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LOWRANCE LILNK-5 FIXED DSC VHF     4th May 2012

Available from June, the Link-5 fixed VHF from Lowrance offers 1W or 25W digital selective calling and has six control buttons on the front, a built-in speaker designed for clarity and the fist microphone has a rubber cover to provide good grip with wet hands.

The channels are selected by large rotary control knob and the LCD display, which measures 1in x 1.8in, shows channel, time and lat/long. It also has adjustable level backlighting.

Waterproof and built to take a few knocks, the Link-5 stores up to 20 boat names and MMSI numbers, as well as logging up to 10 distress calls – that would be a really bad day at sea! – and 20 individual DSC calls. The unit is NMEA0183 compatible and can be either bracket or flush mounted.

The Link-5 has a two year warranty that can be extended to five years.

Price: £160

Lowrance – www.lowrance.co.uk

HENRI LLOYD TRANSOM HALF ZIP      29th March 2012

The Transom Half Zip top is part of Henri Lloyd’s ‘knitted insulation range’, offering a lightweight, breathable and ergonomically designed mid layer.

The pill resistant outer fabric gives the appearance of a knitted jersey, but there is a fleece backing inside to provide warmth even in cold weather. The brushed inner fleece creates air pockets to trap and retain air warmed by your body, providing a high level of comfort without adding weight to the garment.

There are secure chest and side pockets and the collar has a brushed Rentex finish for skin comfort and the zip runs into a guard at the neck.

The Transom Half Zip is available in both men’s and women’s versions in marine, light grey or carbon colours. The top is machine washable.

Price: £99

Henri Lloyd - www.henrilloyd.com

SEAJET BUDGET ANTIFOULING      24th February 2012

Seajet’s new 031 Samurai antifouling has been developed for the ‘budget conscious’ boat owner. It is a self-polishing, copper based paint containing slightly less booster biocide than some of Seajet’s other formulations.

031 Samurai is available in four colours – black, shark grey, red or blue – and is suitable for use on all hull materials apart from aluminium. It’s suitable for saltwater or fresh and Seajet says that one 2.5ltr can should give a single full coat on a boat of up to 35ft, although they recommend two coats for a full season’s protection.

Just one warning: because this is a self-polishing antifouling it is not recommended for use on boats that lie to drying moorings.

Price: £49.99 for 2.5ltr.

Seajet – www.seajetpaint.com or www.marineindustrial.co.uk.

WEEMS & PLATH RYA PLOTTER      17th February 2012

The RYA has launched an updated version of its Handy Plotter made for the Association by Weems & Plath.

The Handy Plotter is to be made a part of the RYA’s Essential Navigation and Seamanship course materials package later this year, but is already available on line via the RYA Shop.

The plotter is made from durable, flexible plastic and shows chart symbols for a DR fix, an estimated position, a fixed position and a GPS waypoint or fix. It also carries a metric ruler and has revised colour imprinting to improve visibility under a chart table safelight. There’s a scale for error correction and compass points are marked on the plotting wheel.

Price: £7.99 (plus £1.35 p&p).

RYA shop – www.rya.org.uk.

PATRIOTIC DECK SHOES      17th February 2012

With a large dose of Olympic spirit, Chatham has launched a new style of deck shoe called the GB2012, which is made in red, white and blue with a Union flag in the sole.

The moccasin style red, white and blue uppers are made from washable leather, while the flag is set within a ‘sticky rubber’ sole designed for good grip on wet decks. The shoes have rot proof laces and are carefully stitched for durability and retention of shape. They come with a two year guarantee.

The Chatham GB2012 shoes are available in sizes 6-15, including half sizes, from normal stockists.

Price: £99.

Chatham – www.chatham-marine.co.uk.

NEW FROM GILL FOR 2012      15th February 2012

Gill has announced new Ocean Racer and Women’s OS1 oilskins in its 2012 range, plus some clothing maintenance products.

