Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
For all the Android people out there, you might like this info. This was just posted in the Active Captain newsletter about a great nav app for Android.
“>>> MX Mariner for Android >>>It’s time to show more love to Android users. And if you have an Android phone or tablet, you’re going to love this.
MX Mariner is a chartplotter app that runs on Android devices. It uses standard raster charts from NOAA, LINZ (NZ), the Brazil Navy, and the UK turning your phone or tablet into a chartplotter. Most Android devices have a GPS built-in and if yours does, MX Mariner uses it. Of course, it supports Bluetooth GPS devices too. With MX Mariner, charts are downloaded and stored offline so no internet connection is needed to plot your position. It’s a great product but this week we think it gets even better.
MX Mariner announced this week that ActiveCaptain is now fully supported. The data is synchronized/updated from our servers and then kept offline to make it available to you at any time. Every marker, review, hazard, and comment are all kept on the device itself. It’s a very nice implementation and we think you’re going to love it.
MX Mariner costs only $6.99 (that’s not a typo) and includes all NOAA US, NZ, and Brazil raster charts. UKHO charts are an extra in-app purchase because the UKHO doesn’t provide free charts. The UK charts are very reasonably priced – each of the four regions making up the UK cost about $6 each.
MX Mariner already has tens of thousands of users. If you previously purchased it, the ActiveCaptain update is free – get it from Google Play. Once you purchase it, it’ll run on all of your Android devices
– so if you have it on a tablet, you don’t need to purchase it again for your phone. Definitely put it on your phone too.We’ve been using it onboard for a few months now. One thing that we love is that it will run alongside our own ActiveCaptain Companion app due to real multitasking on Android. So now you can have raster charts with rotation, quilting, navigation support, and ActiveCaptain markers offline, and yet still have voice alerts as you approach a hazard because the Companion will speak from the background. Pretty cool!
Much more information is available on the MX Mariner website including screen shots and the user manual:
http://mxmariner.com/To download the app on Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mx.marinerIf you have Android devices, this is one of the apps you should have.
It makes a great chartplotter for your boat or dinghy and is an exceptional backup chartplotter at an incredible price. Buy it now before the developer realizes he could be charging a lot more money for it!I have the iPad with the Garmin Bluecharts. They work great together and the GPS and Charts work offline, at sea. The other advantage that I like about that setup is that you also get Active Captain (which is like an electronic cruising guide) that gives recent updates about anchorages, ports, approaches etc.). Active Captain is also downloaded to the Bluechart so that you do not have to be on-line to have access to the data). Bluechart also uses the Explorer charts for the Bahamas which are by far the best and preferred charts for Bahama cruising. Bluechart also has a weather app that gives you GRIB weather files. It has worked great for us. All of this is also transferable to iPhone for same cost.
BTW, when you get the boat back to Fort Walton, we will have to meet and talk 424 when Im over there from Gulf Shores. We actually have a great (secret) cruising ground on the Gulf Coast from New Orleans to Key West. BTW, if you have the Ketch, it can go under the Fort Walton Bridge. Remind me to tell you my Seadoo-to-halyard story.
Charlie
SV/ OneEighty
#54Bob, that’s what I will do; cut out the hole and send just it. I agree with Rich, it shouldn’t cost anything to air-mail a hole. I will add about one inch of teak around it just for good measure. Better I do that than break it trying to get it out. I’ll let you do that. My e-address is sailoneeighty@gmail.com if you want to send me a shipping address.
CharlieO.K., here is what I have: it is a 1 5/8″ OD hole on a 6.5×19.25 teak ply board with a 1/2″ solid teak trim. Came off an old (’72) Pearson 39. Yours for shipping. I can cut the hole out and just send it. Not just the hole, but the 1″ around it. Tried to attach a picture, but it didn’t go. Give me an email address and I will send pic.
Charlie
I will get my hands on it and check the size this morning, then get back to you.
Charlie Stewart
s/v OneEighty, hull 54
Gulf Shores, AlabamaBob: I have a spare cabinet door that has the finger hole in it and I will give you the whole thing if you want to pay for shipping. It is about a 5″x12″ teak (veneer) door with the larger hole that came off an old Pearson 39 that I never could use or throw away. I will dig it out of the shop tomorrow if you are interested. However, I bet the finger hole won’t come out in one piece.
