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Scholar Gypsy

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KISS has long been a good principle.  Works for aircraft, ships, boats and cars as well as other things.  Doesn't seem to figure in many manufacturers ideas these days.  So we the users need to learn to be able to get by without all the bells and whistles. Practice is called for too.

 

N

 

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An interesting video. Offshore & sailing high latitudes, then yes, I agree, ish, to a point. But as a self-confessed geek who loves gadgets and tinkering our lumpy water boat is full of gadgets and I wouldn't want to be without them. I expect our narrowboat will gradually end up the same, but as our 60' shell is currently still in build we've got a long way to go.

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30 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I don't see the problem with having gadgets as long as you are competent to navigate & helm the boat safely without them.

 

Exackerly.

 

Sadly, salespeople at boat shows want to sell newbies every gadget under the sun and yachting mags perpetuate the myth that you really should have this, that and the other before poking one's bow out of the marina. ...The likes of Eric who went to sea with an RAC atlas doesn't help the cause though ?

 

...Port Dinorwic - did you ever know Stan Roberts by any chance?

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1 minute ago, Jackofalltrades said:

..Port Dinorwic - did you ever know Stan Roberts by any chance?

 

Nope - sorry.

Maybe know him to nod at, but don't know the name.

 

 

Gave in last year and updated my Plotter - does it all for you, can even be linked to the autopilot,

I can imagine newbies getting into boating, having no idea which way up a chart goes, could get themselves into trouble when the 'card' gets corrupted, or the powe supply goes down.

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5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Nope - sorry.

Maybe know him to nod at, but don't know the name.

 

 

Gave in last year and updated my Plotter - does it all for you, can even be linked to the autopilot,

I can imagine newbies getting into boating, having no idea which way up a chart goes, could get themselves into trouble when the 'card' gets corrupted, or the powe supply goes down.

 

Stan Roberts used to run Island Sea School out of PD (lock side) on a Rival 41 (he also had a Sigma 33). That's where I first started sailing 20ish years ago. He had a GPS but no one was allowed to use it. We all had to work out CTS, etc. Even the sails were hanked on. Happy days.

 

On our other boat we have two plotters, radar, autopilot & wind/speed/depth duplicated inside & out, all networked together, Works marvelously.

 

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15 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Here's one of my favourite gadgets, a sun compass.  Only requires a watch to operate it. Oh and some sun.

 

img_3994.jpg

 

Very good. But you might want to delete that image pronto if you still live at the same address.

Edited by Jackofalltrades
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5 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

 That's very fine (does it correct for BST/GMT?!)   I got mine from an Australian website, which needed a bit of twiddling to get it to work in the Northern hemisphere. 

Yes, there is a separate image for each month and BST/GMT are highlighted in different colours. I actually centred it on Birmingham but that is near enough for all the English and Welsh canals.

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I guess it all depends what you mean by "gadgets"...

 

If you mean the kind of thing that don't do a lot that much simpler technology can't do, then this is pointless technology for the sake of it -- just like all the use-it-one-then-put-it-in-the-cupboard kitchen gadgets.

 

If you mean things that provide a lifestyle more like onshore such as decent 230V electrical systems and all the useful stuff you can run from them, this is a choice -- people who want to stick with the more traditional boat setup are perfectly free to do so, but them disparaging people for wanting a washer or a dishwasher or lots of solar makes no more sense than them being disparaged for not having one and living in the dark ages.

 

If you mean things like LiFePO4 batteries (plus the systems that go with them), these are modern technology which genuinely does offer big advantages so long as you're willing to pay for them -- which many people can't (or don't want to), but this doesn't make them any less valuable.

 

If you mean things like series hybrid/electric boats instead of diesels, there are genuine environmental reasons for going this way as well as the peace and quiet ones, but again this is an expensive option.

 

Both choices are perfectly valid -- at one end there are the "traditional boaters" who want to keep a diesel engine (possibly one that goes bonk-bonk...), a solid-fuel stove, and very little electrical gear, all at low cost, and at the other end "modern boaters" who want a more luxurious centrally-heated electric-heavy lifestyle -- possibly including propulsion -- and are willing/able to pay for it, because doing it properly (and making it reliable) is expensive, nothing is worse than trying to build something complex on the cheap. I can't help thinking that some of the reason behind the resentment is to do with money, people who live more simply disliking the rich incomers with all their shiny stuff, and them in turn looking down on the poor benighted scruffs lugging coal to the boat and excrement to the Elsan...

 

Slagging off somebody else because they choose a different lifestyle to yours is divisive and can be counterproductive, because different people have different wants and needs. What should matter is that however you choose you to live, you value the canals and the people on them, and are a "good canal citizen" -- meaning, don't do things that might be good/convenient for you but are unpleasant for others. Many examples spring to mind -- out-of-hours engines/generators, towpath trash, inconsiderate mooring (or boating), semi-permanent hogging of visitor/short-term moorings, dog poo on the towpath or in poo-bags on trees, the infamous recent toilet thread...

Edited by IanD
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3 hours ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Here's one of my favourite gadgets, a sun compass.  Only requires a watch to operate it. Oh and some sun.

 

img_3994.jpg

My sun compass only needs my watch, and to know whether it is GMT or BST. A line that dissects the angle between 12 and the hour hand pointed to the sun gives you due south. I learnt this many years ago as a boy scout. It is probably in B.P's "Scouting for Boys" ( If you can say that in these enlightened times!!!!)

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