Sat nav

[iteldoo4me]

Can anyone tell me if I can get a programme to go into my sat nav system,for the inland waterways? Thank you in anticipation.

[DHutch]

I beleave you can yes.

 

Only say this becuase when we did the ribble link from tarleton my grandad friend bought his hand-held garmin and was kicking himself for not puting it on before hand (he said he had it on his pc at home)

- So we just did it on breadcrum mode, which was cool anyway.

 

 

Daniel

[Moley]

SatNav on the cut? That's sad.

 

And if you missed a turning (easy at those speeds), would it know where the nearest winding hole was?

[DHutch]

SatNav on the cut? That's sad.

- And if you missed a turning (easy at those speeds), would it know where the nearest winding hole was?

Yeah, well there is that.

- But if you've got the kit, it can be quite fun to play with it anyway!

- As i said, we had satnav on the was acrros to the ribble from tarleton (via preston)

- It was good fun, and it was helpfull in that it told us out speed over land (which dipped as low as 0.1mph breifly)

 

 

Daniel

[Moley]

it told us out speed over land (which dipped as low as 0.1mph briefly)

 

Unless it's more up to date with its pubs information than Nicholsons (which ain't hard), I can't see a great deal of demand.

[John Orentas]

Don't you feel a bit of a pratt using a GPS on a narrowboat. I will stick to my trusty Sextant I feel much less self-conscious.

[DHutch]

"John, put that damm thing away..."

[iteldoo4me]

Don't you feel a bit of a pratt using a GPS on a narrowboat. I will stick to my trusty Sextant I feel much less self-conscious.

 

 

I dont mind being a pratt if it helps me navigate,at least Idont have to tell anyone,everyone will be able to see with my 28" monitor sitting on the roof.

 

 

Unless it's more up to date with its pubs information than Nicholsons (which ain't hard), I can't see a great deal of demand.

 

 

Nicholsons blew away whilst trying to read it,hopefully a 28" monitor wont

 

 

Unless it's more up to date with its pubs information than Nicholsons (which ain't hard), I can't see a great deal of demand.

 

 

i can smell a Guiness at 300 yards,no problem there! Plenty of time to moor up.

 

SatNav on the cut? That's sad.

 

And if you missed a turning (easy at those speeds), would it know where the nearest winding hole was?

 

 

The wonders of technology have an answer for every question,but winding holes,now thats a tuffy.

[DHutch]

...will be able to see with my 28" monitor sitting on the roof.

You have a 28" moniter on you roof!

 

Wait...

...your not the guy with a CCTV set up so he can see the bow are you?

 

(serously, i saw a guy with a camera on the bow, and a large TFT screen infront of him!)

[Yamanx]

I use a small hand held GPS whilst on the canal.

 

It tells me exactly what speed I'm doing, it tells me where the nearest shops, roads and garages are.

 

It tells me exactly where I am so if I'm approaching a town, built up area or whatever. It has pub, station and hospital locations.

 

It has a facility for uploading all my routes, speeds, stops etc. on to my PC at home for accurate records of my journeys.

 

The canal plan web site has a facility for uploading to GPS but only Garmen, mines a Magellan so I dont know if it works.

 

I enjoy having it along, its another part of canal cruising for me.

 

 

You have a 28" moniter on you roof!

 

Wait...

...your not the guy with a CCTV set up so he can see the bow are you?

 

(serously, i saw a guy with a camera on the bow, and a large TFT screen infront of him!)

 

I saw a boat on the Macclesfield canal, it was a barge style narrow boat and had the steering inside the cabin. On the roof of the cabin was a camera, so the person steering could see the front of the boat easier!

[ChrisPy]

I can see an opening here for the RYA to do inland waterways navigation courses :-

day 1 - dead reckoning using a log line

day 2 - how to recover the log line operator when he goes overboard because the log line got snagged on something

day 3 - how to recover your log line when it gets caught on a drowned ford cortina

day 4 - celestial (if the fog and the black smoke on the GU lifts)

day 5 - GPS

day 6 - beer and skittles

 

[Richard Bustens]

Great course Chris.

Can i book up just for day 6 please ill give the others a miss.

[DHutch]

Great course Chris.

- Can i book up just for day 6 please

[Supermalc]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gps-navigator/

 

A good group to answer your questions.

 

When I got my finite boating money 4 years ago, I decided to spend a little on something that I might still have when I finished i.e. a Sat Nav.

 

Sadly the best laid plans and all that, as couple of years ago I must have left it on the roof of my boat and lost it. (Don't usually lose a penny)

 

I was lucky in the shop, and advised to buy an Etrex Legend. The best hand held then, as used by our armed forces.

 

Other than a toy, and something to stop me dying of bordom on the boat, I did in fact find it useful. Not only to check my speed, and the speed of my friends boats, but the estimated time was usually fairly accurate. And once I had added the waypoints on the Witham, it sort of broke the journey up.

 

Would also be very useful on a tidal river with a channel e.g. the Trent. Do the journey with an experienced memeber, or follow an experienced boater, then all you have to do is follow the track, next time.

 

Suffice to say, even a short trip into the Wash it is almost mandatory in my opinion....in case of fog for instance. I borrowed my friends on my one trip last year.

[stuart]

I brought a cheap GPS unit from ebay (about £35) and use my Nokia mobile phone with bluetooth to report whats, what.

[Jon]

As someone who uses a satnav system in his car, I can see some uses for the inland waterways market.

 

Obviously, you don't really need the route planning software in it's current form. It may be useful to have an advance planning system (ie, distance/time/number of locks) but that is nothing you can't already get in a nicholsons guide.

 

 

The obvious advantage is the real time position indication. You can use this to identify where you are and also what is around you. The one thing I usually find annoying with Pearsons/Nicholsons is that often it doesn't show that much of the surrounding area. This is something that would find quite helpful. Speed/Distance travelled is useful for those interested.

 

On the whole though, unless you've already got the kit, it's much cheaper to by a Pearsons/Nicholsons and the local A-Z!

 

Jon

[Moley]

With the scale used in Nicholsons, and the quality of OS mapping, and regular bridges / locks / bends / mileposts, I always know where I am on the cut to within a quarter of a mile.

 

I will confess, however, that I get disorientated on rivers. Just coming up the Severn from Worcester to Stourport I found it hard to track my progress, it all looks very similar and locks were always farther away than I thought.

 

It's perhaps for that reason that I don't much like rivers, will avoid them wherever possible, and feel far more 'at home' on the cut.