Calling All Stations

Calling all stations, well weather stations that is. We have bought a new gadget for Naughty-Cal. A friend of ours got one and we thought it such a good idea that we decided we had to have one as well. It wasn’t an expensive gadget either at just £18.99 from Aldi. We have, as you may have already guessed, bought a weather station which comes with a second remote sensor.

The main reason for buying the weather station was so that we could install the second remote sensor in the engine bay and monitor the temperature in there to ensure that our engine room heaters are working efficiently without having to lift the engine hatch every weekend to check them. The remote sensor relays its data to the main unit which in turn displays the temperature and humidity in the engine bay as well as temperature and humidity in the cockpit or cabin and the time, date, moon phase, barometric pressure and 24 hour weather forecast. All great fun and actually quite useful information to know when out and about cruising. The unit will also store minimum and maximum temperatures over a 7 day period so we can monitor the data for the days we are away from the boat, making any adjustments to the heaters as necessary. The main unit can either be fastened to the wall or has a fold out stand so that it can be placed in an easy to monitor location. The unit is also pleasing on the eye so no need to hide it away in an out of sight cupboard it can go out on display where it can be easily seen and the data easily read.

Over the weekend we found that our engine is much more cosy and warm than we are in the cockpit or cabin of the boat. The engine bay reaching the heady heights of 32°C with the tube heater and Webasto air heater running, whilst we had to make do with just 20°C in the cabin and 16°C in the cockpit. Hmm, who has the better deal there then? With the Webasto turned off for the evening and colder night time temperatures approaching freezing point, the engine bay settled down to a much more sensible temperature of around 8°C and the cabin around 10°C, which will happily keep the frost at bay and protect the raw water cooling system of the engine and the fresh water plumbing throughout the boat.

This new gadget should provide us with some extra peace of mind during the winter months but will also provide us with helpful weather information and predictions during the summer months whilst we are out cruising. Quite a useful piece of kit for the princely sum of £18.99.