What is the point?

[Deleted member 36384]

I recently replaced my chart table for various reasons: wood damage and beyond useless to sit at as one needed the legs of Twiggy and be a contortionist to actually fit them under the chart table. It was a traditional style, forward facing chart table, charts under the lid, 3 drawers down the end.

i replaced it with a longitudinal table against the sides of the yacht, fitted over the space that the useless seat was located. It will take a full chart unfolded, but that was not the primary reason. I have increased real estate between the chart table and galley and also have a lovely work top that supplements the narrow U shaped galley. Doing some work on the boat it makes a fine work top that I can sit quite large objects on. Lots more storage added as result of getting rid of the space that Twiggy's knees and legs would have fitted into.

Chart tables are mostly redundant now so the space can be used for better things that have far more utility than navigation. I find that my new arrangement is very useful in ways that have surprised me. For example, apart from the obvious work top, the extra space in the companionway allows guests to stand and congregate without getting in the way, makes a great bar top, dumping ground for stuff when coming onboard and makes galley work far more efficient for the cooks who like to make a big mess and can't clean up after themselves. I thought I would miss the seat, but not at all as I only sat at right angles to the table leaning against a switch board and it was never comfy. The recovered real estate is the new bit of cabin sole in the picture. The big drawer to the right is above the old seat and the drawer under, is just a mimic panel as the fuel tank is right behind that, which actually limited the how low the seat could go. The height was optimised for standing and I have bum strap for when at sea and on starboard tack.

 

[michael_w]

Has anyone, apart from BoB. above got enough room to completely unfold Chart No. 3655? AKA 'Channel Islands and the adjacent coast of France?

 

[Koeketiene]

I recently replaced my chart table for various reasons: wood damage and beyond useless to sit at as one needed the legs of Twiggy and be a contortionist to actually fit them under the chart table. It was a traditional style, forward facing chart table, charts under the lid, 3 drawers down the end.

i replaced it with a longitudinal table against the sides of the yacht, fitted over the space that the useless seat was located. It will take a full chart unfolded, but that was not the primary reason. I have increased real estate between the chart table and galley and also have a lovely work top that supplements the narrow U shaped galley. Doing some work on the boat it makes a fine work top that I can sit quite large objects on. Lots more storage added as result of getting rid of the space that Twiggy's knees and legs would have fitted into.

Chart tables are mostly redundant now so the space can be used for better things that have far more utility than navigation. I find that my new arrangement is very useful in ways that have surprised me. For example, apart from the obvious work top, the extra space in the companionway allows guests to stand and congregate without getting in the way, makes a great bar top, dumping ground for stuff when coming onboard and makes galley work far more efficient for the cooks who like to make a big mess and can't clean up after themselves. I thought I would miss the seat, but not at all as I only sat at right angles to the table leaning against a switch board and it was never comfy. The recovered real estate is the new bit of cabin sole in the picture. The big drawer to the right is above the old seat and the drawer under, is just a mimic panel as the fuel tank is right behind that, which actually limited the how low the seat could go. The height was optimised for standing and I have bum strap for when at sea and on starboard tack.

Extremely impressed with your setup.

I have to admit that I do most of my nav either on the laptop at home or at the saloon table on the boat (more room for the charts) before I set off.
The reason I do like my chart table is that I prefer somewhere I can sit down below to do last minute nav or catch the weather on my tablet when offshore. Arthritis has come early in my life and the less time I spend standing the better my knees like it.
Not to mention that I find the chart table seat very comfortable.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

OP must be looking at the wrong boats.

 

[jimi]

I've got a decent sized yin! Here's a photo of one on a sistership when reviewed by YM

 

[SimonFa]

Of course most of the time the chart table won't be level anyway and could well be sloping to Port or Stbd depending upon which tack your on.
I can see advantages and disadvantages to a top to bottom slope on the chart table, but as I have never sailed on a boat with a sloping chart table I can't quantifythem accurately.

Or forward/aft depending on the swell

 

[Gary Fox]

My boat, in other respects as traditional as they come, has a horizontal (albeit large) chart table, and it is on one of my mental wish-lists to convert it to a proper, top-opening sloping version, with a pencil ridge, and possibly an inkwell.
The eyes are mounted on the front of the skull and look forwards, so a sloping chart table is the correct compromise, as a nearly vertical one is usually impracticable outside of a draughtsman's studio.
If the human eyes were mounted under the chin, looking downwards, a horizontal chart table would be ideal.
( See also: proper school desks.)

 

[Gary Fox]

I’ve seen one with a near-vertical chart “table”, like an old-style draughting board. It swung down from the deckhead on hinges and was about four feet wide.

You won’t be surprised to learn that this was an eccentric - though by no means impractical - homebuild, not a production boat.

Pete

Sounds like an excellent arrangement.

 

[25931]

I suppose that a lot depends on your type of sailing. When passage making I have always felt comfortable with a chart on the table showing course and recent position. I've never had the same confidence in electronic gadgetry although I'm happy to have my calcs confirmed.

 

[dansaskip]

Chart tables are mostly redundant now so the space can be used for better things that have far more utility than navigation.

I find that a rather extraordinary statement in two respects. I may be old school but still think a chart table essential and particularly on passage making. I agree with 25931 remarks on this and would add that it where you write up your log.
Secondly what could possible have more utility than navigation when you are out sailing.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I find that a rather extraordinary statement in two respects. I may be old school but still think a chart table essential and particularly on passage making. I agree with 25931 remarks on this and would add that it where you write up your log.
Secondly what could possible have more utility than navigation when you are out sailing.

We shall have to disagree. The chart table has long since past as a major requirement in my navigation.

You may require a dedicated writing space for your log, but I find that both extraordinary and absurd. Maintaining a navigational log is such a minimalist thing that I can see no circumstances in which a dedicated table is required; similarly for non navigation log entries.

Knowing where my boat is has never been easier. I place greater utility on safety, comfort and fun, far more than precise navigation as a result of pencil lines and vectors. My plotter, old as it is, is amazingly precise.

That’s my view and I respect your view as well. There is always more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[Gary Fox]

I made a worktop/pilot berth, which hinges up out of the way.
It often gets used for passage planning and navigation, as well as wood butchery; when heeled on the port tack, it can be hoisted level so things don't want to roll off!
It is obvious to me that safe passages can't be planned without proper prior study of paper charts and almanacs, and reference to them under way.
Fiddling with dubious electronic gadgets is another hobby entirely, which some queer people wrongly imagine to be part of yacht cruising.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I made a worktop/pilot berth, which hinges up out of the way.
It often gets used for passage planning and navigation, as well as wood butchery; when heeled on the port tack, it can be hoisted level so things don't want to roll off!
It is obvious to me that safe passages can't be planned without proper prior study of paper charts and almanacs, and reference to them under way.
Fiddling with dubious electronic gadgets is another hobby entirely, which some queer people wrongly imagine to be part of yacht cruising.View attachment 115420

hmm....
I have exactly the same charts and almanac information on my electronic gadgets as I do in paper format with the exception of astro reduction tables which I only have electronically as they are free that way.
I like to do a bit of everything but I'm more likely to draw on my electronic charts than paper and my written log Is the backup which I could then transfer onto paper chart should the electronics fail.

I don't think of it as one or the other but rather which tool is best suited to the task and my mood.