Anchor Saver

There must be nothing worse than getting an anchor - your best anchor - stuck under an obstruction, particularly if you are in a deep, remote anchorage. No matter how many supplementary anchors you carry the loss of an anchor is inconvenient and expensive. You can eliminate this worry with an ingenious Anchor Saver.

Anchor saver diagram copy -  .. .

Once Anchor Saver is installed, when your anchor is stuck, you drive forward with the engine until you are above the anchor.

Then correct pressure applied directly above the anchor causes the product’s release pin to break, which shifts the attachment point from the anchor’s shank eye to the crown, enabling you to pull the anchor in a different direction.

It’s designed to work with your existing anchor and includes a custom-engineered shackle, a stainless steel cable, a release bar and a calibrated release bolt.

According to the manufacturer, Anchor Saver does not diminish the effectiveness of your anchor set.

For more information about just how the anchor saver works, go to the anchorsaver.com! 

In the meantime, watch these two videos - one a diagramatic representation, the other an underwater video, to see the effectiveness of the Anchor Saver:

Tank Fluid Measurement by Gobius

See more video here: http://ab-marine.com/gobius-video

Finally a product that requires no holes to be drilled into a tank for level monitoring. This is sure to be on my "to get list" .Gobius web site link is here. More info, and purchase can be found here at AB Marine. Read on........

Gobius measures from the outside - Nothing on the inside!

Gobius is available for waste holding tanks ... water, diesel & gasoline tanks ... industrial fluid tanks ... in stainless steel, steel, plastic, fibre-glass and aluminum
Using a totally new patented technical solution we have developed level indicators for all tanks. Gobius has been developed to meet the demand from those boat owners who want more information, those who not only want to know when the tank is full, but aso when empty.

Gobius measures from the outside

* Very quick to install and easy to use
* Coloured lamps show the current fluid level
* You avoid the struggle with taking the tank apart
* No extra drilling of hole
* No need for extra service
* Extremely low electricity consumption, less than 40 mA

* Good for everybody: boat owners and environment

With Gobius you will gain

* Knowledge of when the tank is empty so that you do not have to empty it
* Knowledge of when the tank is full and needs to be emptied
* Increased comfort and safety on board
* Everyone knows whether to use the toilet or not
* You can use the toilet when in the harbour

The Gobius technology is patented
The sensors that are placed onto the tank wall consist of a shaker and an accelerator. When the shaker creates a vibration in the tankwall, the accelerator measures the size of the vibration and passes the data on to the control unit. The control unit then starts
to calculate in order to give an exact estimate of whether the fluid
level has passed the sensor or not.

Gobius is easy to install
On the sensors there are strips of tape that are provided to attach the sensors directly onto the surface of your tank. The panel may, for example, be placed in the washroom.
The control unit is connected to the boat battery. All necessary cables and plugs needed to connect the sensors and panel with the control unit are included.

Very easy to calibrate
No tanks look the same. There are always differences in e.g. size, construction, thickness and age. In order to compensate for these differences you have to calibrate the tank before you start to use your Gobius. However, the calibration only takes a few seconds, all you need to do is to press a button while the tank is empty.

Gobius measures perfect even if there are covers (like uric salts) on the inside of the tank wall.

Extremely low electricity consumption, less than 40 mA
Gobius is constructed to minimise electricity consumption and is extremely efficient. Gobius sends power to its sensors in impulses instead of a continuous supply, thus saving your craft’s battery, 12 Volts.

BallslideT Batten Systems Without Separate Track

What is different about this slide is that it will work on a bolt rope extrusion. Most ball bearing slides require a track added to the back of the mast. This batten end slide can be used by racing boats that have a bolt rope extrusion. The ball bearings should make the slide freer to move under load. Would work for full length top batten.

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Ronstan International, Inc.'s Description
Performance - Free-running performance while raising and lowering the mainsail is provided by cars that run on twin races of recirculating ball bearings specifically designed and oriented for compression loads. Minimum distance from mast to mainsail luff enhances mainsail efficiency, and when used with Ronstan batten receptacles the luff is always on the centre line. Compatibility - The complete range of car profiles and adapters provides the right Ballslide™ solution for the most widely available mast profiles and luff groove shapes. Selection tables and luff groove gauges simplify specification.
Flexible Solutions - Individual cars can be used in conjunction with a bolt rope on “soft luff” sails which have only a top full-length batten, or simply as low friction sail slides on larger yachts.

Faster, Easier and Safer - Sailing professionals around the world choose Ronstan Batten Systems for superior and innovative features combined with race-proven performance and reliability.

• With 5 track sizes available in the standard product range, there is a system with the right specifications for each boat and sail plan.
• The range includes all elements for a complete system, including headboard plates and batten receptacles.
• Easy track installation using patented slug connectors.
• Minimum distance from mast to mainsail luff enhances mainsail efficiency.
• Batten receptacle links and accessories are available to suit other commonly available batten receptacles.

Selden Reversible Winch

Overall Winner of the DAME Award 2010 is the Seldén Reversible Winch of Seldén Mast AB. The Jury felt that this winch would have the largest impact on the leisure marine industry and would appear on many sailing boats in the future.

The key to why this particular reversible winch won such an award from 132 entered products from 19 countries is in its innovative safety. By backing the line off the winch instead of easing it by hand, there is greater safety for the operator. 
 
There are several models featuring the new technology, the R30, R40, R46, R52, and this patented new feature gives a new dimension to the concept of winches.

So how does it work?
The winches are of self tailing type with two gears forward. You start winching clock wise on the fast gear, shift down to low gear by rotating the winch handle anti clock wise. So far, exactly as usual.

