I bought it now what do I do?

[Dwilly]

I am the new owner of a 1989 22 C-Dory Cruiser. I bought it to run the length (Canada to Astoria) of the Columbia river, crab the small bays on the Oregon Coast, and do longer trips in the San Juan's with my family (2 large, 2 small humans and 1 small dog).

Before investing a bunch of money I want to use it for a year and see what makes sense for me to spend the money on. But maybe you all have some must haves/opinion of what I should get?

It currently has a depth/fish finder, an old radio, and an older Garmin unit for navigation. I plan to upgrade the radio, but don't know if I should spend the money yet for a new navigation equipment?

The motor is decent 218Hrs on a 70HP Suzuki 4 stroke. I do have a 9.9 Mercury 4 stroke that I plan to install for a backup motor, but wondering what kicker mount I should go with?

Lastly any opinions on a fuel filter/water separator system that is economical to install?

If all goes well this next summer I plan to install a full Bimini off the back.

Thanks,

[Pat Anderson]

[DayBreak]

I agree with Pat on the iPad with Navionics but when fishing off-shore out of Newport in the fog, I like to know where the boats are and how fast they are moving when they are around me. For me, having Radar offshore when the thick fog comes in is an absolute necessity for added safety and greater peace of mind.

[Hunkydory]

Pat, two thumbs up! I’ve accumulated much more over the last 19 seasons, due to the type of boating we enjoy, but I totally agree that is all you really need with the present advancement in gps ect, except if boating where fog is likely, then radar too as suggested. From there, the additional costly items, such as auto pilot, windless, dry heat, cockpit covers, window covers & the list goes on, mainly increase the pleasure factor & can be added & spread out over time if desired.

Jay

[johnr]

If your boat doesn't have it already, I would think about investing in a canvas cockpit cover. Conversely, if you and your family are going to be camping IN the boat, a full camper-back might be a good option too.

[thataway]

I am going to disagree with several of my good friends here. Although one can do the "Great Loop" and multiple other areas, it is not that much more expensive, if any, to have a multi function display, which is a depth sounder, plus a chart plotter. This gets around having a mount, bright enough screen, and the proper charts. I use an I pad as a supplement (and my boat allowed viewing the chart plotter, sounder and radar on the I pad as well as MFD.

There are good MFD by Garmin (and others) which are not that expensive, have charts for both rivers and coastal waters. $500 will buy:

[Hunkydory]

Bob, I too like the dedicated chart plotters & have two aboard. I really like the new Axiom 9 as it’s faster than my iPad, but if one already has an iPad & iPhone, their navigation ability will well suffice. If money was tight & I had to start over on navigational items to travel the areas we’ve been, I wouldn’t hesitate to do so with just a IPad & IPhone for navigation.

Presently my iPad & Iphone are used as Garmin In Reach, Gias topography, night vision & radar screen, area viewing in different Navionics chart resolution route planning & back up chart plotter, weather apps & the usual internet, phone & other usage.. In the boat cabin, I’ve never had a problem viewing items on the screen, outside when using the dinghy it can be a problem in direct sunlight,

Jay

[thataway]

Yes, Jay, it is very easy to navigate without a chart plotter or I pad. I spent 8 years cruising thru out the World before any chart plotter was available, All of my 4 trips from April thru October in our Cal 46 to AK were without chart plotters. So one can easily say, no chart plotter or even an I pad is necessary. Of course I carried about 200 full size paper charts of the Inland passage and AK. The shoal draft of the C Dory is another positive feature when cruising areas like AK.

I always remind people that Captain Cook didn't have charts or accurate navigation gear.. Many paper charts which I have used had the soundings only along the track of sailing ships which tacked up the coast of N. America.

But to get the best of a modern depth sounder, with down scan, CHIRP etc it is about the same cost as a full MFD. Is this necessary? Certainly not, A lead line with armed lead works very well for depths--not so well for structure and fish finding.

I pads with GPS (or blue tooth added GPS) are going to cost about the same as a MFD, if the boater does not have an I pad. Add in the cost of charts.

