution.

What is AIS you ask?

Non Sailor Elevator Pitch: AIS is a radio based system that large vessels use to transmit information within their local area about who they are, where they are going, how fast and how to contact them. By receiving their signal and displaying it on your charts you can avoid hitting them which is the most important but not the only way in which you can use the information. For more go to Wikipedia’s article on AIS.

As a non-commercial vessel we’re not required to transmit our data so at a bare minimum we will have an AIS Receiver on board. I can’t see why we wouldn’t have a transponder (which can also transmit), but I’m leaving that option out there.

First thing to think about is how does all this fit together?

This is a logical diagram of the systems involved and how they link up.

The first thing to note is that the antennas are already in place. I have a dedicated Digital Antenna 222-VW VHF Antenna on my main masthead and a dedicated Digital Antenna 236-VW AIS Antenna on my mizzen masthead.

Secondly, I already have the NMEA 2000 network in place with both a NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 gateway to connect to the PC.

Integration Items for Discussion:

• VHF\ The VHF may not happen. My version of the Icom m504 has no AIS capabilities. Icom tech support says there’s no upgrade. I just bought the VHF in April of 2009 so unless someone at Icom can hook me up with a trade-in or an upgrade to my unit I may just skip that part.
• PC Navigation\ I’ve not picked my RADAR yet so I’ve not picked my Nav Software package, but all of the major vendors call out AIS support as you can see in my PC Navigation Software Comparison spreadsheet on SkyDrive.
• Chartplotter\ Again, since I’ve not picked out my RADAR I’ve also not decided on my chartplotter. What chartplotter and what connection options they have is part of a new research project and the Marine Chartplotter Feature comparison spreadsheet which I worked on tonight. Seems like all the major players support similar AIS functionality.

Just a few thoughts I guess no real answers, but I hope you find it useful just the same.

Are you wishing for better photos and more amazing updates when we go sailing? Well I added a couple of things to our Amazon Wish List that you might want to check out. I’m not really begging you to buy them for us, more of just a way for me to track toys. But ya know if the spirit moves you…  :-)

The Nikon D700 is their latest prosumer model. The body is more rugged and it’s a big upgrade over my D50 as a still camera and it even shoots HD video. I actually think Dawn is going to end up doing a lot of the photography. She has a really good eye and when we have two cameras then she can start to kick my photographic butt.

The Go Pro Surf Hero is a pretty amazing little video camera used by surfers, snowboarders and all kind of brethren crazy folks. This is what I will use to shoot video and create time lapse movies of our journeys. I’m considering mounting several of them on the boat, one on the bow or mast facing forward and another facing the cockpit. The idea is to have lots of content to create blogs from and to product time-lapse films from captured stills. I really want people to be able to tell what’s it really like “out there”.

We’re going to need lots of file space to store all these images and videos. It’s hard to believe it but for around \$100 you can get a name brand 1TB ruggedized hard drive. The La Cie is used by photographers and adventures galore. I have a couple 500GB ones already (already full). The La Cie 1TB model will hold us over for another year or so until 2TB drive are \$50 or solid state drives drop in price.

This is an awesome dress… I think Dawn needs one.  ;-)

aisling grace photographed by doralba picerno

More pics and other awesomeness at Limb Clothing

Just wanted to take a second to give a shout out to a bunch of mailing lists I’m on as I think they useful to anyone looking to go cruising some day.

Puget Sound Cruising Club: The PSCC holds monthly local meetings (if North Seattle Community College is local to you) with topical speakers and on the water meetups. I find the list is a good source of local knowledge and referrals. Most of the members in PSCC have no long-term cruising plans beyond the Puget Sound, but they love to hear about your plans. When Dawn and I did last go to one of their Friday meetings we felt like a bit of a novelty, being under 40, but we were very warmly received. I’d probably find time for the meetings if they weren’t on Friday nights, but the list is a great resource even without the meetings.

These next set groups are area specific and the membership seems to be people actually cruising or planning to leave shortly. Conversations tend to focus around best cruising guides, entrance requirements changes, and referrals for mechanics, haul outs, marinas and anchorages along the route. I am sure there are groups for other regions but as I am not yet interested in those areas I’m not on those lists.

• Southbound Group Focusing on the West Coast of the America’s
• Pacific Puddle Jump This group is affiliated with the Latitude 38 Pacific Puddle Jump Rally, which is not really a rally, but more of a support network of boats leaving southern Mexico and Central Mexico and arriving in French Polynesia.
• Circumnavigation & Ocean Crossing Going further? Going Everywhere? This is probably the group to look for information not covered in one of the other groups.

There are also several lists oriented towards different technologies you might find of interest;

• Airmail2000 This list will walk you through setting Airmail using an internet connection so you can at least rule out the SW not working when you go to use it on your SSB Rig
• NavMonPC NavMonPC is a PC based instrument display that works by displaying the data on your NMEA network. I am experimenting with this on Deep Playa. The guy who writes it is very nice and fixes bugs as you point them out, but it has a ways to go still in terms of usability, modernity of UI and reliability.
• WINMOR A software based PACTOR hardware modem equivalent. I have a PACTOR so I don’t really follow this group too closely. If you don’t have a PACTOR you should at least give this a try.
• 12VDC_Power Most members are doing off the grid installations,but they know a lot about 12V DC, solar panels, wind generators, etc.
• Honda_EU2000_Generators All hail the mighty Honda EU2000, enough said.

