I’m rehabbing a 19’ Typhoon and wonder what instrument options are available for a small boat. I’m familiar with big boat instruments which seem like overkill. Any suggestions?
Small boat instrument recommendations
- Thread starter Jwhy
- Start date
I've always been happy using a cheep fish finder which gives you gps speeds, depth, water temp etc. slightly better ones have built in topo maps for lakes or blue water. I use Garmin mostly
There's a new unit called Maptattoo
www.maptattoo.com
I don't have any direct experience with this, but if you are looking for navigation - I'm looked at this a couple times - seems pretty cool. It's only navigation - not multi functional.
dj
The Best Marine GPS Amidst The Action - MAPTATTOO
The Best Navigation Aid Amidst The Action Designed for Small Boats Between the waves, the gusts, and everything else on board, being in the action can be all-consuming. MAPTATTOO was designed to give you the easiest experience navigating – so you can focus on what truly matters. With its E-Ink...
www.maptattoo.com
I don't have any direct experience with this, but if you are looking for navigation - I'm looked at this a couple times - seems pretty cool. It's only navigation - not multi functional.
dj
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 24,455
How and where do you plan to sail your boat once it is finished? Your budget is about the only limits.
Hand held radio and GPS. Or use a cellphone for navigation, a led camp light and a small compass in the cockpit to keep it nautical. Save your budget for new sails.
Hand held radio and GPS. Or use a cellphone for navigation, a led camp light and a small compass in the cockpit to keep it nautical. Save your budget for new sails.
I’m on the Chesapeake Bay which has wide areas of shallow water making a depth finder useful, and I may race so a speed gauge would be nice. I have iNavx on my phone and iPad which covers most of my needs but keeping them dry means stowing and retrieving them every time I want data. I’d rather glance at a display.
I‘ve looked at the Raymarine combo transducer and display that run about $800 which is more than I want to spend. Hawkeye and Hummingbird make smaller units that use a gps antenna for speed and course and a sensor mounted on the hull for depth. That set up would cost about. $200. They also say the depth sensor can be mounted inside the hull with epoxy but I’m skeptical of it’s accuracy.
I‘ve looked at the Raymarine combo transducer and display that run about $800 which is more than I want to spend. Hawkeye and Hummingbird make smaller units that use a gps antenna for speed and course and a sensor mounted on the hull for depth. That set up would cost about. $200. They also say the depth sensor can be mounted inside the hull with epoxy but I’m skeptical of it’s accuracy.
Windex was the only working instrument that I had on my 25'. Wind speed would've been nice. I didn't have a need for depth
A reliable cell phone is really all that is necessary. Get a navigation app and you've got GPS, chart plotter, speed, depth (sort of), waypoints, anchor watch, blah, blah, blah. Most phones have a magnetic compass. Weather apps give you up to date forecasts. MarineTraffic app gives you an AIS receiver (sort of). You are probably not going to go out of cell phone range, so it's almost as good as a VHF for distress. Most of the time when you call the Coast Guard they ask you to switch to cell phone anyway, at least on Lake Erie. Obviously you should have all the usual distress signals too.
Everything else is just nice to have. I'd add a windex for sure. An analog compass (I find a compass I can always take a quick look at is convenient). Cheap depth finder maybe. A tablet with a bigger screen (plus it's backup for your phone). VHF handhelds are handy if you need to talk to someone close by, but if you want to listen in on the world, they don't get great reception. Maybe a handheld anemometer.
Everything else is just nice to have. I'd add a windex for sure. An analog compass (I find a compass I can always take a quick look at is convenient). Cheap depth finder maybe. A tablet with a bigger screen (plus it's backup for your phone). VHF handhelds are handy if you need to talk to someone close by, but if you want to listen in on the world, they don't get great reception. Maybe a handheld anemometer.
A piece of lightweight string or streamer tied to a stanchion can be used as a convenient and cheap wind indicator. It's not often that you see wind at the top of the sail going a different direction than at the bottom
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 24,455
I sailed my 15ft Pocket Yacht for 18 years. I sailed her on a minimal budget and basic, creative multi-day camp cruising.
You draw 2.6 feet and sail in waters where the tide change is less than three feet.
That said, it is your boat, and you can deck it out to display your style of boating.
- Wind indicators were scrap yarn or strips of tape from an old cassette.
- I had up-to-date paper charts, which I got for free from NOAA, and printed them at home from a computer.
- If I were going very far, I would make a booklet for the trip.
- I had a floatable handheld VHF.
- I only sailed during the day, no need for nav lights. 15 ft boat only needs a flashlight to light the sail. Or you can pick up a battery-powered navlight for a couple of bucks.
