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Furuno's tech support has confirmed to me that its NN3D anchor watch works by alerting if the vessel moves a predetermined distance from its position when the alarm is set. That works great if you set the alarm where (and when) you drop the anchor. If you forget and wait until the anchor has set, then the center of the watch circle will be in the wrong place -- you could drag a long way before the alarm sounds, or you could swing without drag and have it sound. I have asked that they consider adding the ability to move the anchor watch center in a future software update. I recall other chart plotters allowing the user to set (or move) the anchor watch center point. If anyone can confirm that other chartplotters allow this, or if anyone thinks it is a good feature to add, please post and I will forward a link to Furuno.
Last edited by MYTraveler; 11-17-2009 at 11:09 AM.
First, Mytraveler, that is a SWEET rig? What is she? Are you just outside Greenport harbor in that pic? Looks liek the Greenport jetty, but they do all look the same. I'd swear I saw that boat anchored up down by Smiths Cove on the south side of Shelter Island this summer, in August. Was that you?
Regarding the watch, I always thought you would normally set it once the anchor sets, and make it large enough to handle the full circle swing. But I've never used that feature, because my 15" display would burn my batteries in a hurry on the hook.
Birdman,
Thank you for the compliments. My boat was at Mikelson's Shelter Island dock for a few weeks, but that's in San Diego, and I believe you are referring to NY. I am hull #15, and hull #16 was recently delivered. When I was in the Pacific Northwest this summer, on several occassions I heard reports of sisterships nearby. In fact, I pulled up at a fuel dock within about 20 minutes of another Nomad's departure. I later learned that four of the Nomads were up north this past summer. I was in Ensenada about a month ago, and three other Nomads were on my same dock. I since moved the boat to La Paz, and one of the other Nomads is there. So, the boats do get around, but to my knowledge only one has been through the canal, and she was back on this side this past summer.
My buddy has a Rampage. Quite a boat. I am sure you are enjoying yours.
This may not help you much but if you have a laptop onboard look at using Nobeltecs VNS or Admiral software. One of the chartplotter's neatest features in my book is the ability to set the boundry of the anchor watch with an infinite number of points. You can set the size, shape and center point - very handy depending on your anchorages.
Ditto the thought that Traveler is a BEAUTIFUL vessel!
It's interesting Furuno does that on their plotters; the NavNet2 is the same deal. However, the RD30 repeater has an anchor alarm that works on the basis you describe. You set up an active way point, set the maximum distance you want to be away from it. I have one in the master stateroom mostly for this very purpose; it also has a depth alarm which is handy in many anchorages too. Very handy little device.
That boat is a beauty. Some day, I'm gonna retire on a boat like that and go from port to port at a full throated 7 knots.
Garmin does support depth alarms, but I did confirm that on the 4212, there is no way to specify the centerpoint of the alarm. I guess you just have to set it large enough to contain your full swing or remember to set it when you drop.
I don't tend to sleep on the boat on the hook though. Either someone is awake all night (the only times I anchor is for fishing) or we are at a dock.
I honestly don't remember the RM unit well enough to tell you how it worked.
It does sound like there is room for improvement here though......
__________________
Terry Jason 35, Yanmar 370 hp, Lots of fun at a leisurely pace
Furuno's tech support has confirmed to me that its NN3D anchor watch works by alerting if the vessel moves a predetermined distance from its position when the alarm is set. That works great if you set the alarm where (and when) you drop the anchor. If you forget and wait until the anchor has set, then the center of the watch circle will be in the wrong place -- you could drag a long way before the alarm sounds, or you could swing without drag and have it sound. I have asked that they consider adding the ability to move the anchor watch center in a future software update. I recall other chart plotters allowing the user to set (or move) the anchor watch center point. If anyone can confirm that other chartplotters allow this, or if anyone thinks it is a good feature to add, please post and I will forward a link to Furuno.
Yeah I can confirm that's what you have to do.
When you first drop anchor (not when you set it), you go to "menu" then "alarms" and set the anchor watch. If you turn on anchor watch after you have set the anchor, you would have used the GPS point for the wrong end of the anchor line.
My wife always reminds me to set the watch. This annoys me a lot. Mostly because I otherwise forget to set it ...
The other pain here is that if you reset the unit (sometimes I do ongoing setup/maintenance issues when we are anchored and I have some time), you lose the anchor watch position. That is a PITA.
It would be nice to have the option to manually position the anchor watch. You can see from your GPS trail where you were when you let the anchor go ...
First, Mytraveler, that is a SWEET rig? What is she? Are you just outside Greenport harbor in that pic? Looks liek the Greenport jetty, but they do all look the same. I'd swear I saw that boat anchored up down by Smiths Cove on the south side of Shelter Island this summer, in August. Was that you?
Regarding the watch, I always thought you would normally set it once the anchor sets, and make it large enough to handle the full circle swing. But I've never used that feature, because my 15" display would burn my batteries in a hurry on the hook.
I never used to set anchor watch, until one night we used the secondary anchor. Wind changed direction 180 deg during the night (completely unforecast), the anchor popped and the wind was too light to reset the anchor.
We dragged right through the main fleet of 80 yachts at anchor.
I went out on deck at 3am to see the whole scenery had changed.
Today I use anchor watch ... feel free to learn from my mistake ...
I also agree that would be great. I have been thinking the same thing only I have only talked with the reps at boat shows. Not only should you be able to move the circle, but also you should be able to adjust the size of the circle without changing its location. I hate when I set it to small, mainly because it was not centered properly, and after making a size adjustment it resets and changes to you’re new location. Which requires more of my attention. It could, and should be a very simple setup. I've found the best way for me now is after backing down and setting the hook, I then very slowly motor up closer to the center and set the alarm.
