Chart plotter on a budget

[Marko5422]

Hi all I'm very new to sailing. In fact I haven't taken to the water yet. The final piece of my puzzle is a chart plotter. My boat is a leisure 17 so nothing extravagent that will cost more than the boat itself!

Can anyone recommend something to suit a small budget? I was thinking of using an android device. Is there anything I should be aware of?

I already have a depth sonar and fish finder fitted. They are pretty dated though....

 

[prv]

I reckon Navionics on a phone will do pretty well to start with for a beginner finding his feet in a small simple boat.

Tbh a plotter isn't really needed at all - the only instrument I'd be uncomfortable without is a depth sounder. But you should have some means of showing what's around you, being able to see instantly where you are will make life easier as someone who's trying to learn to work the boat itself at the same time, and buying the app may well prove cheaper than paper charts these days anyway.

Where are you going to be sailing?

Pete

 

[Skylark]

I've just put a toe in the water to try mobile navigation. I didn't need to as my boat has fully integrated Simrad ekectrickery. In retirement, I clearly have too much time on my hands and read far too many of threads like this one!

I bought a no-name 10 inch Android Tablet with built-in GPS from Amazon for about £120. I installed Marine Navigator App for about £6 and bought VMH UK Raster charts. I especially like the familiarity of Raster versus Vector and this was probably the main reason for buying this (unnecessary) back up.

It was all very easy and I'll be trying it at sea next week.

PRV is right on both counts. Firstly, buying this setup is a lot cheaper than buying a few paper charts, depending upon your sailing waters and aspirations. Secondly, beyond a compass and depth gauge, instruments can be a mixed blessing.

 

[johnalison]

I've just put a toe in the water to try mobile navigation. I didn't need to as my boat has fully integrated Simrad ekectrickery. In retirement, I clearly have too much time on my hands and read far too many of threads like this one!

I bought a no-name 10 inch Android Tablet with built-in GPS from Amazon for about £120. I installed Marine Navigator App for about £6 and bought VMH UK Raster charts. I especially like the familiarity of Raster versus Vector and this was probably the main reason for buying this (unnecessary) back up.

It was all very easy and I'll be trying it at sea next week.

PRV is right on both counts. Firstly, buying this setup is a lot cheaper than buying a few paper charts, depending upon your sailing waters and aspirations. Secondly, beyond a compass and depth gauge, instruments can be a mixed blessing.

I hope you are not suggesting doing without paper charts altogether. You may find yourself in a minority if you are, as well as ignoring the usual strictures that electronic charts are merely an aid to navigation.

 

[Plum]

I've just put a toe in the water to try mobile navigation. I didn't need to as my boat has fully integrated Simrad ekectrickery. In retirement, I clearly have too much time on my hands and read far too many of threads like this one!

I bought a no-name 10 inch Android Tablet with built-in GPS from Amazon for about £120. I installed Marine Navigator App for about £6 and bought VMH UK Raster charts. I especially like the familiarity of Raster versus Vector and this was probably the main reason for buying this (unnecessary) back up.

It was all very easy and I'll be trying it at sea next week.

PRV is right on both counts. Firstly, buying this setup is a lot cheaper than buying a few paper charts, depending upon your sailing waters and aspirations. Secondly, beyond a compass and depth gauge, instruments can be a mixed blessing.

I also recommend Marine Navigator app on an Android tablet together with the charts from Visit My Harbour, but you should also have a paper chart as backup.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[MOBY2]

Morning, bought a raymarine plotter last year, came complete with UK charts, can be minted outside 5 inch screen for just under £250, could have spent a bit more and got one with a sounder combined but wanted a stand alone one so if the plotter fell over I still had something, bought a garmine colour sounder with waypoints for £125, the thing I like is they are waterproof and easy to use, I do have paper charts as well...just in case. Hope that helps

 

[cpedw]

Morning, bought a raymarine plotter last year, came complete with UK charts, can be minted outside 5 inch screen for just under £250

That sounds like a Raymarine Dragonfly plotter which I recommend if it fits into the budget. It costs more than other suggestions but it's waterproof and daylight viewable. It's a very basic plotter though; no routes though it supports waypoints and tracks.

Derek

 

[bitbaltic]

I agree with the no-name tablet or phone idea for a plotter on s budget. However I'd suggest at least a smaller-scale chart of the cruising area (20 quid) and something independently capable of giving a gps position even if that's just a phone, in case the primary device goes overboard.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I like the security of having a paper chart but appreciate the convenience of a plotter. I'm planning to use navionics on a sumsung tablet despite the poor sunlight viewability (which is common to all tablets AFAIK).

 

[MOBY2]

Hi, yes it was the dragonfly 5 though I think there is a 4 which may be cheaper, basic plotter as you say but enough for my needs, mine is externally mounted, had it a year and no problems touch wood.

 

[Skylark]

I hope you are not suggesting doing without paper charts altogether. You may find yourself in a minority if you are, as well as ignoring the usual strictures that electronic charts are merely an aid to navigation.

