Does everyone just buy all the digital charts??

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Scott_Stevens

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Hi all,

I'm planning an Atlantic crossing later this year, and am considering upgrading my chartplotter to be compatible with different chart providers. I normally use Navionics on a tablet, but have an Advansea T56 (and a Garmin 550 below) for redundancies.

I've totted up how much it would be to purchase C-Map SD card charts for UK -> Africa -> Caribbean -> US and it's steep... I've got paper charts for the lot, but really have a couple of questions.

Does everybody doing a crossing just buy all the digital charts?
What actually happens when you sail outside of an area not covered by your current SD card?
Does AIS/GPS still work as expected? I assume it would, since nobody sells charts for the middle of the ocean...

Cheers,

Scott
 
I just use Navionics on my existing iPad plus old fashioned paper passage charts and a small bit of coverage area I am aiming at (So one Atlantic passage chart, a Barbados chart and a Windward islands chart). Will buy the rest as we go along.
 
I'm a few years behind you with an Atlantic crossing. I don't intend to do it having miles of empty ocean on the chart plotter; I'll be using it as a data collector.

On a pre Covid visit to The Sea Chest in Plymouth they recommended NV Charts, I'm playing with their paper and electronic versions for the south west, they do the Atlantic Islands that will get me to the Azores in 2022, Covid allowing.

The good news is The Sea Chest is open again and they are incredibly knowledgeable.
 
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Once you go out of your purchased are, you just get a base map, which is useless.

You don't need a plotter for the crossing, as there's nothing out there to hit. You just need a big scale chart and you put a midday fix on it every day.

Your GPS functions will all still work fine, so no worries there.

If you have paper charts, then go with them. In my opinion, it's only worth buying the digital packs for an area that you're going to be cruising a lot in.
 
RupertW said:
I just use Navionics on my existing iPad plus old fashioned paper passage charts and a small bit of coverage area I am aiming at (So one Atlantic passage chart, a Barbados chart and a Windward islands chart). Will buy the rest as we go along.
Click to expand...
Paper charts are not old fashioned.
 
Hi, and best wishes !
When I crossed the South Atlantic I had large-scale charts for the departure and arrival coasts, and photo-copied 'chartlets' for St Helena and my intended departure and landfall harbours.
In between I used blank "plotting charts" which aren't much more than sheets of blank graph paper.
Navigate on your departure chart until you have a position near its exit edge. Plot that position arbitrarily on your first plotting chart, and decide on a sizing scale to use. Make a 'big' plotting chart to cover the whole width of the ocean, and also mark your departure point on that, and your intended arrival point ; which could just be a line of latitude.
I had to use sextant 'noon sights' ; it'll be much easier with the GPS in your plotter !
Mark daily fixes on your small plotting charts [and keep a check on your whole-voyage plotting chart] ;
until they show you close to your arrival latitude, which should be safely away from landfall, ie about one day's sailing.
As soon as your position can be plotted on your arrival chart, do that and you'll be home and dry [but hopefully not high and dry !]
That was my method and I'm here to tell the tale. I'm sure there are other ways to do it.
I found the worst problem was boredom ; all that monotonous sea ! But many people seem to enjoy it, as I hope you will.
Rob
 
Thanks everyone, really helpful to know what people think.

I'm going to upgrade and get a new chartplotter (probably a Raymarine Axiom) and continue to use Navionics on that and a tablet. By far seems the most cost effective, unlike C-Map wanting £270 per region.

I only plan on one crossing, so my Indiana Jones style paper chart will go up on the wall after :D
 
RupertW said:
When most of the forum thinks its unsafe to cross the channel without AIS I can assure you most people think they are obsolete.
Click to expand...
I believe I have seen more posts on this forum in favour of using both electronic and paper charts in parallel, which is the only safe practice anyway, as there is always the possiblility that the screen could go blank.
AIS will help with collision avoidance but is not much use for actual navigation.
 
Spirit (of Glenans) said:
I believe I have seen more posts on this forum in favour of using both electronic and paper charts in parallel, which is the only safe practice anyway, as there is always the possiblility that the screen could go blank.
AIS will help with collision avoidance but is not much use for actual navigation.
Click to expand...
You don’t have to call convince me. I used a basic GPS on the phone and paper charts, with no AIS or radar until recently- but tried Navionics on the iPad and liked it.
 
Scott_Stevens said:
I'm going to upgrade and get a new chartplotter (probably a Raymarine Axiom) and continue to use Navionics on that and a tablet. By far seems the most cost effective, unlike C-Map wanting £270 per region.
Click to expand...
What charts are you going to use on the Raymarine Axiom?

I looked into this somewhat over the winter, and I think you'll find the "continental" scale charts from both suppliers about comparable in price.

E.g. Navionics 46XG is equivalent to C-MAP Central and West Europe

I think I prefer the C-Map.
 
Scott_Stevens said:
By far seems the most cost effective, unlike C-Map wanting £270 per region.
Click to expand...

I don't know where you are buying your charts from but my C-Map continental chart covers everything from Holland, Channel, Atlantic coast of Spain, Portugal and the western half of the Med. I think it also includes Azores, Madeira and Canaries. So think about how many "regions" you need.
And shop around. I got it "free" with a B&G Vulcan plotter (this offer seems to run every spring) which itself was only £500, but a chart cartridge shouldn't be much over £200. Take a look at svb-24.
 
Once you have the shiny new Raymarine you can pair it with an iPad. Charts for navionics if they have coverage for your route are far cheap on an iPad downloaded navionics for the charplotter. Don’t know this works for US but might be worth looking at if you buying electronic charts. Other tablets are available so I guess do likewise if you prefer your Galaxy to your Apple. Based on this you could use tablet mid passage and just stock up for points of arrival in foreign shores.
 
Bobc said:
Once you go out of your purchased are, you just get a base map, which is useless.

You don't need a plotter for the crossing, as there's nothing out there to hit. You just need a big scale chart and you put a midday fix on it every day.

Your GPS functions will all still work fine, so no worries there.

If you have paper charts, then go with them. In my opinion, it's only worth buying the digital packs for an area that you're going to be cruising a lot in.
Click to expand...
The ocean is not in fact empty. When I crossed the northern great circle Route there were a couple of weather buoys that were not that far from my position. It would be a PITA to hit one.
 
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