Gps vs radar

[BigLew]

A basic lesson I learned after more than 30 years of recreational boating is probably worth mentioning at this juncture.

A very good friend of mine and I were sailing his 35 foot boat from Block Island to Noank Connecticut one morning. The fog rolled in and we had about 150 feet visibility, no kidding! We started to use the air horn like many of us carry as part of our emergency gear; the little plastic horn with a can of compressed air.

Well, it quickly became evident that repeated blasts of the horn resulted in significant cooling of the can of compressed air, thus loss of air pressure rendering our "foghorn" virtually useless. We then resorted to using a bell that we had on board.

We were using a GPS System and thus following the ideal track between Block Island and Noank, Connecticut. The problem was so, was everyone else! Just imagine boats coming out of the fog at a distance of about 150 feet closing at the rate of 40 to 50 feet per second. Not a good situation. What we ended up doing was moving off the line about 150 feet and running parallel to the GPS designated course. The rest of the boating traffic was staying close to the GPS line. After about 2 1/2 hours of doing this, our nerves were shot.

The lesson learned was that our horn should be of a type that can continue to be blasted at intervals for an extended period of time. I hope this little bit of information is helpful to those of us who may not be aware of this.

Had we had radar, the entire experience would have been much more pleasant and manageable. I think this points up the critical difference between GPS and radar!
Take care and good luck. Just my 2¢.

[DonV]

Hey Sam, What's really neat is the guy who built this contraption has another blue van just waiting to be mounted (I need to be careful with that word) on another hull. Man can you imagine how great the classicvanboat.com gatherings are!!!!!! I'm thinking they would put ours to shame!

[gofastsandman]

there used to be an old Greyhound bus on pontoons here. Had trip small mercs where the diesel used to be and the capt. steered from the drivers seat with the original wheel. Too funny.
Wish I had a 4 kw open for birds. We rarely get fog. I can`t imagine coming into tight cuts in Me. with the soup.

gofastsadman

[Capt Chuck]

Pretty Good there Sam...ROTFLMAO

The birth of a new Hull "SpiderCraft"

I think we all need to help Sam out and redo this piece of work....you know Outriggers, Half Tower, Hood Ornament etc. etc. etc. You guys that are good at Photoshop need to start the ball rolling

[Rainmaker]

You should not need a GPS to get home...

When I said I use GPS to get home, I was not saying I need it to get home, but from 40 miles offshore it helps you take a straight line course without any effort plotting or winding up slightly off course so that you end up a few miles from your destination. I agree that no one should rely so heavily on thier GPS as to get lost at sea if it fails, but as a tool for navigation it sure does make life easier.

[pl99]

Hey just laugh about it and dont feel Ignorant. Youll learn, Pm me with your info if your not to far from boynton and want to travel up to jupiter with me.

I will personally show you all the wrong things to do to get home safe. Get a hand held gps and save some money unless your loaded with cash, I only use radar at night if Im out by myself had to many close calls or if Im fishing in an unknown area and looking for birds. The guys up north in the block island areas hats off to them and how they get in safe without radar in no visibility. I would not even try it in florida with all the unsafe boaters. But I would take alot of that info above and weed out the funny stuff alot of it is true.. Do your research and figure out what you really need vs what you want....
Chris

[76Red18]

Man, I could have used some radar last Sunday. I experienced the worst squall line in my boating career(Unforecasted by the way. Coast Gaurd had a hectic day for sure); total white out and unbelievable wind. I was in a very familiar, relatively protected area less than 2 miles from the ramp. It was so bad I couldn't even see my gps screen clearly. I chose to anchor up and sit there for 3 hours!! Luckily I was only in 4' of water. Radar would have done nothing for me in that circumstance as there was nothing to see. No markers but lots of bars. Sometimes you just gotta sit it out [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Blue197320]

that boat is awesome!!!!
on a side note, ive been hearing good things about the new gps/chartplotters that have sirius/xm weather capabilities.

[makade]

I would consider radar a luxury item on a 23' boat in south florida, while I would say a gps is a necessity. I just got a garmin gpsmap 441s for my 18, which should suit my needs.

[gofastsandman]

Man, I could have used some radar last Sunday. I experienced the worst squall line in my boating career(Unforecasted by the way. Coast Gaurd had a hectic day for sure); total white out and unbelievable wind. I was in a very familiar, relatively protected area less than 2 miles from the ramp. It was so bad I couldn't even see my gps screen clearly. I chose to anchor up and sit there for 3 hours!! Luckily I was only in 4' of water. Radar would have done nothing for me in that circumstance as there was nothing to see. No markers but lots of bars. Sometimes you just gotta sit it out [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

You were very fortunate to be in tight. I hate lightning.
Thanks for the t stat o ring tip. No more drip on the ql77jc4 plugs. Monty Racing gave me a tip to try these and she idles pretty well for a Rude now. I`m thinking of pulling the reeds and changing them as well. They are 16 yrs old now and I don`t want to munch a finger.

Cheers,
GFS