Knot Meters, Wind meters.. What / where to buy?

[Lost Lake]

Where do I go for a knot meter, wind direction/speed gauge and a depth finder? There's a West Marine in town but they don't stock anything like I am looking for. I will go through the catalog, but what is everyone here running?

Oh, I really don't want to spend $3,000 either! A couple hundred would be okay... I guess the knot meter and wind speed indicator are on my most wanted list. Should I just get a GPS for speed?

[Craig Weis]

For wind try Wal-Mart, for about $90 a cordless/wireless unit can be mounted atop the mast with the readout in/near the cockpit. Wind speed but no direction. Have to use and replace a battery from time to time.

Try at West Marine, a Raymarine ST-40 bi-data unit, boy it works great season after season on my boat.
Boat speed, water temp, water depth, avg speed, max speed, distance traveled per outing and total distance traveled since installation. [I'm about 8,000 n miles]. I like this unit. A lot. $600?

Last year I added a Raymarine 435 i chartplotter, $1000 and for wind and temperature and avarge wind speeds I bought a hand held SkyMate $80 that I screw to a mounting on my stern pulpit. It's all way cool. skip.

[Lost Lake]

WalMart? Who'da  thunk that? I'll check it out! I'll save the expensive purchases for later, after I find out if the sailboat is a long term toy or if I'll be going back down to a smaller faster more personal type sailing vessel.

[cheapsyacht]

If you want traditional instruments that are big enough for old guys to read, rugged enough to last and reasonably priced try Moor Electronics.  Defender Marine has pretty good prices on these.  They are still not cheap but they are excellent quality and compared to Raymarine or Furuno stuff they are cheap.  If you are looking for a compass the one I like for the price is the Danforth Saturn A140.  These are cheap and good quality.  Defender has these too.  www.defender.com then put Moor Electronics  or Saturn Compass in the search box.  For a much better picture of the A140 compass go to the Danforth site at  http://www.danforthcompass.com/  My boat is a Suncat and with board down it draws  4'6".  I want a depthsounder to keep the board out of trouble and a knot meter to help with sail tuning and navigation.  The compass is good for chart navigation and a good backup for a hand-held GPS.  Most GPS sets including older Garmin hand-helds like GPSII Plus you can buy all day long on E-bay for around $100 have compass and speed features besides telling you within a couple of yards of where the heck you are or where you are going.  I have been caught in storms and fog with an old GPS II that had routes plugged into it off my charts and never failed to take me exactly where I intended to go even when I couldn't see past the bow rail.  The biggest worry with it was when it said I was approaching the next waypoint and it happened to be a buoy or other nav aid was that I didn't hit the darn thing.  I was approaching a buoy in Lk Michigan off Charlevoix with a bell on it one time in a teriible fog and I could hear it but didn't see it until I almost ran into it LOL.

[Lost Lake]

I never found anything at WalMart....

[Rick Klages]

I just use a GPS for boat speed!  Hand held wind speed meters are also somewhat useful.  Especially when telling stories that might allow for some exaggeration.  The sails tell me all I need to know about wind velocity.  I do have an  amnometer  on the roof of my house. It helps me determine if I'm cutting the grass, sailing or hiding under my bed.


ick

[Bob23]

   Using a knot meter in conjunction with a GPS will give you info on the state of the current your'e in. Ie, speed through the water vs speed over the ground. I installed a depth sounder in my 23 because the water I sail in can be a bit thin at times. I used a Navman but they've been bought by someone else now. Nice big numbers for us old guys. Very accurate and easy to install.
   I'd rather have yarn on my shrouds than look at an instrument for wind direction. Leaning to read the sails is the way to go.
   Bob23

[Rick Klages]

Using a knot meter in conjunction with a GPS will give you info on the state of the current you're in. Ie, speed through the water vs speed over the ground.

A very good point and usefull if sailing on or near tidal estuaries, rivers and some coastlines. Few things are more frustrating than making 3kt against a 3kt current!

ick

[curtisv]

Rick,

Three knots against a three knot current.  Been there done that.  Here is a log excerpt (Aug 2003).

If the wind held I might be able to make Polluck Rip before 10 PM and anchor in the Atlantic until first light and then enter Chatham Break. It didn't. About half way between G "17" and PR-W (see below) I made a diversion to anchor which added about 18 nm to the trip. This ended up being a 28 hour singlehanded sail of nearly 70 nm with 5 hours spent on anchor in two different places waiting for current or tide change.

It was a pleasant anchorage tucked just behind the Nantucket spit.  Completely exposed to Nantucket Sound but with the wind dead, it was nice and calm.  If I didn't stop there I would have had to anchor before entering Chatham Break (unsafe to enter at night) and that anchorage would have been exposed to the ocean.  So no big deal except I missed the tide in the channel and had to anchor a second time and wait again for the tide - this time to put some water under the keel and get past 1 ft MLW in the channel after entering Chatham Break.

Curtis

[Seaman Deuce]

I've yet to put the Seaman Deuce in the water yet but I think I can answer a question or two since I'm an avid kayaker too! 

a.  Knot Meter:  I have my handheld GPS which can go either MPH or KTS.  Also, I was reading Burgess' "Handbook for Trailer Sailors" and he mentions a Knotstick by a company of the same name at PO Box 6340 Vero Beach, Fl  32961

b.   Wind Direction:  My "16" came with a removable Davis Weathervane.  I saw something similar in my local marine store.  For Speed/Vol:  Get yourself a Beaufort Scale Chart and watch the flag you'll probably run up the mast or a halyard.   You'll learn - I did while kayaking.

c.  Depth Finder:  I was lucky that "Seaman Deuce" came with a Fish/Depth Finder.  Instead of laying out big bucks for a new one check your local marine shops/marinas for Nautical Flea Markets or For Sale BB.