Ship’s Computer, how much tech does a sailing yacht need? (Sailing SV Catsaway) – Ep. 10
Catsaway is for sale – https://SVCatsaway.com/forsale Live map – https://SVCatsaway.com/map We updated the ship’s technology …
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March 29, 2026
omg he did a LCARs screen for it. I love it.
Ohmygod I want a boat running LCARS 😍
Now that you've had a chance to use it, what's your opinion, thoughts on the Outernet for receiving weather at sea?
I have found this video to be an exceptional value so I have added it as a link on my site AdventuresOnBoats.com. Our site is aimed at persons interested in a cruising lifestyle and attempts to provide links to sites like yours to educate them with links on relevant cruising subjects.
-johnny
Nothing wrong with good old SSB you can get the same info for free on shortwave! and it would serve as a backup incase your first line of defence went down. And the best thing is, There is no dodgy subscription rip off fee if you know what i mean.
Love it! Did you hack the LCARS SDK to do button sounds? I looked at your code on Github and couldn't find anything…
Ok, now I understand why Diana is the mechanic in the family 8^D…so the only reason I even know this raspberry gizmo exists is because I have a much younger sister who thinks it's the cat's meow. It appears to work which shocked me, I thought you were just screwing around. SO WHY IS THIS THE FIRST TIME I'VE SEEN THIS USED ON A SAILBOAT? How much did all that cost? STAR TREK!! Others have asked you to go in depth on this and me too, but I'll add that it would be great if you really dumb it down, if that's possible. I mean like you're talking to your grandparents. That'd be great! I'm 52 and build my own PCs for the past 30 years, but that's where the tech leaves me behind.
Good video…certainly tweaks my curiosity for adding more new gear! Have you calculated the power demand? You must have a ton of solar panels to accommodate? Well done and love the posts.
Hi nice channel we are the other end of the lake from you…just bought a cat too…will the outernet grab wifi too…trying to come up with a good solution.
Happy it wasn't worse than it was. You two are doing great, keep it up.
This is very cool! You need to post wiring schematics.
Can the computer respond in Majel Barrett's voice? 🙂
A fellow sailing coder!? Cool stuff. – Ryan
Fun stuff, enjoyed your video!
A few thoughts, I hope you'll take them as ideas, not criticism–
1) If you use a long cable for your Outernet patch antenna you should consider putting the LNA at the antenna side of that cable (outside), otherwise that long cable is going to attenuate your signal quite a bit and may cause reception issues.
2) Instead of an SDR for AIS, check out the "dAISy", it's a very inexpensive (<$60) AIS receiver that outputs serial via USB. It runs mostly cool to the touch, unlike SDR's, and is less complicated to deal with IMHO. I'm not affiliated w/ the person who makes them, but will attest to it being a very high quality product.
3) My experience with the Pi Sense Hat isn't great, and I will say: do not trust that temperature sensor–it picks up an enormous amount of heat from the Pi itself, which will skew humidity readings as well.
4) I have a Spot too, it is super cheap these days (device and service) compared to competitors, and it will likely work just fine for you and most others, but be aware of its coverage limitations. Globalstar's coverage is self-admittedly far smaller than Inmarsat or Iridium. In fact I was very surprised to see that your relative in the southern/central region of the African continent was able to send locations, I think if they move further south it might stop working reliably–Globalstar's maps shows that area as not covered, I think it's an issue of having no ground stations to service the satellites when they are overhead in those areas.
5) You might want to consider PLB's attached to your vests. They're relatively cheap insurance that if someone goes overboard they'll be locatable once out of sight. Clipping a waterproof VHF with GPS and DCS that activates a distress call when submerged isn't a bad idea either. I carry a PLB when I travel by air too (especially over water)–You never know when something might come in handy!
Love the LCARs interface! 🙂
With a water temp of -243F I don't think you are going far in a sailboat.
nice use of a RPI
Some of the computer stuff are a bit over my head, but I enjoy it anyway, particularly the part about keeping your moms happy by providing tracking device!
Great video but I wish you would do another more in depth one with a schematic to follow a long. Remember that a lot of people (me} are slower on this type of technology. I believe you guys have a well thought out game plan and I will surely enjoy your journey. Fair Winds and GOD bless. JC