Bob: I have a spare cabinet door that has the finger hole in it and I will give you the whole thing if you want to pay for shipping. It is about a 5″x12″ teak (veneer) door with the larger hole that came off an old Pearson 39 that I never could use or throw away. I will dig it out of the shop tomorrow if you are interested. However, I bet the finger hole won’t come out in one piece.
Rich, your comment got me thinking. I remember now that I picked up a crab pot, really nasty wrap, at 7 mile bridge some time last year. Once I figured out what the problem was, I cut it out, but often wondered if that may have bent the prop, or worse, the shaft.
Tor, my concern all along has been that the vibration is going to CAUSE the cutlass to wear out, and I don’t want that to happen, and lose a shaft between Mobile and Key West.
This MAX PROP has a zerk fitting and I put their recommended grease in it every haul-out, used to be every year up north, now I’m about 18mos to 2 years in the Gulf. My PO was meticulous about it. I packed it 11 months ago before my cruise. I have never had the prop apart.
As a summary here, I think I will take a sharper look at both the cutlass and the prop, and when I pull it, fix the one or both, that doesnt pass the test.I did call and talk to PYI this summer and of course they said their props were great, but I should send it in for them to rework it, for $$$$. It has been on the boat now about 12 years with no trouble. Hey, and I don’t mind spending money where it must be spent, I just don’t want to spend money just for the sake of spending. I hate fixing stuff that ain’t broke. There is plenty of opportunity for broke. I may need to spend that $$$ on a new cutlass, and that would leave $ for an electronic toy.
Is there an expected life span of a cutlass bearing? I’ve had my boat for 3 years and I don’t have any record of it being replaced by my PO, so it could easily be 5 to 10 years old. It was probably replaced when the new shaft and MAX PROP was installed in about 02.Now that I know my parts, I shall take care not strike the cutlass upon the glands around the shaft.
O.k. I’ll try to make more sense of it now. I have swum under the boat and tried to shake the shaft just outside the cutlass bearing (not tonight, but several months ago), and it did not wiggle. Seemed secure. I have also tightened the packing gland to where it is not dripping. The packing gland nut was loose somewhat and is now secure, though I don’t think that stopped the vibration. As for putting a strobe on the shaft, I have not done that. That’s kinda how I got to the point of thinking it might be the MAX PROP. Since they have moving parts, it just seems likely that it could start doing something that it shouldn’t. I met a guy in Georgetown EX early last April and he also has a 424 (Jezebel) with MAX PROP. I think I recalled that he was also having a vibration problem. I am wondering if this is a known or re-occurring issue.I did check out the v-drive as best I know how. It is secure and the oil is changed and clean. No leaks. Also checked the u-joints and linkage and all seems secure, no wobble. I have no way to check the cutlass, except to see that it has packing in it, and I have tightened it and stopped any leak. Could a loose or leaking cutlass nut have caused a vibration? I have not run the prop/shaft since tightening it, but I did stop the drip. It was dripping at a rate of one drop per second while running. I thought that was normal.
If the vibration is caused by something else, wouldn’t that vibration, over time, create havoc with the cutlass bearing?I probably shouldn’t ask this on top of your post, but since it is about props, I will ask anyway. I don’t have the detail of shaft and props that you are looking for, but it reminded me that I have a prop issue I need to explore.
I have a 1.5 inch shaft with a 21 inch wheel, feathering MAX PROP. When it is good it is very very good, however when it is bad…..
I am now getting a vibration that I didn’t use to have, at around 1800 and up I feel it most. Even after cleaning the prop of all sea life, I still get the vibration. It seems that it is worse when I am surfing down a wave, or when I am motor-sailing and the wind picks up and sails faster than the engine is driving. Is that inherent in a feathering prop when it is coasting and not working hard (not pushing water) or is it perhaps indicative of a feathering prop that is worn and is too loosy-goosy? Do I gain anything by sending it back to the factory for a re-build?
