Android Apps for Weather, Navigation, or other boat things

D

ddenver

New member
We yanked our boat out of Port Ludlow marina this past Thursday night to beat this weekend's nasty weather since our "fair weather boating season" moorage was paid up only till the end of September. NOAA currently has Gail Warnings and Storm Watch in effect for the weekend in Admiralty Inlet w/ warnings of wind gusts up to 50 knots and wind waves of up to 8 feet so I didn't want to be cruising up to the Port Townsend boat ramp to yank the boat in that possible fun and games.

I have very little left to look forward to in the "water fun category" - other then cleaning the boat and the upcoming SBS CBGT - until next year's boating season since we don't fish and we are basically boat weather wimps. Major bummer.

Anyway, to help make this boat down time go quicker and to take care of the extra "$'s" that I won't be investing in the boat's gas tank (an investment that never appreciates but is sure enjoyable while it lasts... a bit like buying beer!) I purchased a 2nd generation Google Nexus 7" tablet. Nothing against the iPad, but I have never been a real Apple fanboy so I chose to go in the Android direction even though boating related apps are far more plentiful for the iOS platform.

I searched thru the C-Brats threads for Android specific info and much of it is old or spread out in small bits and pieces on various unrelated posts so I wanted to try to get a more concentrated thread related to this topic. I would appreciate hearing the preferences and findings of those of you who have been using the Android devices for a while.

Any feedback on Android apps related to weather, navigation (such as is the pricey Navionics tablet app worth the cost?), anchor warnings, or any other boating semi-related subject would be greatly welcomed.

Thanks and hope to see many of you at the upcoming (not quick enough) Seattle Boat Show CBGT!

Take care,
Dan, Tanya, and Hannah on C-Renity
 
I have the Navionics app on both my Android phone and my ipad. It's well worth the $'s, especially on a tablet. I typically use my chart plotter zoomed in so I can see nearby structure and my tablet zoomed out so I can better plan the path and/or point the boat in the right direction.
 
Dan, like you we also recently purchased a new Nexus 7 tablet. While our boat has a Raymarine C70 chartplotter, since the Nexus includes a GPS I decided to buy the Navionics app that covers the US and Canada, including inland waters. We took the tablet with us when we went to the recent Lake Powell gathering and we are very glad we did. We experienced a battery issue that resulted in the loss of power to all of our installed electronics, among other things. Facing bad weather as we ran the 50 miles back to the marina, we used the Navionics app on the Nexus to assist in navigating. Both the app and the tablet worked flawlessly and paid for themselves several times over in my opinion. I was most impressed by the app and it's accuracy. I am not endorsing this particular app over other such apps since I haven't seen others, but I was very pleased with it - and with the operation of the Nexus 7.

One other thing we bought that worked great is a small, rugged and waterproof Joos Orange solar charger which we used to recharge both the tablet and a Samsung Galaxy 4 smartphone. One full charge on the Orange - which took about a day to collect - quickly gave both the phone and tablet a full charge so we could continue to use them throughout the trip. I highly recommend the Orange for this purpose, although it is a bit pricey. I specifically wanted a versatile charger and one that could handle the marine environment - and this one can.

Rob
 
Dan, like you we also recently purchased a new Nexus 7 tablet. While our boat has a Raymarine C70 chartplotter, since the Nexus includes a GPS I decided to buy the Navionics app that covers the US and Canada, including inland waters. We took the tablet with us when we went to the recent Lake Powell gathering and we are very glad we did. We experienced a battery issue that resulted in the loss of power to all of our installed electronics, among other things. Facing bad weather as we ran the 50 miles back to the marina, we used the Navionics app on the Nexus to assist in navigating. Both the app and the tablet worked flawlessly and paid for themselves several times over in my opinion. I was most impressed by the app and it's accuracy. I am not endorsing this particular app over other such apps since I haven't seen others, but I was very pleased with it - and with the operation of the Nexus 7.

One other thing we bought that worked great is a small, rugged and waterproof Joos Orange solar charger which we used to recharge both the tablet and a Samsung Galaxy 4 smartphone. One full charge on the Orange - which took about a day to collect - quickly gave both the phone and tablet a full charge so we could continue to use them throughout the trip. I highly recommend the Orange for this purpose, although it is a bit pricey. I specifically wanted a versatile charger and one that could handle the marine environment - and this one can.

