louietherigger

Hey Randy, I would think that they are in the rule book, but being someone who never reads the directions I will have to
look. Louie

BRUCE SEROFF

19.Any boat caught breaking out of their speed bracket will receive last place points and
will start the next race in the outside lane. GPS units will track this. GPS units are
mandatory in each race boat, otherwise they will be disqualified.
20.In the event of a GPS malfunction, the Chief Referee will then refer to the prop calculation
and will sea trial the boat in question. The sea trial is done to determine if the boat falls
within the parameters of the said class it was registered and approved as.
21.It is the racers responsibility to install the GPS unit correctly and to make sure that the
battery is properly charged for use in the race.

TYPHOON

Thanks Bruce.
MD

louietherigger

The rules are on page 15, or on Bruce's poat on this page.
Thanks Bruce

fastedy

Yes, we the class let Randy have the win but we all agreed that it should have never been left up to us.

Anyone explain to me, what is the problem having a back up GPS Unit that would only be read in the event that the 1st unit faild to read, its has to be faster and use less man power than a sea trial and all that.

louietherigger

I was under the impression tha you could use the readings from the back up if the 1st one failed. I would think both units have to be cleared and numbers recorded by the official. other wise whose to say it wasn't from another boat that raced and came in the back off the pack? Not for nothing but we have 1 unit and i don't want to jinx us but since it is hard wired and installed properly we have never had it fail.
Louie

fastedy

Wouldn't a GPS from a slower boat show just that? It's my understanding that the GPS shows proof of where the boat is at all times with a time stamp and at what speed, so I don't see how a GPS from a slower boat would help in any way, besides if a second unit reads different than the first we have a problem anyway. My tracking GPS has always matched my GPS on my dashboard to the 10th

Maybe I'm not getting it, I see Running a back up GPS is like putting extra gas in the boat, it just a precausionary measure, its a choice, see what you started Randy

TYPHOON

Yes in Destin I was awarded the win after a sea trial in my boat. My system failed and had no reading on it as I recall. The class had a meeting and everyone agreed to sea test my boat. Yes there was friction in the air and it was a bad place to be in at a World Championship race. The point is a second unit in my boat could have solved the whole issue.
This is all good feed back. I do understand peoples comments that have never had a problem and think its fine the way it is but for some teams its a hard pill to swallow when it happens to them. There is to many people running around looking for parts at the race and even more people panicking at the ramp if there system is working. It just seem's there is more stress on the GPS working then there is on your boat working.
Whats the life expectance of these units in our enviroment. They are 2 years old now and isnt it possible there will be failures more often?
MD

scottc

So let's cut through all the BS here and ask the powers to be to allow a second gps to be used and you are going to volunteer to handle a supply of spare parts to have at every race. Also you will be in the trailer and run around to gather all the units check them both before and after every race then return them back to the proper teams.


Sound great to me!!!!!!!! Thanks for the help. Allan will be very happy to finally have some extra hands.

Now for the vote.........................

louietherigger

Guys, There are issues with the second unit option, also the life expectancy of these units is an unkown. One thing I can tell you though is we treat ours like its gold, I've seen other guys toss them around , they are all scratched up, wires are bent and pinched, odds are ours should last longer but as we known life gives us no guarentees. Same guarentee we get with drives, motors, header pipes, etc. Going back to Destin, Randy I felt you deserved the win. It's real easy to look like the bad guy in these GPS dilema's and I don't envy the guys handling them. I'm just glad we are all communicating our thoughts on the GPS systems. Louie

PS. We should talk about this at the Awards Party when we are all together? Deal?