Any ideas ... Chart table in pocket cruiser ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Guest
For a long timew I have nav'd using the saloon table, but felt there was a better way .....
I have toyed with ideas like ..... sliding table under cockpit over one of the 1/4 berths ..... hinged table against forwd saloon bulkhead ......... hinged table over the cooker - fold down when at sea - up in port ......

My boat is a bog-standard 25ftr of 70's design ...... V berth forwd, toilet / hanging spce midships then dinette saloon to port, longitudinal galley on starbd, 1/4 berths extending under cockpit both port and starbd. Centaur / Colvic dinette style is best way to describe.(The starbd 1/4 berth has been reduced to 1/2 length to allow a cockpit locker to be formed.

Has anyone come up with a workable way round it >


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !
 
Nigel,

I have seen a cobra 750 with a chart table that slides out from under the qtr berth, assumes you'll use in standing up but looked an excellent idea.
It did n't take away much space from the qtr berth and even had a 1 inch draw for charts etc.
Rails down both sides the qtr berth held it up, one extended out to support the table.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
1/4 berth ....

It sactually the way I am moving towards ........ but as we all know some people are ingenious with the solutions they come up with.

Hda tought about table over cokker to keepo other spaces clear, but then again grease smoke etc.

I thought about having a 'chain and hook' to the corner as support also in addition to the extended rail .....

Little bit of thought ......


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
Sliding table under quarterberth...

This is a good workable solution in lots of cases. Try to have a look at a 31ft Westerly from late 70s (Renown, Longbow, Pentland, Berwick) as they all had this type of chart table, with chart storage underneath if I remember rightly.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Re: Sliding table under quarterberth...

Having surveyed a few - but quite a while ago !!! Not all had this arrangement.

But - please no critiscism ...... thanks I had forgotten about them.

I have a large engine box side'ing the 1/4 berth and it would not be impossible to run rails along it and under the cockpit .......

I have a picture building in my mind !!


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
Having the same problem as yourself - small boat, navigation on saloon table - I've invested in a Yeoman Sport XL, the one where the chart is under a waterproof cover. I use this in the cockpit (on the cabin top under the sprayhood) and have found it to be excellent. I know that I could have saved a lot of money by making up a board with a plastic cover but the plotting facility of the Yeoman using the nmea output from a handheld GPS is very useful as are the instant readouts of lat, long, range and bearing. Also, my wife now enjoys plotting fixes and working out DRs. Can't be bad.

Seriously, there is are advantages to doing chart work from the cockpit.- or from the bridge of a larger vessel. Apart from the ability to keep a lookout whilst doing so, I find I make fewer of the sort of stupid errors that I shouldn't make such as mis-identification of headlands (and rocks!) reciprocal bearings an so on.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Agreed ...... I used to use a folded ply / perspex chart pad in the cockpit. But now graduated to PC and plotting .... I'm thinking to sort out my charting.

Most of the time - I am a Mark 1 eyeball merchant ..... chart ends up sliding of saloon table onto cabin sole and stays there till I can be bothered !!!!

What I would really like - is to be able to see the pc from the cockpit AND the chart close to it for reference.

Having invested in the Pc based system ...... I like the Yeoman and can see its advantages .... I will stick with PC based.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
I have a ply sheet that slides in the hatch slides, with a hinged polycarbonate cover held down with shockcord. the chart lives in this either in the hatchway or on the saloon table. You can write on it with a chinagraph pencil.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Hatchway ....

reminds me of the guy who had a low washboard cut to take his hand compass, vhf HH, etc. Still allowed him to step in / out of cabin.

Trouble for me is the big engine box that means I need as much room to get in / out of cabin. BUT still a good idea - gives me food for thought.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
Sure, I have a 25ft X 7ft 4" boat and with a little planning she has a chart table to take full sized, unfolded, Admiralty charts. Then again she was built to my order. Small cockpit, good galley, two berths. heads and stowage in the forepeak. A wooden gaff rigged Vertue. Not for sale.

IanW

<hr width=100% size=1>Vertue 203, Patience
 
Problem is ..

Often I sail with 4 people incl.

Have to keep the berths .......



<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
My first boat with a" lid" was a 17 foot Lysander .I fitted a table that slid up and down the mast support.The mast support inside the cabin was(is)a piece of 1inch galv mild steel pipe with a threaded flange each end.

The table support was an oversize bit of galv tube which fitted over the mast support and had a short bit of box section welded to it at 90°.
A pinch bolt locked onto the mast post when in use.
The table itself was made of three hardwood boards glued and dowelled to get the width.It had no fiddle rails as they get in the way when doing chartwork.

The table could be slid up to the deckhead or swivelled forward out of the way during the day.

I took her to a Lysander rally at Christchurch exploring the Solent etc.All visitors to our boat were impressed by the same feature,the dining/chart table .

I built the boat from scratch made it more seaworthy with heavier keels and a much more efficient rig (Cut down ex Osprey mast )with Enterprise sails.It broke my heart to sell her but 17 foot is just too much of a "pocket"cruiser.

PS I realise this system is probably no good for your boat but may give ideas to someone else reading the thread.
 
The more ideas the better ..

So it may not work in my boat ........ who cares - it might just be the answer another boat is looking for.

For mine - it looks like the undercockpit 1/4 berth slide-out tray is best. But that is my boat ......

Keep 'em coming !!


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
Although I have a chart table I made a portable one using ply & covered with acetate sheet from artists shop which hinges up.Use the Small Craft folios,works a treat with marker pen & rubs off.Have now graduated to a Yeoman Plotter(Sport) which is great for me.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Portable tablet ....

I used to have one ..... gave it away with a previous boat. I had a perspex sheet of a few mm hinged on a ply base over the chart.

This time I want a table to put the PC on as well ..... now that I have Seaclear and scanned charts to use ....

A neat idea on one boat I surveyed ...... the harbour chart for the guys area was under perspex on the saloon table with buoyage etc. listed as well.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
My boat has a chart table that slides over the quarter berth and it is excellent. I use it with a Yeoman sport, so I have the best of both worlds!

Joe

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
My main consideration is the support of the end of the table ..... I know that many boats have a box like affair - but I wish to stay away from that and have a flat plate table on runners coming out from the 1/4 berth. But this will mean having support .....


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
Fold up leg?.. either attaching to the side of bunk or the cockpit sole??

Sorry I have been watching this thread avidly as similarly challenged!/forums/images/icons/wink.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
The H22 I used to own had the 1/4 berth arrangement... the table which slid out was bigger than the one I now have on a 30 footer.
It came out to abutt the upright for the cooker and fixed on with a couple of slide bolts. Made a handy work surface too.
Dividers and rules lived in bulkhead racks and charts went under the table in suspended netting.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
There is a she31 here with a chart table that folds. I can only describe poorly thus: At the foot of the companion way on the port side is the back of one of seats around the port side dinnet/table (seat obviously faces forward). Against the back of the seat the chart table lives - colapsed in a vertical orientation. When he needs the chart table out, he lifts it vertically, then when clear of the top of the seat it folds down and slides forward over the back of the seat (there is some cleaver track/hinge stuff involved). He can then sit on either the steps in the companion way or the end of the quarter berth, as I remember it.

Not explained it very well. I could try an get a picture of it if you're interested.

Jeff.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top