I spend a lot of time in cockpits. I find that they are interesting places. Once only the domain of men, more and more women are finding themselves at home in the cockpit.
The cockpit on our boat is simple. A binnacle with a compass, a large wheel for steering, the depth gauge and our chart plotter really is the sum total of what we need to move about the ocean. Down below at the navigation station we do have radar. I must admit that we rarely use it. Mainly for avoiding storms. I prefer the chart plotter with a good paper chart for navigation.
In our RV our cockpit is also simple, but it has more than the boat. The steering wheel, all the idiot lights for fuel, battery, oil, over heating. The radio which can handle CD’s, Sirius, an iPod and has a weather channel built in. You can control the air conditioner/heater from the driver’s seat. Windshield wipers, turn signals, emergency flashers and have your cup of coffee within reach. We have added “Betty” or GPS, who mostly we ignore.
Simple but it gets us down the road.
While at an RV show we looked at Class A diesel pushers. Now folks these monsters have Cockpits. They rival the cockpits of small aircraft! The usual controls for driving then there are the hydraulic levelers, the air brakes and more gauges that Carter has Pills! Seriously I was gobsmacked as I sat there in jaw dropped speechlessness. You would need a weeks worth of classes just to figure it all out. It was a feeling of total control with all the gadgets and gauges surrounding me. I HAD THE POWER! But I wasn’t sure I wanted it.
Funny you would need all that technology to drive down the interstate that has mile markers, exit signs with more information that you can read while driving 70 mph. And that doesn’t include the guides and maps and scraps of information that you have at your fingertips to get from point A to B.
Cruising Guides have nothing on Woodall’s, Trailer Life Directory or the Next Exit. There are many times when coming into an anchorage, harbour, or marina that I would have loved a Next Exit Guide. But I digress…Cockpits big, small, fancy or plain…they are what get us from here to there.
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