Aft facing Chart Tables

jac

jac

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I seem to be ruling a lot of designs out because the chart table faces the wrong way. In practice I use the chart table for planning and only for a quick plot/ check when underway so it's not even as I'd ever spend a long time perched there to get affected by travelling backwards!

Is this irrational decision making ??
 
jac said:
I seem to be ruling a lot of designs out because the chart table faces the wrong way. In practice I use the chart table for planning and only for a quick plot/ check when underway so it's not even as I'd ever spend a long time perched there to get affected by travelling backwards!

Is this irrational decision making ??
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Do you have the chart oriented in the direction of travel? On mine you can switch between up=north and up=direction of travel or is that the Sat Nav App!? :confused:
 
jac,

I don't think you're being irrational at all, one should ideally face forward at the chart table.

I might not let that put me off an otherwise desirable boat though, and after all Captain Scarlet got on fine actually driving facing backwards in his SPV ! :)
 
Real seadogs (some) like their chart table athwartships. Not sure it really matters either way now that you don't have to spend hours down there guessing where you are (or are not)
 
I always have a prejudice against aft facing chart tables but I've never used one.

If you are going to sepnd a lot of time at it, and you dont have an iron stomach, then somewhere on the centre line, above the keel, facing forward is essential but in reality, only specifically designed offshore out and out race boats have these.

For passage planning, might you not spread everything out on the saloon table anway? I tend to (not that I do much passage making) and it means you can share the plan with the whole crew.

For navigation under way, in rough weather, there are few places better to be than the Centurion's navitorium, on the beam though it is, it's like a teak cage with so many solid handholds and the motion of the boat is so very comfortable that one tends to linger too long and rile SWMBO!

On the Impala, as it was on the Feeling, it's a facing outward job and even with my weak tummy, it's fine for just checking stuff. It can get a little bit icky during a long rough race but at least you can glance out of the window to gain the horizon.

But back to the OP, I guess it is horses for courses. In the Impala and the Feeling, together with a number of boats I have sailed, it has come down to making the best use of the space available and you cop with what you have got. I have sailed a Hunter 27 with an aft facing chart table and it's not the aft facing that gets you, it's the size (or lack of it). I guess you need to think about how you navigate. If you like to sit there for long periods contemplating then the Navitorium may be a key feature, if it is somewhere you nip to for minutes at a time then other use of space down below may be far more important. I guess any boat is going to be a compromise and this is one area where compromise is possible because you really might not use it that much. To me, the nav station is the second place I look at on a boat because I consider it to be 'my office', but even then, I've compromised more oftne than not.
 
I was dubious about aft facing but find now it doesn't bother me a bit. Plus point is easy to talk to and have eye contact with helmsman.
 
Certainly does not bother me which way the chart table faces.

Ruling out any boat on the basis of the way the chart table faces is completely irrational IMHO.
 
I believe the HR 31 has no chart table. Ours is aft facing. No problems so far. We use ours for regular position fixing, log entries and keeping passage plan notes dry. Pre passage planning is done on the salon table. Biggest problem with ours is that it had a 15 degree downward slope and no fiddles. Anything put on it was on the sole pretty quick! A couple of lengths of quadrant soon fixed that one.
 
My current wife refuses to sit facing "aft" on a train, saying it makes her travel sick; I really don't understand it. I keep telling her the crew seats in airplanes always face aft, as it is proven to be safer. I don't see how it could make any difference at all on a boat where you can't really see what you are passing.
 
Seajet said:
....one should ideally face forward at the chart table.
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The nav position on the Vulcan was rear-facing, so we wouldn't notice when the pilots had nodded off. And the HS125 'Dominie'.

In the Shack, it was sideways-looking. In the Nimrod, it was on a diagonal. The pair of pilots and the twin microwave ovens were forward-facing....

I cannot recall reliably, but I believe it was the Empress flying boat that had a proper chart-room. :cool:
 
it just feels weeeeeird... when you're sailing along with the wind blowing a hooley from your [in real life] port side... and you're sitting [facing astern] heeled to your left..

