Experiences Shared:
On board of my boat I have a Lowrance Elite 5 DSI and a Raymarine ST40 Bidata. The Lowrance 5” GPS is also connected to my Uniden UM415BK VHF radio for automated DSC position.
The ST40 delivers depth information as number, the Elite GPS with attached transducer delivered water temperature and depth information as image also used for fish finding.
I am using the free program OpenCPN on my laptop to plan the trip; putting waypoints on the rout I want to go. The laptop goes with on my trips. The great thing is that OpenCPN runs offline when once loaded with the maps.
Very helpful is also the Waterway Guide Map website, to delivers actual information about maps, marinas, bridges, locks, anchorage, fuel docks, etc. but it needs constant Internet access. I used my cell phone as Internet hotspot, but consider there may not be reception everywhere.
Important is, to get the waypoints, which are mapped in OpenCPN eventually into the GPS. The waypoints appear in the GPS with a line connected, which can be a great navigation help to follow. Also the waypoint route delivers good distance information to estimate the travel time needed.
OpenCPN has an export option for the mapped waypoint route as gpx-file. The Elite GPS is fixed mounted on my pedestrian guard and has no wire load option; I use a 2GB SD memory card as transfer medium. The gpx-file is copied to the SD card is then put it into the Elite’s memory slot and with the function load from card are the waypoints transferred into the Elite GPS.
On board of my boat I have a Lowrance Elite 5 DSI and a Raymarine ST40 Bidata. The Lowrance 5” GPS is also connected to my Uniden UM415BK VHF radio for automated DSC position.
The ST40 delivers depth information as number, the Elite GPS with attached transducer delivered water temperature and depth information as image also used for fish finding.
I am using the free program OpenCPN on my laptop to plan the trip; putting waypoints on the rout I want to go. The laptop goes with on my trips. The great thing is that OpenCPN runs offline when once loaded with the maps.
Very helpful is also the Waterway Guide Map website, to delivers actual information about maps, marinas, bridges, locks, anchorage, fuel docks, etc. but it needs constant Internet access. I used my cell phone as Internet hotspot, but consider there may not be reception everywhere.
Important is, to get the waypoints, which are mapped in OpenCPN eventually into the GPS. The waypoints appear in the GPS with a line connected, which can be a great navigation help to follow. Also the waypoint route delivers good distance information to estimate the travel time needed.
OpenCPN has an export option for the mapped waypoint route as gpx-file. The Elite GPS is fixed mounted on my pedestrian guard and has no wire load option; I use a 2GB SD memory card as transfer medium. The gpx-file is copied to the SD card is then put it into the Elite’s memory slot and with the function load from card are the waypoints transferred into the Elite GPS.
