Monday 23rd September 2013 - My Anchor Watch
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 2:24 pm
We planned an overnight off Shinglehill cove in the Dart approaches but despite near flat conditions it was so rolly we headed back into the river. Nina enjoyed the beach though, which was dubbed 'Dinosaur Beach'... everything is dinosaur related at the moment, since a trip to Torquay's Dinosaur World.
(Since then Lunar hasn't been able to keep anything down. We think she ate some dead seagull on the beach. I've been to the vet today. Gastroenteritis apparently. Didn't stop her trying to eat a live seagull in Dartmouth on the way back to the boat!)
Engine behaved flawlessly but 24 hours later completely refused to start until I bled a considerable amount of air out of the last screw. I investigated the 2nd to last screw and found the 'missing' washer I'd noted previously was not missing but in fact in parts in a recess under the bleed screw. I'm almost 100% sure that these two last screws are the source of the trouble. New washers will be with us tomorrow!
But the big news is that our handheld GPS which has our most up to date charts on it has vanished. It lived near the door so I have to wonder if a certain person (Nina) perhaps grabbed it and fed it to the Dolphin (which we've had close encounters with recently)... it suddenly dawned on me how reliant we were on this one device!
Problem was quickly solved however with two 'apps' on my smartphone, for a total of £23.50. Amazing!
App 1
Navionics
Full, detailed charts of the UK, France, Holland etc, all for £20. And fully up to date, with other users' content added to the charts. You can even overlay satellite imagery too if you have 3G singnal, but without ANY signal, my phone is now a superb electronic chart plotter. Note that we always carry paper charts for the areas we sail, and I use the paper chart primarily, but I always double-check everything with the electronic charts. Especially in close quarters anchoring behind 'Meg Rocks' as we were in Shinglehill Cove.
App 2
My Anchor Watch
I used my handheld GPS as an anchor drag alarm. It was a pain in the bum - forever giving false alarms. This problem is solved, and then some, with a £3.50 app, 'My Anchor Watch Pro'. It takes a little getting your head around it but it's brilliant! If we leave my phone aboard when we go ashore, if there's cause for an alarm, it will send a text to the phone of our choice! And better yet, if we send a text to it (with a password in the text), it will respond with the boat's current position, distance from anchor, gps accuracy and phone battery level. Absolutely wonderful!
The authors point out that if you turn off all sounds and vibrations on a phone, and conceal it in your car or boat, with 'My Anchor Watch' running - and it gets stolen - you will a) get notification of it moving and b) be able to request its current location and so hence track it down and get it back. Fab!
Here's a short video of Rose, Nina and Lunar ashore at Shinglehill Cove, with Towser rolling in the background...
http://youtu.be/UWx0egbuJt4
Lunar very excited about Danny the Dolphin (local name for him) while Nina and I do colouring in...
(Since then Lunar hasn't been able to keep anything down. We think she ate some dead seagull on the beach. I've been to the vet today. Gastroenteritis apparently. Didn't stop her trying to eat a live seagull in Dartmouth on the way back to the boat!)
Engine behaved flawlessly but 24 hours later completely refused to start until I bled a considerable amount of air out of the last screw. I investigated the 2nd to last screw and found the 'missing' washer I'd noted previously was not missing but in fact in parts in a recess under the bleed screw. I'm almost 100% sure that these two last screws are the source of the trouble. New washers will be with us tomorrow!
But the big news is that our handheld GPS which has our most up to date charts on it has vanished. It lived near the door so I have to wonder if a certain person (Nina) perhaps grabbed it and fed it to the Dolphin (which we've had close encounters with recently)... it suddenly dawned on me how reliant we were on this one device!
Problem was quickly solved however with two 'apps' on my smartphone, for a total of £23.50. Amazing!
App 1
Navionics
Full, detailed charts of the UK, France, Holland etc, all for £20. And fully up to date, with other users' content added to the charts. You can even overlay satellite imagery too if you have 3G singnal, but without ANY signal, my phone is now a superb electronic chart plotter. Note that we always carry paper charts for the areas we sail, and I use the paper chart primarily, but I always double-check everything with the electronic charts. Especially in close quarters anchoring behind 'Meg Rocks' as we were in Shinglehill Cove.
App 2
My Anchor Watch
I used my handheld GPS as an anchor drag alarm. It was a pain in the bum - forever giving false alarms. This problem is solved, and then some, with a £3.50 app, 'My Anchor Watch Pro'. It takes a little getting your head around it but it's brilliant! If we leave my phone aboard when we go ashore, if there's cause for an alarm, it will send a text to the phone of our choice! And better yet, if we send a text to it (with a password in the text), it will respond with the boat's current position, distance from anchor, gps accuracy and phone battery level. Absolutely wonderful!
The authors point out that if you turn off all sounds and vibrations on a phone, and conceal it in your car or boat, with 'My Anchor Watch' running - and it gets stolen - you will a) get notification of it moving and b) be able to request its current location and so hence track it down and get it back. Fab!
Here's a short video of Rose, Nina and Lunar ashore at Shinglehill Cove, with Towser rolling in the background...
http://youtu.be/UWx0egbuJt4
Lunar very excited about Danny the Dolphin (local name for him) while Nina and I do colouring in...