After three years of development and over 215,000 miles of use, the Ocean Racer oilskins are quite likely to withstand the rigours of a few passages through the Wallet, although they may make the wallets of some prospective purchasers cringe. Made with SuperFabric to protect high wear areas, such as knees, seat and elbows, the three-layer Gill 5Dot fabric is waterproof and breathable. The cuffs have a ‘retractable adjuster’ and PU inner seals to keep water out. The smock has a soft latex neck. All zips are water resistant and the high collar has a fleece lining for warmth. It features a wrap around face guard and fold down face flap. The Active-fit rollaway hood has ‘two-way volume adjustment’ and the handwarmer pockets are fleece lined. Both the jacket and smock have SOLAS approved 360° prismatic reflectors.

The Ocean Trousers use the same 5Dot waterproof, breathable, three-layer fabric with SuperFabric in the wear areas. The back of the trousers has a stretchy panel for comfortable movement and the inner thighs have grip panels for working on bowsprits and masts.

Prices: Ocean Racer Jacket (sizes XS-XXL) £440, Ocean Racer Smock (XS- XXL) £475, Ocean Racer Trousers (XS-XXL) £325.

Gill has also launched a version of its OS1 oilskins designed specifically for women – the Women’s OS1. Built for ocean use, the suits are made using Gill’s 5Dot, three-layer shell fabric and have a high collar with a ‘gridded’ fleece lining, wrap around face guard and fold down face flap. Cuffs have a retractable adjuster and PU inner seals, while all zips are water resistant. There’s an Active-fit rollaway hood with two-way volume adjustment, cargo pockets, two sets of fleece lined handwarmer pockets, adjustable shock cord at the hem and SOLAS approved 360° prismatic reflectors and piping.

The Women’s OS1 trousers are made from the same 5Dot fabric and have a drop-down seat to avoid undoing braces. There are handwarmer pockets, a chest pocket, a thigh pocket and a multi-tool pocket.

Prices: OS1 Women’s Jacket (sizes 8-16) £350, OS1 Women’s Trousers (8-16) £250.

In addition to the clothing, Gill has launched some care products: Intensive Spot Cleaner, Wash-in Cleaner and Reproofing Spray.

The Intensive Spot Cleaner is for removal of stubborn patches of dirt, oil or grease, using a concentrated citrus formula. The Wash-in Cleaner is a general detergent for use on all Gill’s waterproof, windproof and wicking fabrics. It can be used in a washing machine or when hand washing and will remove salt and dirt, leaving water repellent finishes intact and killing odour forming bacteria.

The Reproofing Spray dries quickly and can be applied to any fabric to produce a water, oil and stain repellent finish without affecting breathability or colour.

Prices: Intensive Spot Cleaner (75ml) £6, Wash-in Cleaner (300ml) £7, Reproofing Spray (300ml) £9.

Gill – www.gillmarine.com.

iPOD iBOAT DOCKING STATION      14th February 2012

The iBoat SM docking station from Marine AV is designed to link your iPod to a pair of speakers of up to 10W output each via its inbuilt amplifier.

Looking like a flush-mounted, flat, polished metal plate measuring 150mm x 60mm with a depth of 7mm, the dock is neat and discreet. The amplifier and connection sockets extend to a depth of 22mm beneath the mounting surface.

Power requirement is quoted as 1.66A maximum (at 12V DC) and the unit powers down automatically after being idle for 90s. The dock is protected against reverse polarity and LEDs along the front indicate volume and balance.

Price: £530.51 (including cables, but not speakers).

Marine AV – www.marine-audio.com.

MAGNETIC TRIP LINE      27th January 2012

While it’s a wise precaution to use a trip line when anchoring in many East Coast creeks, the reality of using one is not attractive – a buoyed line may be mistaken for a mooring; a line running up the cable may tangle or float and catch passing boats. But what about an ingenious magnetic trip line that lies along the anchor chain?

