Well...
I went on a spending spree last night.
Got a serial to usb converter for the Garmin to work with RosePoint and Nobeltec. Got a cell phone connection cable to go online via Cell from the boat.
I'm going to use both Nobeltec and Coastal Navigator while away. I'm off for three weeks on Monday. I'm going to use the trial of Coastal Navigator, it will work for 15 minutes before shutting down GPS support. If I like it enough, it gets purchased when I get home.
Coastal Navigator is looking more and more promising everytime I go to their site, though. They are including tides and currents with their next release of the software. They are also including weather overlay, which as far as I can guess would mean they will put weather radar images right over your charts. They include a year of the weather, too. They also have support for AIS.
If you haven't heard of AIS, it's a great system that's just getting going in the recreational market. It's a system that all passenger vessels and many large ships are required to use, that broadcasts your vessel name, location, heading, and speed via a special VHF antenna. The information is then interpreted with a stand alone screen (about $300) or can go into your computer and be decoded by Coastal Navigator or a special AIS program. The screen then shows the information being broadcasted. Coastal Navigator will put them right on the chart.
I've heard talk that RACON antennas are going to be changed to AIS. Then when you got a fix on an AIS tower, it would give you your bearing immediatley. I have no experience with RACON, so if it already did that, I apologize.
Well, I'm a bit excited about the software itself, and getting to use it in Maine! Could you tell?