How do you handle all of that email?

1. I use an email address that I don’t plan to use all that often once we go cruising. That way random people won’t have my email address I plan to use on my SSB.
2. DIGEST MODE !!! You can edit your subscription to any Yahoo! Group so it sends you a daily summary email of the posts on the group. For these groups you’ll get one email per group instead of 5 to 10 (or more).
3. Stay on Topic – These lists are about getting things done, not social networks (well maybe PSCC is, but it has low email volume) so keep your replies and questions relevant.

Lot of information to glean and by all means don’t just ask for help, try to offer some answers as well these lists only work if people who have information share it.

I was reading this post on Panbo about the RogueWave Wi-Fi system which is the same as the Ubiquiti Bullet M2-HP I am using at a much inflated price. Granted I don’t’ have anyone to call for tech support, but for this, it isn’t something I need tech support. Here’s a picture of my setup which I have mounted on my mizzen masthead.

The components

• Ubiquiti Bullet M2-HP\ This is the Wi-Fi Bridge. It connects the network on my boat to external Wi-Fi networks. If you were comparing this to your home system, it serves basically the same purpose as the cable or DSL modem (but different).
• Linksys E3000 Access Point\ This is the network the PCs and iPhones and other such toys on the boat connect to. I picked this one because it had a USB port on it which allows me to have a large USB drive plugged into it and to have all ship’s documents, manuals, PDF catalogs, magazines, etc available to all the computers I let on my network. I can also grab that little USB Drive if I need to ditch the boat and have all my documents with me in electric format as well and hard copies in my ditch bag.
• 12Volt POE outlet – I don’t have a product link for this. I had one from another device and reused it. POE – Power Over Ethernet is standard that allows power (heh!) and data to travel on the same Ethernet cable. This little device has an AC  to DC converter wall wart that connect to it. One Ethernet port to connect to the Bullet and another to the Linksys Internet port.
• 50’ Direct Burial Ethernet cable Direct Burial cable is filled with gel so water won’t get into it and wick down inside. This is the Ethernet cable I ran up my mast and connected the POE outlet to the Bullet.
• Digital Antenna 825-WLW Wi-Fi Antenna I was buying a Digital Antenna VHF and AIS antenna so I went with their Wi-Fi antenna as well.
• Blue Sea CableClam + P-Clip Together these hold the Ethernet cable securely as it exits the mast, prevent it from chafing on the hole in the mast and prevents water from getting into the mast as well.

In order to protect the radio and secure it to the masthead I made a PVC sleeve that the radio is inside and the the antenna attaches to. I then made a teak bracket to hold the sleeve to the mast because I couldn’t think of anything better and was running out of time. Here’s the basics on that.

• Protective Sleeve for the Radio\ I didn’t want to leave the Bullet exposed to the harsh UV and rain, so I made a PCV Tube that the protects the Bullet. Here’s how that works:
• Let’s pretend the Bullet is 5” long
• I have a 7” x 2” PVC tube (approximately)
• The Top has a PVC Fitting that has a 1” threaded hole. This end is sealed with silicone and two screws to hold it securely but also to allow it to be taken apart if needed.
• The Digital Antenna 825-WLW threads into the 1” hole on the top of the sleeve.
• The Bullet threads directly onto the bottom of the Antenna
• The bottom of the PVC tubs has an cap with a hole drilled in it to allow the POE wire to exit and is glued onto the bottom of the sleeve with PVC primer and cement, just like when we made the conduit for the mast.
• Custom Mount for the Sleeve I could not figure out how to mount the PVC pipe to my mast, so I made a bracket out of teak that is essentially a rectangle but with a half-circle routed out of one side, kind of like a U-Chanel. I bolted the teak to the mast and then used hose clamps to hold the PVC sleeve in the U channel. This was a tad tricky as I had to drill some holes through the teak for the hose clamps to pass through. click this pic to se a close-up of that bracket.  I admit it’s not my best work, but its functional and it’s 40’ in the air so I’m never going to see it anyway. :-)

That’s all of the pieces and how they go together. Let me know if you need me to write up any more about the wiring or the actual network setup. One thing I will not is that the POE and Linksys are currently running on AC, I plan to convert them to run directly of the DC power in the future.

I’m going to start working on a feature comparison of PC based navigation software packages and could use some input from you on what you want to know. Do you have a favorite feature you think should be in all nav programs? Let me know and I’ll try to include it in my research. Here’s what I have so far after just a few minutes:

• Company
• Software
• Website
• Price
• MOB
• RADAR Overlay
• Tides
• NMEA 0183
• NMEA 2000
• Instruments
• Custom Depth
• Ship's Log
• Maintenance Log
• Ship Inventory
• Social Networking
• Photo Support

The obvious omission is chart format. That list of formats seems really really long, so I’m trying to figure out a way to handle that more efficiently than 30 different checkmarks.

From the creative genius of Tawn and CB of s/v Palarran.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSqLjk_30Es