Navigation Device for Adventures on the Water

A new product aimed squarely at small-boat adventurers

We received a note recently from Erwan Kerebel, who we’d met in 2018 when he and Mathieu Bonnier sailed in the Race to Alaska. During that event Erwan says they had a hard time using their iPhone with wet fingers and reading it in direct sunlight. They also struggled to keep it charged. Later, not being able to find anything on the market to address those concerns, Erwan decided to do something about it. Below is our interview with Erwan. We also include a sidebar article from our Tech Bights editor, Jerry Culik, on what he sees as the potential pros and cons. —Eds

What inspired you to tackle this new project?

The idea for MAPTATTOO originated from my participation in the Race to Alaska in 2018. We were using iPhones and Navionics, which work indoors but have a number of issues on our small boats. One night we were sailing in Johnstone Straight in rough conditions with a lot of splashing aboard. Using the iPhone became impossible because of our wet fingers. Mathieu (my teammate) ended up deleting all his email inadvertently and things really became hairy as we were trying to find shelter. During another race, the Everglades Challenge, we experienced similar conditions, navigating at night in wet conditions, trying to follow an unmarked channel. We experienced the exact same challenges. Moreover, we wanted to bridge the gap between highly visible displays like speed pucks and navigation tablets and that really formed the basis of our concept.

We’ve long argued that cell phones with map software outperform handheld GPS units, but the problem of viewing them in bright sunlight and worries about moisture have been major issues. What does the Maptattoo offer to overcome these problems?

The breakthrough resides in the type of screen that we chose to use. We are using an E-ink screen, very similar to the ones you would find on an eReader (Kindles or Kobos for example). These screens have the huge benefit of relying on the external light instead of fighting the external light with backlight. The result is a tremendously better contrast with a much lower power consumption. The E-Ink screen is a very special beast, so we had to engineer a lot of things in order to have a great user experience while keeping the benefits of the technology. As far as moisture is concerned, we engineered our enclosure to be extremely resistant and IP68 waterproof. Lastly, touch is great in most situations but there are situations where it stops working when extremely wet so we added a keypad for these situations in order to have a way to operate it in any condition.

Do boaters use common software apps like Navionics, or does it only run a proprietary software? 

We had to develop our own software as the E-Ink screen needs to be piloted precisely in order to minimize refresh rates and keep an optimal user experience.

How did you achieve such excellent battery life (50 hours)? And do you anticipate adventurers might use solar power for charging?

Getting an excellent battery life was a key goal. Having participated in several multi-day adventure races, I know first hand the challenges of keeping the gadgets fully charged. We achieved very good battery life thanks to the E-Ink screen mainly. A major reason why smartphones battery life is so poor in bright sunlight is that they use backlight to increase the contrast. The only way to get a bright LED screen in sunlight is by turning the backlight power to the maximum. This draws a lot of power and often causes smartphones to overheat (and sometimes automatically dim the backlight to prevent damage). The E-Ink screen does not need extra light (except at night when it just needs a little) and the only energy required is for changing pixels. The E-Ink technology does not require any power to display a still image.

The other important element is that we designed both our hardware and software from scratch. There is absolutely nothing that runs on our device that is not required for navigation. When using other operating systems like Android or iOS, you have very little control over what is running on the device and draining the battery. Our power consumption, when navigating and constantly refreshing the screen at maximum contrast is less than 0.4W, which is extremely low.

This low power consumption makes it ideal for solar charging. Taking into consideration night navigation, solar panel efficiency and cloud coverage, I think you could be completely self-sufficient with a small 5W solar panel.

What is the cost and where can readers purchase one? 

We just launched on Indiegogo, a crowdfunding platform, with pre-orders. We still have some units available for pre-order at $559. Our campaign runs until the end of September. We expect to start shipping in October. After the crowdfunding campaign, we expect to raise our price to $799.

You can find more information about our pre-order campaign on Indiegogo.

And also more information on our website.

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Comments from Small Craft Advisor Tech Bights columnist, Jerry Culik

I’ve got a Garmin 44dv fishfinder/chartplotter on my big boat, and I finally bought a Garmin GSMAP 79 handheld to use on my small boats. While they both do the job, neither are what I consider “low power” devices. The Garmin 44dv draws up to 5W from my battery and requires a power cord; and the GSMAP 79 eats batteries for lunch. If I have to live with a power cord to avoid constantly shutting down the GPS to save power, a bigger display sure would be nice, especially since my eyes aren't getting any sharper. So lately I've been thinking about spending some serious money on a “smallish” chartplotter with a touchscreen.

The MAPTATTOO tablet chartplotter addresses a number of the items on my wish list. The 6-inch display is much bigger than anything I’ve got now, but it’s not too big to use on my smaller boats. It has a touchscreen that’s backed up by a keypad. It will run 50 hours on its internal battery and doesn’t require a power cord “leash.” It has a waterproof USB-C fast-charge port and comes with a cable to charge it from a small solar panel or power pack with a standard USB jack. A low-cost 5 watt solar panel with a USB charging jack is light and compact – less than half a square foot in area—and ought to be able to do the job. The MAPTATTOO power consumption is so frugal, only 400 mW (or an order of magnitude less than the Garmin 44dv), that I could probably leave my power station at home.

What are the downsides of the MAPTATTOO? The display is monochrome (I could live with that). The mapping software is proprietary and not Garmin’s BlueChart or Navionics. Since it’s targeted at the folks who enjoy adventure racing and raids—or just want something more robust out on the water than a smartphone—it’s a “niche” device. Regrettably, I have more than a few electronic devices that are now unsupported “orphans,” and there’s always the risk that not enough adventurers will invest in one. And with a list price of $799 after the initial “early bird” batch is sold out, the MAPTATTOO will not be a low-cost device, although that price is still quite a bit less than a chartplotter with a similarly-sized touchscreen display.

Would I buy a MAPTATTOO? Based on the design and features, and if I was planning to cruise in rough and windy conditions, a qualified “yes”—and I’m looking forward to seeing how well it performs during the next Everglades Challenge, Seventy48, and R2AK. I haven’t tried to navigate using my smartphone, but I’ll take their word for it that it’s difficult in extreme conditions. And even though that’s not my usual kind of sailing these days, I’m still really interested in the MAPTATTOO due to its low, low power consumption and big, sunlight-friendly display, even if it’s monochrome. And because it’s portable and will easily fit in my gear bag. And because I won’t need to deal with wiring up a chartplotter. •SCA•