You draw 2.6 feet and sail in waters where the tide change is less than three feet.
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (station 8638863): Mean range of tide = 2.55 ft; diurnal range = 2.9 ft.
My 15ft boat drew 1.8 feet. I could go just about anywhere on a chart and jump off the boat without getting water above my knees. The charts are well documented in the Chesapeake. Shoaling waters are noted, and channel markers provide adequate notice to boaters who are observant. If you go sailing in waters of less than 3 feet, you are bound to find an unmarked shoal. I am certain that a depth gauge will not give you advanced notice of shoaling better than knowing where you are on a chart. There are handheld, portable depth finders that you can reach over the side and hold in the water to give you the distance to the bottom. That said, it is your boat, and you can deck it out to display your style of boating.
I have a cell phone it does not have a magnetic compass. However I am willing to be reeducated. fwiw
You just download an app for the compass.. I did that on my phone, don't find it particularly useful.
dj
We did that with a Lowrance transducer that was meant to be transom mounted. We used silicone to mount it inside the hull works fine, and any other medium that doesn’t have air bubbles can work just as well - epoxy, toilet ring wax, antifreeze somehow contained in a box, etc. The only requirement is that there not be air between the transducer and water under the boat. If the boat has a cored hull under the waterline that will get in the way, but that’s unusual on smaller boats.
iPhones have had magnetic compasses since the very early years. The accuracy is good; not great, if for no other reason than it’s hard to know exactly which way it’s pointed. I think many Android phones are similar.
On the Chesapeake I use the charted depths to get a good idea for where I can or should go, and then the depth sounder to check that I’m not overlooking anything or getting into an area where the charts might be wrong because of shoaling. In that sense they do provide advanced notice for me. If I plan to go to a spot in an anchorage that’s charted at 6 feet, but on the way in the depth sounder is reading 8 feet where the chart says 10 feet, I probably won’t stick to the original plan.
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 24,455
This is a basic SONAR 101 MANDATE. The Ultrasonic Sound waves produced by your transducer do not propagate through air. There is minimal attenuation of the transducer signal when using it "in-Hull." It actually may work better (more stable) than if you stick it in the water at the stern. Bubbles from your hull and stern wake can be disruptive. The drawback is that you will lose some "Maximum" depth coverage as the power level in the water is a bit less than that of a submerged transducer. Not sure it matters much to a sailboat. The difference between 350 and 290 feet.
We use a Garmin Stryker fish finder. Transducer is under the v-berth in plumber's putty. It has GPS (but no maps), speed, depth and water temp. Mast-head generic analog wind indicator.
I have Navionics on my phone, which I use from time to time if we're in a less familiar area -- there are some shoals, etc. Mainly for "is this course going to get me too shallow" or "where should I change course to stay out of that". We have a radio in the cabin, but almost never use it. A hand-held in the cockpit is a lot nicer.
We don't race, but others in our club do. Its nice to hear them on the radio and occasionally to announce we're going to heave-to and stay out of the way, etc.
I have Navionics on my phone, which I use from time to time if we're in a less familiar area -- there are some shoals, etc. Mainly for "is this course going to get me too shallow" or "where should I change course to stay out of that". We have a radio in the cabin, but almost never use it. A hand-held in the cockpit is a lot nicer.
We don't race, but others in our club do. Its nice to hear them on the radio and occasionally to announce we're going to heave-to and stay out of the way, etc.
From a trailer sailor who camp cruises with a 19ft Mariner.
In my neck of the woods (Albemarle Sound), the feds gave up surveying the sound except for the Intracoastal Waterway 20 years ago. So charts are not that accurate anymore. Still, I carry charts, especially when I trailer to other areas. I study them to get a feel for the area before I go (charts of Core Sound NC, Long Island Sound).
Can't read the water in this area for depth, but a depth finder only tells you depth where you are at, not where you are going. With a 10" draft (board up), I can easily tell when I'm in too shallow a) with a boat hook over the side, b) the centerboard and/or rudder begins to drag (both kick up). I use Navionics on my cell phone because they integrate a huge number of soundings from fishermen's depth sounders pretty accurately. Good enough for me to pay the $50 annual subscription fee. The fishermen depth sounder incorporation net me very good charts of lakes, as well as poorly charted coastal waters. Displayed on my cell phone, along with GPS course and speed, and forecast track, I have all I need for navigation besides the Mark 1 eyeball. Navionics Boating app also lets me lay out desired courses and tracks, and will show me progress against those tracks.
In my old age, I don't crane my neck so well to look up at the masthead on a regular basis, so the Windex that came with the boat has been left off. I have red yard on the shrouds and backstay about 6ft up. When the sun fades the yarn, I simply replace it. Sails have red and green tape telltales to get trim correct. I have learned to feel when the boat is in the groove without even looking at the telltales.
