Hot or Not
What's your temperature?
In the early 2000s, I purchased and installed a solar-powered Davis Vantage Pro2 ISS Plus weather station. It was the 24-hour fan-aspirated unit with a solar-powered wireless wind sensor.
Since this was installed in Fairport, NY, and it is usually cold for more than half of the year, I upgraded my weather station. I added a heating element that liquefies the various non-liquid states of water that falls past rim spikes meant to keep birds off of the collection bucket, into a funnel, past a debris screen, exiting through a hole in the bottom, and down onto seesawing cups that calculate precipitation.
It was and is still a fantastic prosumer weather station, and a serious upgrade to the Davis Hill Weather Stick mounted just outside my den's window!
Roughly every 30 seconds, from a rooftop and fencepost in Spotsylvania, Virginia, that same Davis instrument sends information to CWOP, WeatherUnderground, and many other networks that aggregate personal weather station data.
I’ve lived, worked, and traveled on a sailboat for the past few years. I no longer own the house in Virginia, the Davis weather station, or the weather stick.
I am currently enjoying very cool temperatures and rain in Stuart, Florida and yes, I’m still a crazy weather nut. Just last week, I paid to renew and remotely update the Meteobridge software that feeds the Internet data from the Davis station at my old house so I can occasionally check in on the real-time conditions back in Virginia.
Moving on…
My new home, the sailing vessel Avemar, is packed with weather information collected by one instrument or another.
I can see wind direction and strength, barometric pressure, water temperature, lunar cycles, tide information, and probably a few other things that I don’t even know exist on my B&G MFD + Triton setup.
The problem is that running that gear costs valuable amps from my 12-volt battery bank. So, unless I’m sailing, the instruments are usually turned off, except during a storm, because I’m addicted to watching the weather.
Now, on to the point of my post and a question for you…
For the past few years, I’ve had a simple electronic indoor/outdoor thermometer mounted in the galley. I purchased the unit at one of the big box stores for less than twenty dollars years ago. With a glance, I could see the outside temperature and determine if I should put on a shirt and whether I needed to go outside in something on my skinny legs other than shorts.
Last week, before Christmas, I glanced at the galley display and, on the screen, saw that both the indoor and outdoor temperatures were identical, and the reading was 100°F !
I moved the outdoor sensor to new locations. I changed the batteries twice. Each time random temperatures were displayed, no amount of button pushing (only one button) would reset the screen to show anything near what I thought were reasonable temperatures for the conditions.
Now, I’m looking for a replacement. I want to quickly glance across the cabin and see if it is cold or hot outside and not need to get up and go out to check.
It’s also lovely to see the indoor temperature because the boat has a reverse cycle heat and air system, and like a heat pump unit on the house, the air always feels cool no matter how the thing is set.
I have the AI-powered app-driven WeatherFlow Tempest on my wish list, but I can’t bring myself to the point where I want to install yet another gadget on the stern arch and run more cables behind the navigation desk wall.
I could go to the store next time I’m in town and pick up a simple indoor and outdoor thermometer as I had before, but as I was considering asking my boating friends for suggestions, it occurred to me that I should seek advice from you here.
What am I missing out on in cool weather geek technology?
Do you have a solution for a simple indoor/outdoor thermometer that would work well on a blue water sailboat?
Please leave a comment and let me know!
It’s just past noon, and I think it’s getting close to 50 degrees outside (and inside) now.
I’m going to find my shorts.