The ingenious feature with the new Seldén winches is that you can let the rope out by reversing the winch drum. The purpose made winch handle has a knob which is pushed down with your thumb to prepare the winch for reverse drive.

The winch handle is then rotated clock wise and the rope is eased out. The rope remains in the self tailing jaws all the time which means it’s a one hand operation to trim the sheet, the halyard or the windward guy.

For the cruising sailor, and especially if you have less experienced people on board, the one handed operation means safety – no hands are even close to the drum when easing out the rope.

In rough conditions you can hold on with your free hand. Single handed sailors can steer and trim at the same time

iNavX, A Fresh Look at an Affordable Chartplotter

There is a multitude of sites through Google search which give excellent reviews and information about iNavX. Search and see for yourselves; but I'll place a few here; and there are links in the following information.
Try iNavX Review which has some great video tutorials.
Take a look at i-Marine Apps for their "Getting Started with iNavX.
And then take a look at the iPad holders from Zacor. And this waterproof casing here.
Finally link it all together with your electronics with an iMux as alluded to in a former blog or have it as a stand alone product with its own GPS from Badelf.

Here is a snopsis from iNavX themselves.......
iNavX™ brings the freely available, official and up to date NOAA RNC raster United States waters marine charts to your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Included detailed chart coverage: West Coast, Gulf Coast, East Coast, Great Lakes, Alaska, Hawaii, and US Virgin Islands.
One app for all your devices with access to thousands of charts and maps: official CHS Canada charts, Navionics Gold charts, Fish'N'Chip charts, HotMaps, NV. Verlag charts, Hilton's Fishing charts, TRAK Canada lakes fishing maps and Solteknik European waters charts may be purchased separately from X-Traverse.
With iNavX™ you can use the built in location services (i.e. GPS, cell tower, WiFi) to plot your position in real-time on the multi-touch scrolling and zooming and rotating (including course up) marine chart.
Using the iPhone's, iPod touch's and iPad's WiFi connection, iNavX™ can act as a repeater for popular marine navigation software that supports NMEA data over TCP/IP such as MacENC and Coastal Explorer. This includes GPS, AIS receivers & transponders, and Instruments (Depth, Speed, Wind, etc.)
In addition to real-time chart plotting and printing, iNavX™ supports waypoints & routes including KML (Google Earth) and GPX import/export, track log, measuring bearing/distance, GRIB weather forecast, tides/currents, anchor alarm, graphic instrumentation display and port/navaid search.
The power of a color chartplotter for a fraction of the cost.

And Boaters.Com has this to say.....
In fact, the iNavX web site now boasts "The power of a color chartplotter for a fraction of the cost" and, while I'll stay out of that argument for the time being, developer Rich Ray does make a good case for how far he's taken the software, and how able it looks on the bigger iPad.  Note, for instance, the series of screen shots comparing iNavX iPhone and iPad versions.  Ray has also gotten his program to play nicely with a Digi Connect WI-SP WiFi serial server, which means you can get AIS and other NMEA 0183 data flowing to your iThing without any other computer involved (and he even added a Digi Connect guide to his extensive help files).

And if you want to use your spiffy iNavX/iPad combo with anything but free NOAA raster charts, you'll be pleased to know that X-Traverse keeps growing its already giant cartography portfolio, and adding to what the service can do (new Facebook integration, for instance, plus integration with Navionics NavPlanner 2).  When you purchase charts via X-Traverse you get two activations, so if you're already using them on, say, an iPhone but haven't activated them with a PC or Mac, you're probably good to go if you get an iPad.  The exception:  Navionics is pricing its iPad charts differently -- understandable, I think, given how inexpensive their iPhone charts are, and their many partnerships with companies that manufacture those old time chartplotter things -- though $50 for the new U.S. super region is not bad.  That region includes the Northern Bahamas, by the way, but below is a sample of alternate NV charts of the same area, also offered by X-Traverse.  Choices are good.  And I'm not done...
Navimatics has not only adapted its Charts & Tides program for the iPad, but expanded the included regions of NOAA ENC charts, lowered the price, and is just about to add support for ActiveCaptain!  The implementation looks good on an iPad, too, as you can see below.  As with MaxSea TimeZero 1.9 (just about to release!) and the Coastal Explorer 2010 beta, the ActiveCaptain data is cached so you still have it when not connected to the Internet.  And we know Active Captain itself is also working on an iPad app.  Damn.


i-Marine Apps tells us how to get additional charts through X-Traverse

If you want additional charts other than the free NOAA charts you can purchase these through X-Traverse. This process is complicated, so follow below.

You will need an X-Traverse account to purchase and access your charts. This account will cost you $10.00 per year and allows you access to your charts through the iNavX app. Access to Grib weather files and transfer of waypoints and tracks can also be done through your account. 

Once you have your X-Traverse account you can then purchase additional charts. Make sure you purchase the iPad charts for download. They offer a wide range of Navionics, CHS Canadian Charts, Fish"N"Chips, HotMaps, NV Verlag and Hilton fishing charts.

To access and download your purchased charts in your iNavX app you need to add your X-Traverse account information to the app. Go to "Preferences" and select "X-Traverse Account". This is where you will add your email and password for your account.

Next select "Show Account Information" this will retrieve your account info showing you what products you have activated for use by the iNavX app.

You will next need to go back to the Charts list and select "Add More Charts to Menu". The next menu should show you the list of charts. The charts you purchased should show up as bolded. I purchased Navionics Gold Marine Charts 2011.  Select this and another display will show the charts in that package. Turn "ON" the charts you purchased.

Go back to the iNavX menu and select the chart you turned on to view you charts. Select your chart title and download you your iPad.