[PUP] Redundancy (was Selen or Kadey Krogen)

[Scott E. Bulger]

Hi John, I respect your opinion, but have my reasons for redundancy.

 

A.   I believe paper charts are a thing of the past.  There will be no paper
charts (perhaps a cruising guide or maptech chartkit) on my boats.  I would
not have the perspective without having redundant chartplotters

B.  50% of my rational for redundancy was associated with the distances we
were going.  I'd rather buy that PC chartplotter than pay $1,000 in duty to
have a failed Furuno chartplotter FedEXed to me in Panama.

C.  Redundancy means you don't stop going if something breaks, that's why
they are redundant.

D.  Electronics are so cheap now it's not like your spending a fortune on
the basics.

E.  My bilge has 3 pumps.  I like that!

 

Those that don't leave the dock have other reasons, the electronics are
simply an excuse.  When we were voyaging at night amongst coastal islands,
reefs and rocks, I felt it was a requirement to have two, completely
independent and autonomous systems telling me where I am, where I'm going
and what the charts think are in front of me.  I also had the ability to
dedicate one system to RADAR and the other to chartplotting, something I did
more and more frequently as we traveled.  I know many, many Nordhavn owners
that operate their two radars on different scales, one at 3 or 6 miles and
one at 1 or less.  This is really, really nice when your off the coast of
Mexico with all the pangas fishing at night.

 

Finally the Autopilot.  A piece of advice I got from the PUP list was to
install a redundant AP because if my AP failed while we were in the open
ocean we would gladly write the check after three days of hand steering.  As
it turned out, that advice was so valuable, as we didn't know at the time my
wife would suffer as much from seasickness as she did.  As it was I was on
watch 95% of the time.  If we would have had to hand steer and I had been in
the open ocean, ug, the thought is enough to make me sick.  So, for $3,000
to add the second AP was a no brainer.  It also solved a major issue with my
boat.  By installing an AP that was handheld, I now no longer had to stand
at the wheel.  So the lack of a dedicated helm seat became a non issue.  I'd
say we did about 80% of the ICW under AP.  That was a pleasant surprise for
me.

 

In summary, for me and our safety, as a husband and wife crew, I added the
things I felt were required to make the voyage as safe as I could.  In
hindsight, about the only thing I would rethink would be the FLIR camera.  I
think I would opt for a much less expensive low light camera.  Every other
option was spot on!

 

Scott E. Bulger

(425)313-5922, home

(425)922-1850, cell