That being said, I do love the anchor watch alarm. I sleep much better. Well after I finely get it setup right anyway.
P.S. Also, the one thing I would change more then anything else would be the fact that I can’t use the info from my heading sensor to show which direction the boat is pointed. I fish and anchor for that mater, in very close to the island a lot. I like the fact that the blue line, (sorry can’t remember the name of all these things) points the direction the boat is traveling. But if you have a heading sensor, you should be able to have it show direction somehow. I think they could have the little boat symbol point the heading very easily. It’s not really a problem, but I like it when I can let others participate and run the boat sometimes. Although I don’t let anyone else run the boat when it’s dark and I’m in tight like that, I can just see someone, someday, trying to help out and bad things happening. Sometimes it’s very dark and with lights on you don’t have very good vision. I think somewhere it’s just a matter of time before someone maybe in a panic situation, thinks it’s clear in front of them and puts themselves and/or others in a bad situation.
P.S. Also, the one thing I would change more then anything else would be the fact that I can’t use the info from my heading sensor to show which direction the boat is pointed.
I think there is a way to do that. I get two lines -- the rhumb line to the waypoint I am navigating towards, and a little arrow coming off the front of the boat pointing to the direction I am heading. I believe there is also a little semi-circle left/right arrow indicating the direction to steer to get back on the rhumb liine. Interestingly, at relatively slow speeds (say 8 knots or less), with a strong cross-current or wind, the boat can be following the waypoint rhumb line perfectly (ie, virtually no cross-track error), but the boat's heading can be 15 degrees (or more) into the current. Its as if the boat is crabbing its way forward. So, I am pretty sure the feature you want is available, but I am not sure how I set it. I do recall that there is a setting (somewhere) for how long you want the heading arrow to be -- ie, 5 minutes of travel time, 10 minutes, etc. Perhaps yours is set at 0?
I will check it out, although I don’t have the 3D as you do. I have the NNVX2. I was told by the reps. at the boat show that I could not do it. It may be a new version thing. They told me they doubted if Furuno would even make that change. They said they pretty much cater to the big guys and it would most likely not be a priority. I may be able to just get a software upgrade, which would be cool.
Thanks again, great post and I have to agree that’s some boat you have there!
topshot,
Just turn on your heading line. You have that feature already.
Mytraveler,
Yes was referring to Shelter Island NY. Your talkin' the wrong side of the big desert between NY and Cali!!
That does sound like a great feature, ability to set Anchor watch center point. I'd like to see them add the ability to turn off the display while keeping the Watch active. The display is what uses the most juice.
So how do you guys keep your anchor watch (which means GPS Reciever, MFD display....) running all night without killing your house batteries? MyTraveler can probably light up half a city all night long with 500+ gigantic gigabazillion watt batteries, but hw do us little 30'ers keep them on all night, WITHOUT having to run the geni all night?
So how do you guys keep your anchor watch (which means GPS Reciever, MFD display....) running all night without killing your house batteries? WITHOUT having to run the geni all night?
My units are all blackbox, meaning that my displays are independent of the processor units so I can turn the displays off without affecting the processors. I have three NN3D processors and can put two into "sleep" mode. So, keeping the one on, and only intermittently turning on the display doesn't burn a lot of electricity. At anchor, with minimal lights, we can get down to about 60 amps continuous. (I still haven't figured out where it is all going, but there is an inverter that keeps three refrigerators, two freezers and a cocktail ice maker going.) The house bank is 880 amp hours, so we are good for about 8 hours without running the house bank down too much. Normal operations (lights, electronics, bait pumps, etc.) require the genset -- on 12 volt consumption alone (no inverter as the genset covers the 110v needs), we burn close to 150 amps.
Thanks, I will check that out. It will kill me if I’ve spent all this time, especially after talking with the Furuno reps, and all I had to do was turn on an existing feature.
In regard to overnight battery capacity, I installed (after much work) a house bank consisting of four 6-volt golf cart batteries. Comes out to about 450 amp hours. My over night draw seems to average about 100 to 125 amp hours.
Birdie, if I'm fishing the gennie is running. It usually runs continuous duty while the boat is away from the gock. You get used to the drone of the motor......
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Terry Jason 35, Yanmar 370 hp, Lots of fun at a leisurely pace
Topshot, why not just use a compass? That's what I have at my bedside next to the RD30, though I suppose I could put a heading sensor feed in, it's nice to have some non-electronic functionality too. One look at the compass tells you that you have swung and in what direction.
Gerg, but we are talking at anchor in a port, sleeping, not fishing an overnighter in the canyons. Out there who cares if the anchor drags, what would you hit, and lobster pot bouy?
Topshot,
I don't have the furuno so I'm not 100% sure, BUT, I have never seen a chartplotter that did not have a heading line option on the chart. Do you have the 4 6 volt batteries in the 25' parker?
Traveler,
"Down to 60 amps"??? LOL!!! My boat has 2, 30 amp shore power connectors (aka 60 amps total when on shore power). I'd be hard pressed to hit 60 amps peak, with everything turned on, at full blast. And you have bait pumps on that thing?? Wow? Didn't realize you fished that. NICE!! Can you please have them start building Hull #17, and send it my way. Thsi way you will be able to say, "there is now one of them on the other side of the canal"!! Oh, and could you also pay for it please?? Thanks!!
Anchor Watch - NN3D vs. Others 
I'd swear I saw that boat anchored up down by Smiths Cove on the south side of Shelter Island this summer, in August. Was that you?