It's like being on board in 25 knots of wind from port when you're doing an online sailing race and there's only 4 knots of wind from starboard.. weird.

..but then I sit on a train to work every day and once working online I don't care which way I'm facing!
 
Martin_J said:
..but then I sit on a train to work every day and once working online I don't care which way I'm facing!
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On the train, you're a passenger. Your only journey-making thoughts are whether to get a coffee now or in a bit, how long before you get to your destination, and why is that Welshman talking so loudly to his secretary on the mobile. Its a bit different at the nav-table.

FWIW, ours is a forward-facing and half-Admiralty size, which I like. If it was aft-facing, I'm sure I'd get used to it. I prefer a dedicated space with somewhere to put the pencils, etc, by the radio, GPS, barometer, etc. No chart table - or just a dinky laptop shelf in some convenient 'dead-space' - would bother me.
 
Babylon said:
I prefer a dedicated space with somewhere to put the pencils, etc, by the radio, GPS, barometer, etc. No chart table - or just a dinky laptop shelf in some convenient 'dead-space' - would bother me.
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Likewise.

Despite being only 24 foot, my boat has a chart table that wouldn't disgrace a 40-footer (they'd probably have more stowage around it, but the tabletop area itself is the same).

Any likely replacement boat, even if bigger, will probably either have no table, a portable one over a bunk, or at best a much smaller one. The alternative use of the space will probably make more rational sense, but I'll still miss it.

Pete
 
I don't really see that it maters which way the chart table faces, in my day the chart table on RN frigates faced aft, in diesel submarines to stbd and in SSNs the main navigation table faced aft but the one I used for blind pilotage faced port. I have only ever used a for'd facing table on a yacht.
 
jac said:
I seem to be ruling a lot of designs out because the chart table faces the wrong way. In practice I use the chart table for planning and only for a quick plot/ check when underway so it's not even as I'd ever spend a long time perched there to get affected by travelling backwards!

Is this irrational decision making ??
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Entirely. And its a very female trait too - have you never noticed how many females need to orient the map / chart the way they are going rather than north up? Allegedly something genetic.
 
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maxi77 said:
I don't really see that it maters which way the chart table faces, in my day the chart table on RN frigates faced aft, in diesel submarines to stbd and in SSNs the main navigation table faced aft but the one I used for blind pilotage faced port. I have only ever used a for'd facing table on a yacht.
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There are some Dehlers IIRC where the table faces one side?
That might be OK in a submarine, but very awkward on a yacht that heels IMHO.

I think the traditional forward facing at the foot of the companion way is good, easy to stand up the ladder a bit and communicate with the helm.

The first yachts I cruised were Sonatas, we used a board for the chart as there was no table.
We did more proper 'nav' on those boats than the total of what I've done since.
They had no instruments other than a steering compass, hand bearing compass and a towed log. Oh, and a lead line!
 
lw395 said:
There are some Dehlers IIRC where the table faces one side?
That might be OK in a submarine, but very awkward on a yacht that heels IMHO.

I think the traditional forward facing at the foot of the companion way is good, easy to stand up the ladder a bit and communicate with the helm.

The first yachts I cruised were Sonatas, we used a board for the chart as there was no table.
We did more proper 'nav' on those boats than the total of what I've done since.
They had no instruments other than a steering compass, hand bearing compass and a towed log. Oh, and a lead line!
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The outward-facing chart tables to starboard on my three Dehlers worked quite well, even when well heeled on stb tack, as you have a choice of staying in the tubular steel seat or standing up if it gets too steep!

I had a 3/4 Tonner which had an aft-facing c/table. I had no problem with it, but a couple of navigators on offshore races were seasick once it became a bit lively
 
Mines athwartships. Mind you I haven't actually seen it for nearly six months despite already being over 400 miles down this season. The damn thing is just too convenient for putting things on.
 
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