"Parallax" wrote in message
om...
(Stu and Marilyn Wright) wrote in message
...
Too late. It's already on the market. Tac Tic is selling it. Check
out
layline.com
Stu
Now i found it. Prretty cool but very expensive.
I installed the Tacktick wind instruments about a month ago after having
the previous (very old & getting unreliable) instruments knocked out by
lightening.
They are incredibly simple to fit with no cabling and no need for a
power source. Both the speed transmitter and the readout have small
solar panels, although the latter can also be wired to the ship's 12v or
a 9v torch battery.
They are expensive, but for me the main argument was the lack of
cabling - I dreaded the thought of getting more wires down the mast,
never mind the problems also of feeding cable from the mast base through
to the cockpit instrument panel. After fitting it, I tried to remove
the old wind instrument cable from the mast and couldn't move it at
all - have now left it in place for fear of damaging anything else in
the mast. So probably I saved the extra cost in terms of the likely
time, cost and effort had I tried to recable with a new conventional
unit.
The tacktick system can be expanded with other wireless applications all
interlinking - e.g speed, depth, compass, gps etc - which then give even
greater benefits on the readouts (true wind, cog etc) than my simple use
for apparent wind only. I may well go this route in time, but only when
my existing log or echosounder die.
So far - but only with limited use - I'm pretty happy with it.
Details are on
www.tacktick.com (usual disclaimer - I'm not involved
with the company!)
Tony Boas
Sadler 34 - Bold Warrior