installing/using SeaClearII

geronimotwo · #1 03-19-2013

a while ago a friend told me about this free program that is supposed to turn my laptop into a chart plotter. well, i found and installed it from the web easy enough, but i found it difficult to load the charts for it. since then i found a disc on ebay that has seaclear and the complete set of noaa charts for the us.

i figured buying the two on the same disc would allow me to interface them seamlessly. unfortunatly my computer will not display the menu for this disc.

i am using a dual core pc and running vista home. does anyone have tips for my installation?

sailvayu · #2 03-19-2013

you could get the same thing online for free that you paid for on ebay but too late now. you should be able to browse the disk from my computer in windows. Look for a file called setup.exe on the disc then double click it. not sure what to tell you if you cannot find that as I do not know what is on the disc. you could try a program called opencpn it is free OpenCPN | Official OpenCPN Homepage Good luck

Capt. Wayne Canning, AMS
Project Boat Zen - Boat and Yacht Repair and Restoration

DRFerron · #3 03-19-2013

My suggestion is to download OpenCPN (free) or Polar Navy ($40), go to NOAA's nav center and download the charts and use either one of those electronic chartplotters.

SeaClear is clunky and hasn't been supported in donkey's years. I'll buy you a round if you don't think either of the two mentioned above are easier to use.

I use Polar Navy on my netbook to navigate and have been extremely happy with it. OpenCPN is similar.

geronimotwo · #4 03-19-2013

i knew about the programs being free, i had thought that getting them on the same disk would help them to work seamlessly. for what i paid (under $20) i thought it would be worth a try.

i will look into the others, thanks.

sailvayu · #5 03-19-2013

Yeah been there done that, it was worth a try. No luck finding the setup file?

geronimotwo · #6 03-19-2013

the disk spins.......and spins.......and spins......and you can hear it reading the dvd........ but no directory pops up. even in my computer, it never shows anything on the disc.

DRFerron · #7 03-20-2013

Your time spent trying to get SeaClear to work is better spent sailing. It was developed at a time when there were no free alternatives and that was the reason the person who created it gave for its existence (posted on the web page). Later, when others who had the time to create and maintain a free application came along, SeaClear was no longer needed to fill that gap.

eherlihy · #8 03-20-2013

+ 1 on PolarNavy - you will STILL have to play with the program. But, of all of the low/no cost navigation packages, PolarNavy is the easiest to setup and use IMHO.

I believe that it is $49.95 for installation on up to 5 PCs

chucklesR · #9 03-20-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by eherlihy

+ 1 on PolarNavy - you will STILL have to play with the program. But, of all of the low/no cost navigation packages, PolarNavy is the easiest to setup and use IMHO.

I believe that it is $49.95 for installation on up to 5 PCs

Yep, 5 PC's.
The only setup I had was to select the charts I wanted and configure the port for the GPS.
Took less than 30 minutes.
I've got it running on my desktop and my laptop and my notebook (which is my backup for my actual chartplotter).