[Rhodes22-list] GPS and Depth Finder

[Mary Lou Troy]

Mark,
We sailed the Chesapeake for a number of years without the GPS and without 
a depth finder. Several years ago we got a handheld GPS and a fishfinder 
with an easy to read depth screen. We use both for navigation in 
conjunction with paper charts. The GPS has been a fun toy. It's most unique 
uses have been estimating the amount of time it will take you to get some 
place and giving a spped over ground readout. There are other ways of 
getting the same info but the GPS is easy. We understand the effects of 
currents a lot better than we did before we had the GPS.

The GPS is at its most useful in an emergency situation. Last year we came 
across an overturned sailboat at the mouth of Swan Creek. The sailor who 
was singlehanding was in the water and had contacted the Coast Guard on a 
handheld VHF radio. We were alerted to the situation by the conversation on 
the VHF. He was describing to the Coast Guard where he was with local 
landmarks while they were asking him for Lat/Lon. We were able to break in 
on the conversation and give them exact coordinates from the GPS. That also 
brought two large workboats to his assistance very quickly.

With all of the shallows on the Chesapeake, a depth sounder is incredible 
handy for following depth contours navigating across areas well out of the 
channels - or for determining when you are in a channel and want to get out 
of it quickly because of the boat traffic.

My opinion on your question is that neither one is absolutely necessary but 
that if you are sailing in an area as heavily trafficked and as changeable 
as the Chesapeake every bit of information is valuable. You have to draw 
the line somewhere - we don't and won't have radar though there have been 
foggy, rainy sails near ship channels where it would have been nice. We 
don't and won't (until they become a lot cheaper) have a charting GPS. The 
fishfinder and the GPS were each only a little over $100.

Hope this helps.

Mary Lou
1991 R22 Fretless
Ft. Washington, PA / Swan Creek, MD


At 12:31 AM 1/13/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>As I mentioned in an earlier email this evening, I just attended my first 
>boating safety course, where the instructor (a power boater who spends 
>most of his time on the Chesapeake Bay) insisted I needed a GPS and a 
>depth finder.
>
>I didn't see anything about this in the FAQ, so I thought I'd raise these 
>questions here ...
>
>I will be spending most of my time on the Potomac River (I won't be 
>trailoring, as I have a slip on the river), although I hope to be spending 
>a weekend here and there exploring downriver in areas I won't be familiar 
>with.
>
>Stan seemed pretty confident that I wouldn't really need a depth guage, 
>given the centerboard's ability to alert me to shallow water ... and I 
>don't remember what he said about GPS.
>
>Anyway, what do you all think?  Since my recycled boat is still at GB, it 
>would be far easier for me to have them install a GPS and depth finder 
>now, rather than trying to do it myself.  And the best reason I can think 
>to have a depth finder is to help me calculate, from a safety perspective, 
>how much anchor rode to use ... rather than trying to use the rode itself 
>to judge the depth.
>
>And how about GPS?  I've heard there are combination GPS/depth finders out 
>there (I'm planning a trip to the neighborhood West Marine).  If I were to 
>get a combo unit, where would you recommend installing it?  The recycled 
>boat I'm getting already has a compass installed just to the right of the 
>cabin door (on the cockpit side).  Maybe I could install it just above the 
>compass, but are GPS units waterproof?  Should they be inside the cabin 
>where you can't see it?  That doesn't make sense to me.
>
>Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
>
>-Mark
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