The Magnetic Trip Line from Coastline Technology is made from 20m of a hollow 6mm braided line that has magnets made from the rare metal neodynium inserted into its heart at 1m intervals. Each end of the line is fitted with a captive pin stainless steel shackle. Prior to use, you shackle one end of the trip line to the crown of your anchor, then, as you drop anchor, the chain and trip line run out together and the magnets hold the line against the chain. When you reach the boat end of the trip line you use the second shackle to secure it to the chain and continue to veer scope. Once the anchor is set, the trip line lies neatly with the cable ready to save the day.

Should the anchor become fouled, you detach the boat end of the trip line and haul on it. The magnets release from the chain and you can use the line in the conventional way to lift the anchor clear by its crown.

When not in use, the Magnetic Trip Line is coiled with each magnet ‘stuck’ to its neighbour to avoid tangling. It must be stowed more than 2m from the ship’s compass to avoid deviation problems.

The magnets are nickel coated against rust and the captive pin shackles are stainless steel for the same purpose.

Price: £55

Coastline Technology – www.coastlinetechnology.com.

RAYMARINE LAUNCHES TOUCHSCREEN MFDs      25th January 2012

To develop an ‘e’ series of multifunction displays (MFDs), Raymarine has launched the e95 9in and e125 12in touchscreens to join its earlier e7 7in model.

The new, larger screens are designed to “take networking and integration to new levels, utilising the full power and capability of WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity”. With their built in WiFi ability, the new screens can work as a chart plotter, show video (streamable to Apple devices), radar or sonar information and can be accessed remotely on board using Apple iOS devices. Bluetooth enables an RCU-3 hand controller to operate basic functions remotely when mounted at the helm or actually on the wheel. The RCU-3 can even control mp3 devices so you can listen to selected music while sailing.

Raymarine’s new ‘user interface’ is called Lighthouse and “brings familiar touchscreen navigation and customisation options together” to increase the level of intuitive use.

The screens have bright LCD displays that are backlit with LEDs to reduce power consumption and maintain daylight visibility, aided by a choice of colour palettes and their ‘transflective’ construction.

The ‘e’ series MFDs have 50 channel internal GPS antennae and can be purchased with or without Navionics cartography (supplied on a microSC card).

Prices: e95 without cartography £2874, e125 without cartography £3234.

Raymarine – www.raymarine.com.

NEW PLOTTERS FROM STANDARD HORIZON      23rd January 2012

Launched at the London Boat Show, the CPN700i and CPN 1010i chart plotters from Standard Horizon are a new generation of touchscreen 7in and 10in colour plotters with internal antennae.

Each plotter has built in WiFi, enabling the navigator to access the internet and manage emails when in reach of a WiFi hotspot. Movies and music can also be downloaded and played thanks to included Windows Media Player software, Internet Explorer and a USB port for a memory stick, whilst the plotters’ built-in front speakers are expandable via an audio port on the back to add a separate amplifier.

When using the instruments more conventionally, for navigation, the CPN models can be loaded with the latest C-Map 4D cartography.

With touchscreen controls and internal 50 channel, WAAS enabled GPS antennae, these plotters are designed to be used in the cockpit while on passage. They can show split screens with a chart displayed at two zoom levels for checking details while retaining an ‘overview’ of the route.

The plotters can send a GPS position to a DSC VHF radio or can be linked to a Standard Horizon GX2100E DSC radio to display the AIS targets identified by the radio’s built in receiver.

Each plotter comes with a three year waterproofing guarantee and can be either flush or bracket mounted.

Prices: CPN700i £1099.95, CPN1010i £1699.95.

Standard Horizon – www.standardhorizon.co.uk.

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NEW GEAR

A look at products just being launched.

As yet we have not tried any of these and are relying on manufacturers’ details.

NtM NtM links Chartlets Wind farms Tides Weather NtMs Policy

ECS Blog - the archive