Marine Gps Chartplotter

Marine Gps Chartplotter

High-Tech Marine Electronics for Boating Fuel Efficiency

If you think the biggest advantage of marine electronics GPS device is knowing where you are and where you are going you are right, but when you combine GPS with other marine electronics you can gain another important advantage: knowing how much fuel you have on board and how quickly you are burning it.

Multifunction meters combine the information received from your marine GPS with information received from other marine electronics such as a fuel flow meter and a tachometer hooked up to your boat's twin engine. This tells you exactly how many nautical miles you are getting per gallon. Using multifunction marine electronics, recreational boaters never have to guess whether they enough fuel on board to make it all the way to the island and back. Not only will you know exactly how much fuel is remaining, but by knowing your burn rate at your current speed, you can actually optimize fuel consumption for current wind and weather conditions to conserve fuel in choppy waters or on long trips.

How does your marine GPS know how fast you are going? Simple, the GPS satellite constellation provides global coverage over the entire surface of the earth, so your boat is never out of sight. Marine electronics GPS receivers are constantly checking your current position and comparing that to where you were a few seconds ago so the nautical miles per hour calculation is extremely accurate. By calculating your fuel usage and precise distance traveled, a multifunction meter can tell exactly how fast your fuel tank is emptying and how much farther you can continue to voyage at that rate.

Multifunction Marine Electronics Give Mariners Confidence

Multifunction marine GPS and fuel flow meters are not just for amateurs. Professional fishermen have come to rely on marine electronics such as multifunction meters to help them boost profits. Now they know exactly how long to stay out on the water and how far they can afford to travel in search of the best catch while yacht racers use them to calculate the absolute minimum amount of fuel they can carry in order to ensure the lightest possible load on board.

Multifunction Meters Conveniently Mount on the Dash

Marine GPS/tachometer multifunction meter combinations work with both gas and diesel engines and provide digital readouts on backlit displays. You simply replace your existing tachometer and mount the new device in its place. You can probably make a one for one swap on the boat's dash without cutting a new hole. Look for models with adjustable calibration for superior accuracy and displays that are easy to read in bright sun or at night, such as a Floscan multifunction meter with GPS interface for a variety of marine electronics combos.

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Can a car gps be modified for marine chart use?

Buying a boat but don't want to spend big money on a chartplotter for occassional use unless I can use in for in car navigation as well. Any advice?

It all depends on the model of GPS unit that you have in your car. Some models can have new maps (or charts in your case) downloaded to them but not all. Garmin does make a pda unit that can be used and updated with both charts and maps. I got one off ebay and love it. The cost of adding the charts to the gps unit was not cheap..about 300USD. You might be able to get a used/reconditioned one for about that price.
The biggest concern would be the marine saltwater environment. It might not be the best for a unit that is not designed for it.
The USCG requires however that any vessel regardless of size also have a paper chart on-board and that GPS should not be solely relied one for your navigation.