Rob
 
I have the following apps on my i pad/phone, which are also available for Android system: NOAA Hi Def weather radar. Navionics, Windfinder, and Android Tide App. These all look like they work as well on Android, and are ones which I use regularly on the I pad.

Active Captain is active on: C-MAP/Jeppesen Plan2Nav, NutiCharts Lite and SmartChart AIS. I would look at each of these to see which you like.
 
Hi Dan,

Sorry about having to pull the boat, but I know how the rest of the season looks. I am trying to put it off by planning a trip to Portland and spending a weekend on the Columbia yet. We'll see how that goes.

Far be it from me to give advice on smart phones, tablets or apps, but I do have a few that I use with some measure of success.

Tides and Currents by FlytoMap - A simple easy and correct with nice graphics.
NorthWest Cable News Ap (NWCN.com) which has a really nice R=weather radar that zooms in to dozen or more NW areas. and it also has pretty detailed weather forcasts.
Sunrise Sunset -- based on where I am at the time, by Alok Manavgane
I also have Pirate Buoy, however it is only partly reliable so it doesn't come with much of a recommendation.

There you go for a start. Good luck with the tablet.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon
 
The Navionics app is my go-to backup chartplotter app that I use in in similar way as Rogerbum. I also like MX Mariner which uses NOAA raster charts. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles as Navionics but is perfectly adequate for Puget Sound and San Juans, and is cheaper. NOAA has one of their own which is called MyNOAACharts and is very similar to MX-M.

For U.S. weather I use WeatherBug, Marine Weather, Arcus, and Pirate Buoy. Arcus is cool in that it will give you hour-by-hour probability of rain at your location, based on radar. I've found it very accurate and is handy if you need a rain-free weather window for some reason. For Canadian weather I use Canada Marine Weather, which basically repackages the official Environment Canada forecasts.

Animated Knots is a nice app for illustrated knot tying.

Sky Map is cool for stargazing.

jd
 
Thanks for your suggestions Roger, Rob, Dr. Bob, Harvey and JD.

I have downloaded most of your suggested apps including the $54 US/Canadian version of Navionics.

Now I will start playing w/ them to better understand their capabilities.

Thanks again for the info gents!

Take care,
Dan Tanya, and Hannah on C-Renity
 
MX Mariner is an Android chartplotter app and uses any of the current regional NOAA charts for free. Shows gps position and can quickly give you a heading to a chart destination. Great backup. You can download west, east gulf and great lakes if you like.
 
thanks from me, too
I am moving from iPhone to a Note III with a larger screen next month. I will install these then.

My iphone apps are going to a new iPad
 
The marine traffic app is also pretty good if you are within cell range. It provides an display of vessels with AIS. Since the AIS is picked up by land based stations and then re-displayed/transmitted via the net, positions can be delayed by a couple of minutes. Still it's pretty useful as a "poor man's" AIS receiver.
 
Bringing this one back around. I know some of this is outdated already. times change, apps change and phones change. My favorite tide app went away when I changed phones several months ago. Now I get tide from the BoatUS app, but it is only for the single closest reporting spot. I'm looking for a new one.

There are a bunch available, but what are you using and what do you like about it?

Thanks,

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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The same people that do MX Mariner also have a ride app for Android called MX Tides. It will show ride info from stations near your position.
 
I have-
NOAA Ocean Buoys (good)
Live Weather (ok)
Marine Weather by Accuweather (good)
Tide Times (good)
and
US Coast Guard (good)
 
On the navionics chart plotting app, the tides (and in many cases predicted currents) are shown on the map. If you mouse over a tide or current prediction location and hit the "?", a graphical display pops up and you can scroll that display to look at future times. That's what I use most often. "Tide Chart Free" is another one I have on my phone. It works fine too.
 
Thanks for this feedback.

I am currently using BoatUS for my local(ist) tide. It has capability for other tides but it is slow and cumbersome.

Another one i use and like is "My Radar" Free and easy. Accurate.

Then there is "Boat Watch" an AIS app that I use often. Good for Identifying ships I see from shore, and I also use it to confirm my AIS on board is transmitting. It usually is a few minutes behind me, but at least I can see where I was and it confirms via a third party system that my own system is transmitting.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

January_2010_342.highlight.jpg
 
From what I can find on MX Tides, it does not show Canadian water. Not worth adding it then, for me.

Roger, Does Tide Chart Free have Canada, and does it have tide graphics or just the tables?

Thanks

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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