J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Plotter

On the bigger boats I normally sail, there is a bona fide Nav Station with a chart plotter. It's kind of nice to take a break sometimes & go below & stare at the numbers.

On the J/30 there is a humble spot to mount some nav gear but it's not really a Nav Station. I had my handheld GPS plugged in downbelow, and I found that I didn't really enjoy going down below to view it, so I plugged it in (12v) on deck, and watched it there. Now I want to take the entertainment to a new level with a plotter to watch, and mount it right on deck along with the standard entertainment pieces (compass card, speed, depth). Let's call it the Entertainment Center. Question is color or monochrome ? I hear so much about the (costly) color screens that washout in the sunlight and then are useless @ night too ! Thinking of Standard Horizon CP150 mono or color, with NT+. Anybody have input on this ?

Thanks, Dell

I installed the Standard Horizon 150 in monochrome last year and think it is great. I have Standard Horizon instruments on the bulkhead, and they all communicate just fine. The GPS/plotter is on the shelf over the chart table, but I can read bearing to waypoint, distance, etc. from the Repeater on the bulkhead. Standard's wiring diagram wasn't much help, though, so I had to sort it out myself. It should be helpful on the Newport Beach-Ensenada Race in April.

s cole,

Thank you kindly for your reply ! I am thinking of exactly that; SH 150 mono. I too have SH square gages, which are pretty cool ! (speed & depth). Glad to know that they all talk ! That is a real thought, mounting it below, and having a repeater on deck for CTW, DTG, etc. I had not thought of that. Clever installation, s cole.

Ensenada race on the J/30 ? ! Very cool. Is that an infamously light air DW affair ? How will "our" tiny kite do ? Have fun - I hear fun is what Ensenada racing is all about.

Thanks again for your input, I really appreciate it.

Dell

Dell,

Despite the fact that Standard Horizon made both the GPS plotter and the 150 series instruments, I found their instructions to link everything lacking. Afer several discussions with their customer service advisor, and a lot of trial & error myself, I sorted it out. If you would like it, I have made a wiring diagram of the setup that works. E-mail me at sailfun@earthlink.net. Now I am trying to figure out how to link the NMEA 0183 output from a new Sailcomp into the GPS.

Steve,

I have a SailComp 103AC, I've connected both NMEA input and output, and I'd be happy to chat about it. (In fact, I just re-wired it yesterday! I was sick of not seeing the masthead readout at night due to really wimpy backlighting, so I moved it to the cockpit.) Of course I know nothing about the Standard Horizon GPS. ;-)

Ryan Pierce, #337

OK - so cool, you've got your sailcomp talking NMEA to your wind instrument ? What is your sailcomp talking NMEA to ? What is your masthead instrument ? Go ahead & chat about it. Are you talking it to the next level & going laptop ?

Meanwhile, I believe I have solved my conundrum of whether to mount the plotter above decks. I got the swivel mount.

I mounted a garmin plotter on a swing mount to see inside or out. when out it does block the companionway some but I can still get around it. I think color is cool but I have the monochrome

I just moved my Garmin 180 chartplotter from the "nav station" to a swing mount. For those that are interested, I used a swing mount from West Marine and mounted it on a block of teak that I cut to fit between the companionway groove and the handhold on the starboard side of the companionway. The bulkhead has a 10 degree slant so if you want the mount to be perpendicular, don't forget to angle the piece of teak accordingly.

I decided to move the chartplotter after getting caught in thick fog during an overnight race. At 2:00 AM we got socked in and it required someone in the cabin directing the helmsman which way to steer to make it back to port. Now, the chartplotter will be in clear view.

Another bonus is that in the swung out position the chartplotter sits nestled under the overhead sliding companionway hatch so it's out of the elements.

Bob Rude #352 Mmmmm

Sorry, clarification....

What I meant to say is that the Sailcomp display was mast-mounted. (I know I said masthead by mistake; I am NOT talking about the wind instrument). The Sailcomp was impossible to read with its wimpy backlighting from the helm. (And I didn't find this out until my first evening race; it got dark and I had no idea of my heading! I had to send crew forward to shout out bearings to me!)

The Sailcomp's NMEA repeater function is very sorely limited. Just distance and bearing to waypoint, and the arc at the top of the instrument becomes a graphical crosstrack error display. That's it.

Ryan Pierce, #337

I have a garmin 176C. The colour is nice, but the feature of 12volt or double A batteries is really good.It becomes very portable, from the cabin to the cockpit to the car.The charts are great and very accurate. This model has paid for itself many times over, no matter if it cost $500 or $5000.