In addition to the cell phone, I have a handheld VHF-FM that I used in Connecticut to get bridges to open. Have a tiller clutch that allows me to latch and lock the tiller in any position. No electrical system yet - a battery lantern and fan suffice for the cabin, and a battery lantern tied to the forestay and hoisted about 6ft up suffices for an anchor light. No electrical system yet, but will probably add one this year or next to power CPAP, and recharge electric outboard battery and phone. Battery powered portable running lights suffice - I don't sail or motor much at night, but AA batteries are supposed to last about 20-25 hrs of use.
In 1979, DW and I cruised the northern Bahamas (starting from Miami) for 4 weeks in an ODay 25. We didn't have Navionics or cell phone or GPS, but we did have a handheld RDF, a compass, and a fixed VHF with masthead antenna. Back then, I used a battery powered lantern on the forestay for an anchor light, and a solar heated bag of water suspended from the boom in the cockpit for our showers. Cooked on a portable propane camp stove in the cockpit, after selling the useless and dangerous alcohol stove the boat came with.
Keeping it simple - which is the fun of small boat cruising.
Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner Sweet P
Hertford, NC
In my neck of the woods (Albemarle Sound), the feds gave up surveying the sound except for the Intracoastal Waterway 20 years ago. So charts are not that accurate anymore. Still, I carry charts, especially when I trailer to other areas. I study them to get a feel for the area before I go (charts of Core Sound NC, Long Island Sound).
Can't read the water in this area for depth, but a depth finder only tells you depth where you are at, not where you are going. With a 10" draft (board up), I can easily tell when I'm in too shallow a) with a boat hook over the side, b) the centerboard and/or rudder begins to drag (both kick up). I use Navionics on my cell phone because they integrate a huge number of soundings from fishermen's depth sounders pretty accurately. Good enough for me to pay the $50 annual subscription fee. The fishermen depth sounder incorporation net me very good charts of lakes, as well as poorly charted coastal waters. Displayed on my cell phone, along with GPS course and speed, and forecast track, I have all I need for navigation besides the Mark 1 eyeball. Navionics Boating app also lets me lay out desired courses and tracks, and will show me progress against those tracks.
In my old age, I don't crane my neck so well to look up at the masthead on a regular basis, so the Windex that came with the boat has been left off. I have red yard on the shrouds and backstay about 6ft up. When the sun fades the yarn, I simply replace it. Sails have red and green tape telltales to get trim correct. I have learned to feel when the boat is in the groove without even looking at the telltales.
In addition to the cell phone, I have a handheld VHF-FM that I used in Connecticut to get bridges to open. Have a tiller clutch that allows me to latch and lock the tiller in any position. No electrical system yet - a battery lantern and fan suffice for the cabin, and a battery lantern tied to the forestay and hoisted about 6ft up suffices for an anchor light. No electrical system yet, but will probably add one this year or next to power CPAP, and recharge electric outboard battery and phone. Battery powered portable running lights suffice - I don't sail or motor much at night, but AA batteries are supposed to last about 20-25 hrs of use.
In 1979, DW and I cruised the northern Bahamas (starting from Miami) for 4 weeks in an ODay 25. We didn't have Navionics or cell phone or GPS, but we did have a handheld RDF, a compass, and a fixed VHF with masthead antenna. Back then, I used a battery powered lantern on the forestay for an anchor light, and a solar heated bag of water suspended from the boom in the cockpit for our showers. Cooked on a portable propane camp stove in the cockpit, after selling the useless and dangerous alcohol stove the boat came with.
Keeping it simple - which is the fun of small boat cruising.
Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner Sweet P
Hertford, NC
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I was about to launch into a rant about gadget creep and overkill on a small boat, but @JBP-PA nailed it with the suggestion of a good phone app. Typhoons are excellent pocket cruisers with a full shoal keel, so you really don’t need a depth finder. If you touch bottom, you’re usually shallow enough to step out and push. Navigation apps already show depth, and unless you regularly sail more than two miles offshore, a cellphone will tell you where you are and what’s below you. Even then, I’d recommend a cell booster before investing heavily in Garmin gear.
I’ve fully restored seven very neglected sailboats, and on the early ones I went all‑in on electrical upgrades. The return wasn’t worth the effort. I sailed after dark only a handful of times, so traditional nav lights saw little use—battery‑powered clip‑on nav. lights are fine. Cabin dome lights were never where I needed them, so LED puck lights placed where you actually want light work better. And a masthead anchor light is nearly useless in fog; hanging an LED camping light from the boom is far more visible and doubles as a cockpit light at anchor.