I have been watching ships in the Solent area on web pages just for fun while I was at home, without realising that the same AIS (Automatic Identification System) technology can plot those ships on your own chart plotter on your boat. How handy is that? Better yet, it costs under £150 for the parts, and gives more shipping information than radar costing more than ten times as much.
I recently fitted a NASA AIS engine to pass AIS signals to my Garmin chart plotter - more information and a "how to" guide is on my Boat Angling web site . I reckon it is a huge, and relatively low cost, addition to safety at sea. Most of us worry about being run down by large commercial craft who don't see us at anchor, or if we break down in a shipping lane. With detailed information on the vessels name, heading, speed and MMSI number displayed on the plotter, you know exactly how close it will pass, and if you are concerned you can dial in the MMSI number on your DSC VHF radio and a talk directly to their bridge. The chart plotter and AIS engine will not drain the battery like a radar will, so you can afford to leave it on, which has another benefit. You can set a safety zone around your own boat, and an alert will sound if the plotter detects that a ship is encroaching on that space. Handy if the fishing is good and you haven't had a look around for a while!
As an example, this photo is a screen shot of the very first alert that sounded when I connected the system up. The dredger Donald Redford is heading out of Langstone at 7.5 knots, and has entered the 0.2 mile radius "warning Zone" that is centered on Salar which is sitting in Southsea marina. Hardly a danger, but it proves a point. I didn't even know it was there.
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