Fear not, nothing could be further from my mind! I was just responding to an open question re low cost / entry to electronic navigation. Personally, I'm only now trying to get to grips with the Windows PC, iPhone and Android malarkey after years loathing electronics with a passion. I'm very much a die-hard, old fashioned navigator, even to the point of deriving tremendous pleasure and satisfaction of taking sextant sights and manually reducing them to produce a position line, typically when I'm a scary 10 miles off shore, Irish Sea. Just to reinforce the untrustworthiness of marine electronics, I bought a brand new boat heavily laden with fully integrated electronics. Under warranty, almost all of it has had to be replaced. Fair warning, trust it at your peril!

 

[NealB]

Have a look at the Teclast 7 inch tablet, supplied by London Chartplotters.

It works brilliantly, straight out the box.

Great kit, and Steve couldn't be more helpful.

Highly recommended.

A very happy customer.

 

[Marko5422]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I will likely try the tablet as they seem to be popular for some.

I will be sailing along the River Mersey and around north Wales mostly. I'm quite far up river and the small channels would be very difficult to navigate without the help of a plotter. They shift year upon year I'm told.

The raymarine dragonfly looks good for the job I will try wangle that as a birthday present off the Mrs.

Thanks again all

 

[prv]

I hope you are not suggesting doing without paper charts altogether.

I am.

Depends on the situation, of course, which is why I asked the OP where he's sailing. But please remember this is a 17-foot boat being used for local pottering by someone who's still learning how to sail. He's not going to be lost in fog off the Casquets.

Try not to project your own style of sailing onto what the OP is likely to be doing.

When I was a kid we didn't carry any kind of chart in our Wayfarer cruising around Chichester Harbour. The OP's boat is only a foot longer, and his sailing may well be similar at least to start with. Since he can't just pull up his centreboard a little when he nudges a sandbank (though, with two-foot draught he could potentially get out and push ), and since it's relatively cheap these days, he might as well install the Navionics app on his phone to keep an eye on what's around him below the surface. But really, it's probably going to be mostly eyeball anyway.

Pete

 

[lpdsn]

Thanks again all

I use a tablet with OpenCPN (free) and Admiralty raster charts from www.visitmyharbour.com (About £30). I went for Windows as OpenCPN is more established on Windows, but you can get Andriod versions of it too.

I do have paper charts too. It sounds like one Imray chart or one Admiralty Chart pack (about £44) will more than cover your needs even if you start going a little further afield.

 

[Poignard]

(...)
- the only instrument I'd be uncomfortable without is a depth sounder. (...)

Me too. Having to use a leadline or a calibrated pole would be a great inconvenience. Unless I was very familar with the area I intended to sail in, I'd be reluctant to put to sea without a depth sounder. The absence of any other electronic navigstional instrument wouldn't bother me.

 

[jwilson]

snipped ..... the small channels would be very difficult to navigate without the help of a plotter. They shift year upon year I'm told.......

The chance of ANY charts - electronic or paper - being up to date for shifting channels is remote. A plotter is likely to lead you to trust it rather than the look of the water in front of your bows. Shallow water often has a look, sailing in very shallow water the boat feel changes - they call it "sniffing the bottom". Seagulls standing not swimming is the classic giveway.

 

[Marko5422]

Yes your right thanks for the advice. I'm sure I will run aground plenty of times. I'm moored at Fiddlers ferry where a lot of the approach is unchartered anyway. So what you describe I will no doubt have to learn lol.

 

[blampied]

I hope you are not suggesting doing without paper charts altogether. You may find yourself in a minority if you are, as well as ignoring the usual strictures that electronic charts are merely an aid to navigation.

Paper English Channel and Channel Island charts I have under the bunk mattress, not had a call to use them on my current boat or my last 3 boats, since investing in one of the first GPS plotters 25 years ago they have been redundant.

So for my retirement cruise, In a small single engine motorboat (4 year trip to Africa and back) I decided not to invest in Paper charts. U.K. to Channel Islands, France, Spain, Gibraltar, Ceuta, Morocco, Italy, Monaco and now almost back again.
I use a chart plotter exclusively without any problems.

The only concession is I have 2 separate independent chart plotters connected to different batteries. With only a single engine it's far more likely the motor will fail than either one of the plotters and a failed engine would be far more serious.
The way I look at it If I'm that unlucky that both of the plotters and or both batteries fail at the same time then maybe it's time to give up boating.

 

[Poignard]

(...)
So for my retirement cruise, In a small single engine motorboat (4 year trip to Africa and back) I decided not to invest in Paper charts. U.K. to Channel Islands, France, Spain, Gibraltar, Ceuta, Morocco, Italy, Monaco and now almost back again.
I use a chart plotter exclusively without any problems.
(...).

That must have been an interesting cruise. Have you written it up anywhere?

Did you have an outboard as backup?