Where do you carry SPOT? « WaterTribe Forums

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Where do you carry SPOT?

(20 posts) (13 voices)

Started 6 years ago by seabag
Latest reply from danceswithmullet

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seabag
Member

Am gearing up for the Cheasapeake Ultramarathon and have just added a SPOT to my gear. Instructions say that it needs a clear view of the sky, which indicates to me that it has to go on the foredeck of the kayak. It doesn't float so needs to be tied on and the emergency functions can't be used if you have it in a dry bag. I have my foredeck pretty well sorted so am reluctant to add it.

So where do people put it? Will it work in a PFD pocket? Will it work if it is a net deck bag? There is a kind of a carrier with it, but I don't trust it on the water.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Posted 6 years ago #
KonkererOfTheUseless
Member

I don't trust the case it comes with OR it waterproofness. I've used the DP-69 with no leakage: http://www.paddleshack.com/ac_DryPac.htm#DP-69_DRY_PAK_Multi_Case for both the SPOT and GPS.

Attached with a couple of mini-biners on a kayak deck with the closure facing aft. If you need the SOS, you can take it out of the bag. In the meantime, it's protected and out of the spray.

Also, be sure to add some dissacent in the drybag.

Good luck!

Jim

Posted 6 years ago #
KonkererOfTheUseless
Member

I don't trust the case it comes with OR it waterproofness. I've used the DP-69 with no leakage: http://www.paddleshack.com/ac_DryPac.htm#DP-69_DRY_PAK_Multi_Case for both the SPOT and GPS.

Attached with a couple of mini-biners on a kayak deck with the closure facing aft. If you need the SOS, you can take it out of the bag. In the meantime, it's protected and out of the spray.

Also, be sure to add some dissacent in the drybag.

Good luck!

Jim

Posted 6 years ago #
PrivateHam
Member

I kept mine in my pfd pocket and it worked fine. Although i would never do it intentionally, I even went for a swim with it by accident and it still continued to work.

Posted 6 years ago #
Hollywood
Member

This is what I used during the EC. Worked great and had no issues. I also made a point to put a couple of the desiccant dry-packs in all of my electonics containers.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008410J4E/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OFBN0G/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Posted 6 years ago #
Chekika
Member

This may come under the heading of useless info, but my SPOT, which is the original, was carried in my mesh cockpit pocket on my Hobie AI for 2 yrs. It regularly got drowned and hammered by big strong splashes during those 2 yrs. Since then, I've kept it tethered to my PFD & in a zippered pocket. I've never kept it in any kind of dry bag. It has never failed.

Useless info? Because who still uses the original SPOT device?

In contrast to my SPOT, I've tested and lost a number of Garmin GPS units treated to milder conditions than my SPOT. I keep my Garmin GPS units in Aquapac or Drypak type bags year around. I do not bother with dessicant in these drybags. I travel in the Rockies during the summer months and never give any special treatment to SPOT or Garmin GPS units, although out of habit, the Garmin GPS units stay in their dry bag.

Keith

My SPOT in mesh pocket on my AI.

My Garmin 78 in dry pak bag on Scorpion Beach near Graveyard.

Posted 6 years ago #
danceswithmullet
Member

You have time, so test it in different locations on your boat. Mine had no problem shooting through foam and glass so it was placed out of the weather and in a place the annoying reflection of the green LED didn't bother me. Take this for what it worth but I try to place RF emitting devices as far from me as possible, yet still be in reach.DWM

Posted 6 years ago #
MisterMoon
Member

The best place I've found on my Class 4 boat is in a little tray I built on top of my tiller, near the rudderhead. I got the idea when I saw Bumpy had built a little tray for his spot on the end of the boom on his big Tornado.

Posted 6 years ago #
WindwardMark
Member

We carried it in a dry bag on the EC and other events. We carried it in a pfd pocket some times, and it worked. We later discovered that as the battery gets low, it needs more exposure to the sky to work. So if it is in pfd pocket, it will fail earlier with low battery than if it is on deck. Also, in cold weather trials (below freezing) it needs to have clear view of the sky, not in a pocket.

Posted 6 years ago #
ZeroTheHero
Member

In the EC '13 we kept our SPOT in a waterproof clear bag that had the lanyard looped around the shroud on our class 4 sloop. No issues at all. In the EC '14 I had my SPOT in the smae bag attached to the left sholder of my PFD. DKHT had his on his PFD as well. We had some issues. Sometimes the SPOTs didn't send out messages, probably because they weren't pointed at the sky when needed. In FL Bay we were hot and it was shallow so we ditched the pfd's, SPOT down. Didn't send fro a while till my wife called us and told us to get it right. This OFUM it will be back in the bag attached to the shroud.

Posted 6 years ago #
Ridgerunner
Member

One year I put mine on the life jacket instead on on a thwart or the tiller. In the pocket of the life jacket, it was vertical. There was no track until Florida Bay when the wind stopped and we began to row. It was hot, so I laid the life jacket on the seat. Then, with the SPOT horizontal, we got a perfect track. This leads me to believe that the orientation is critical (this was with a version 2 SPOT).

Posted 6 years ago #
KayakVagabond
Member

The Forest Service did a study to determine whether a horizontal or vertical orientation of the (original) Spot (and the effect of tree cover), made a difference in transmission success, the table below shows their results; the unit performed best when horizontal. The study is at http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf08252842/pdf08252842dpi72.pdf

To allow easy access to the Spot buttons from a kayak, I keep my Spot in an Aquapac (with a packet of silica gel), flat on the deck, tethered to the deck straps.

Posted 6 years ago #
OysterSlayer
Member

Posted 6 years ago #
OysterSlayer
Member

Look at the little green spot

Posted 6 years ago #
KonkererOfTheUseless
Member

OS- that setup is in strict violation of:
page 3, section 2, rule 3
of the SPOT operation owners manual:
https://www.findmespot.com/downloads/SPOT_2_User_Guide_V2_printed_Oct8_2009.pdf
The GPS must be 12" away from the SPOT device. No fraternizing with the other devices.

Did they both work for you so close?

Posted 6 years ago #
OysterSlayer
Member

Not at all.

The spot transmits. The GPS receives.

Therefore the only possible issue would be the SPOT interfering with the recption of the GPS.

Neither one of them use enough power to have EMI/EMF isssues. And the GPS does not care if it receives only occasionally, it just makes another attempt, or starts rolling sattelites.

Typically if an engineer is not sure then they will write in the procedures "do not do this"

Now cell phones are another story, my I-phone was off and stored in the forward day hatch to protect and preserve battery.

Posted 6 years ago #
OysterSlayer
Member

whoops

I should have said, no issues at all

Posted 6 years ago #
seabag
Member

Thanks for this folks, I note also that the 'rules' say inside a dry bag with desicant. I have a bunch of electronics bags around here, and will find the closest to size. Then I think it will go flat inside a kayak net deck bag which I am using as a clutter reducer.

Posted 6 years ago #
danceswithwaves
Member

Actually, The Delorme GPS that I have is linked to the SPOT and it needs to be in close proximity to the GPS. It will not funtion otherwise. When kept close, the system has worked flawlessly. Royd

Posted 6 years ago #
danceswithmullet
Member

I did keep my spot in a drybag as per rules. The desicant came from a bag of Jacklinks teryakie flavored beef jerky. Makes me hungry if I sniff the spot. DWM

Posted 6 years ago #

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