Numerous power vessels can be found in the boating simulator, encompassing runabouts, personal watercraft (PWC), cruisers, and large commercial craft. Similarly, there is a diverse range of sailing vessels available, including daysailers, tall ships, and historical recreations. While a single-engine boat suffices for our Americas Boating Course (ABC) classes, it is beneficial to have dual engines for showcasing variations in handling.

MuVIT Scenery and Vessel Add-ons

Numerous websites offer add-ons for the Virtual Sailor boating simulator that can be used as MuVIT scenery and vessel add-ons. Some of these sites are easy to find, while others require more searching. The main site, accessible at this link, offers a great selection of add-ons. Additionally, we have compiled a catalog of other sites where you can find resources. Please note that this list is subject to change. While we will make an effort to stay updated, sometimes things can change rapidly. If you come across a broken link or encounter any other issues, please inform us through the contact page so that we can address them accordingly.

MuVIT Vessel Add-ons

Open console 26 foot vessel MuVIT scenery and vessel add-ons
Mako 26 foot open console

In the boating simulator, there is a wide selection of power vessels ranging from runabouts, personal watercraft (PWC), and cruisers to large commercial craft. Similarly, there are various sailing vessels available, including daysailers, tall ships, and historical recreations. When taking our Americas Boating Course (ABC) classes, it is recommended to primarily use a single-engine boat, but having dual engines can be advantageous for showcasing differences in handling.

Some more advanced courses such as piloting, and coastal and offshore navigation can make use of the larger cruisers and the more sophisticated instrumentation available such as the radar, GPS and a chart plotter which all operate as one would expect in real life. The tutorials section of this website will have information on those and it will be announced in the news section when we post those.

We do sometimes modify the characteristics of some of the models to make them work better for our classes and to make them more realistic in terms of acceleration, these modified models are posted here individually. Before you add vessels read the tutorial and save some frustration when they don’t show up. We only provide the modified configuration file for the vessel unless otherwise noted, it is up to you to install the original model in the simulator. Also if you download a modified config file be sure to read the install notes and make a backup of the old config file.

MuVIT Scenery Add-ons

Scenery Sample
Sample of the many available sceneries

There is a good selection of basic scenery for the US, some include aids to navigation (ATONS) including sectored lights which appear during nighttime simulations. As a side note, the navigation lights on the vessels are properly sectored to aid in realistic nighttime navigation exercises. The integration with OpenCPN may mitigate the lack of ATONS where it exists, this may not be an issue as other simulators also tend to exclude aides to navigation since they essentially operate on a millpond in a make-believe environment.

There are tools and documentation for creating your own scenery so you can feel free to do so if so inclined. NOAA, USGS, NASA, and other sources of topographic and bathymetry data are readily available on the internet. As time goes on it is my intention to build additional scenery and waters based on NOAA charts. Not difficult, just a bit tedious and time-consuming.