[SnowTexan]

I REALLY wanted to use an ipad with navionics as a primary navigation tool. Last summer I tried it in the San Juans and it failed multiple times. The gps was slow to respond or showed us at a location or heading that was inaccurate enough that following it would have put us in a bad place. The old c80 was dead on every time. In the fog I could not trust the ipad. In fair conditions I use it until it fails, because its so easy to plot and change a course. To plan and have a birds eye view of a route it’s great. When I want to know precisely where I am, I personally will not trust my life to the tiny gps receiver in an ipad. Awesome tool, but just one in the box. As for radios, we have two handhelds and a fixed vhf and have had them all in use simultaneously. As for radar: on a bluebird day in summer we left the dock at a leisurely pace and an hour later were trucking up satatoga passage in fog so thick we could have spread it on toast. We could have gone back to a dock and waited for the fog to clear in a few days. That’s about what it took😛

[ssobol]

Don't be afraid to get used electronics. Lots of people upgrade and that creates a market of used devices.

Last year I got a Humminbird 959DI for less than US$500. It was an upgrade to the Humminbird unit I had and fixed a problem with the display I had on the old unit.

Additionally, the 959 runs the Navionics map chip that I already had and I knew how to use it.

I spent a lot of time looking at new units, but could not find one I cared for to replace the existing Humminbird plotter I had. A good used unit that was a fancier model than the one I already had was the perfect solution.

[Hunkydory]

Bob, I hear you on the ease of navigation with a chart plotter or IPad. As I started boating late in life, my experience with navigation was solely land & some minor air related, but does have similarities in use with compass & maps with main difference being most land travels was on foot or horses in relatively small areas compared to the sea. There is enough difference that without gps & chart plotter, I probably would not have attempted my ocean type explorations even if all relatively close to land & instead stuck to rivers & lakes. I would still be pretty good at navigating in mountain wilderness areas, but a rank amateur on the open sea.

Snow Texan, I started using an IPad in 2010 along with chart plotters. Then & for several years after I found the iPad very inaccurate most everywhere. In the more remote places by 2012 in SE Alaska it had improved considerably, but still not dependable, though in those more remote areas neither were the chart plotters. At times I had the 2 Garmin chart plotters & the IPad all showing the boat in different locations & none correctly. They all would have me on the rocks & only careful evaluation of the charts with what my eyes were viewing, allowed for save navigation through some of these narrow areas. By our 2015 SE Alaska cruise the IPad was only slightly less dependable then the chart plotters & by our 2018 cruise, with a couple months observation with both IPad & the two Garmin chart plotters run continuously, they had reached parity with each other & very accurate except in a couple of the remote areas & then about equal there in reliability also. With the new Axiom Navionics chart plotter, I see very little accuracy or reliability difference over the Navionics on the IPad. The difference I do see is the faster updates of course changes on the Axiom over the IPad, but the IPad fast enough for me to reliably navigate. In 2014, I cruised the San Juan’s then the Gulf Islands from Victoria to Nanaimo. I didn’t have workable charts for Canada in the Garmin chart plotters, so relied solely on the Navionics on the IPad for several weeks. It was totally reliable for the six week period we cruised there that year. I can’t say why yours was unreliable, but can say our was reliable. Perhaps the mounting or some other blockage of gps signal or IPad year & type is the culprit.

Jay

[ssobol]

[SnowTexan]

Jay

The ipad we use is one year old now and a dedicated boat tablet for us. I believe its shortcomings are in the gps receiver size and location (inside the boat). Maybe I should clarify that I WOULD leave the dock with an ipad as my primary navigation, but expect to do as you have done and know always where I am in relation to danger. It became clear to me quickly that all gps locations on chartplotters are aids to navigating and no substitute for situational awareness and knowing where you actually are on the chart. In other words, if you follow the arrow blindly you are going to end up on someones youtube video waiting for high tide or worse. Sounds like you always had redundancy when it was available and used your skills where it wasn’t, which is the most anyone can do! I am also a mountain and desert goat arriving late to the big water. Hope to meet you one of these days on the water or otherwise!

Nigel

[thataway]

My impression is that the I pad Pro, (mine is a couple of years old) is quite accurate GPS.

Some DMA charts are still based on surveys done in the 1800's...Surprisingly accurate--but occasionally major features are not on the chart. We found a sea mount off the coast of Panama with out depth sounder. We sailed back and forth over it, to get some extent of the area--got a fairly good position, and turned it over to NOAA. They did include it on later edition charts.

We "found" another "peak" in the Med--boat's keel was on it for a fairly brief period of time (7 foot draft)--in 2 to 3' seas with white caps. It was not on DMA (Defense Mapping Agency), but was on British Admarility Charts. Why DMA didn't have a feature that was on BAC is beyond me...

There was one DMA chart available in the 80's (haven't checked recently) which had some sketches and embellishments by the artist Whistler on it.

[SnowTexan]