Openplotter on a Raspberry pi – An Alternative to Expensive Marine Electronics?

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Openplotter on a Raspberry pi

An Alternative or Backup chartplotter, AIS, autopilot etc…This is a detailed 40 minute video…so go in when you have time…Nick Bernstein, truly a warm but geeky sailor (meant in the kindest of ways!) presents a fantastic tutorial introducing how everything plays out with this open platform software/hardware solution for navigating oceans!

I just republished, from “Nick Sails” , a video that may be helpful to some of our more tech savvy viewers. I am simply helping to get this technology out there, for those who may want to explore it further. The world, and its technology is growing so quickly!

DISCLAIMER: I do not know that much about this system, but it appears that if you have some patience, some technical know how with computers, Linux, etc, that this could be an interesting alternative or at least a backup to some of the expensive solutions available for sailors worldwide. It’s inexpensive, but it may require a lot of time and learning. The hardware may or may not be reliable in the marine environment. Hopefully, someone will take this and run with it, and the prices of marine electronics will come down someday. They obviously have a long uphill climb to make it happen, but I thought you might enjoy this product in infancy…though it it very developed too, all at the same time. I’m not sure it’s ready for the big time yet!

I don’t know how reliable it would be in a marine environment, and I’m not sure where or how the support for it is, especially as you are sailing around the world with it. But it’s something that gave me pause, for sure. Someday, maybe I will give it a whirl…Comment on the video after you watch it to let me know if this is something you would like to see more about…

 

Also…he just released another one…here it is:

Part II on Nick Sails on Youtube!

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Valiant 40 Sailboat Tour (#3) Down Below Part 2. Water Tank Repair, Chain Locker, Marine Toilet, Electronics

Nick Sails on Youtube: Here is his next video in his series:

 

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Something is Missing from our Keel!

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Something is Missing from our keel…

Patrick Childress, after 12 years on Brick House, on his second circumnavigation explains what he does when he finds out we are missing the proper amount of structural foam in our keel…it is hollow! When sitting on the hard, this problem can cause a keel to oil can, or even crack,  when its blocked in the unsound section of the keel. Patrick then shows the process for the correction of what to do when your keel is hollow or damaged. He demonstrates sailboat keel repair with epoxy fiberglass, and how to fill the voids. Keel repair can be done by a sailor, it just takes some sailboat diy knowledge.

We have been sailing around the world for 12 years on our sailboat Brick House. We are hauled out of the water , and it’s time to fix and upgrade a few things on this 41 year old boat!

We received a lot of valuable technical support from AMT Composites here in South Africa, and we thank them for their patience and time. Very knowledgeable and like-able people to work with.

We will be using a number of products they recommended, imported from all over the world, namely Gurit Fiberglass Resin which is very comparable to West Systems. They seem to have all the supplies we need for this fiberglass keel repair, as well as for our blister repair, epoxy barrier coat, and right down to the paintbrushes! They supply the materials for many of the major boatbuilders in South Africa, and are highly respected among the professionals here.  Every cruiser who hails out here, should definitely consider doing business with this company to make sure they get the higher quality resin and other materials in South Africa! If Sarah doesn’t know the answer, ask for John…he is an absolute wealth of knowledge and will help you figure out the right materials for your fiberglass boat project or repair.

Contact here:

Sarah Cochrane|Amt Composites (KZN) | Tel: +27 (0) 31 705 2034| Email: sarah   

https://www.amtcomposites.co.za

 

What Worked, What Didn’t, After 11 years…on Bluewater Cruising Sailboat Brick House

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Finances When Cruising Around the World IMPORTANT UPDATE

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FINANCES WHEN CRUISING AROUND THE WORLD…AN IMPORTANT UPDATE regarding the “The 3 Most Valuable Sailing Tools We use Sailing Around the World” (Original article here)

I have made an update regarding Transferwise in this article…regarding when you sign up…and the phone number to use when signing up. Transferwise is one of the financial tools I recommend for managing your finances as you sail around the world. It is a way to quickly pay in a foreign currency without exposing your credit card to fraud as you pay foreign businesses for products for your sailboat as you travel. I have used it for years with great success, and many many other sailors have too.

You MUST choose a phone number you will always have when signing up for Transferwise. If you should forget your password, they will need to use your listed phone number to reset your password! (Otherwise there is a security concern!)

I use Google Voice for my round the world phone number…http://voice.google.com. It can receive texts and phone calls anywhere in the world. Skype hasn’t worked for texts for me. There are probably other products too, or if you keep you home cellular plan with roaming, or your same Satellite phone number that could maybe work too…but choose carefully! Google Voice for sure works and it’s free though you may need to put some small credit on it. I signed up 12+ years ago and have never put anymore money on it! But you MUST have access to a phone number in the US to initially set it up. I do not think a number on Skype will allow it, but possibly worth a try if you are not in the US, at a friends house or other. After the original setup, you do not need a US phone number anymore

Read original article about financial tools used on Brick House here: Original Article

Sign up to use Transferwise here. We each get a free transfer (but they are so cheap anyways…) when you sign up through this link.

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