Electronic charting / beginers guide

castaway

castaway

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Having bought a boat with a Raymarine C70 Plotter I find myself having to familiarise myself with electronic charting.

Having used a Yeoman for the last 10 years or so I must say that I view navigating on a screen the size of a fag packet with a degree of caution !

The boat is in Scotland and I'm in Berkshire so I don't have the benefit of being able to play around with the gear as much as I would if we were closer.

So ..It appears to have only one CF card in the slot and I can scroll around all over the UK but it looks like it only has 'detail' for the coastal areas North of the location of the boat. Is this how these charts usually work ?

Given that we are sailing her back to the south coast next summer I will need charts to cover the UK western areas.

Can I only use Navonics charts in the Raymarine plotter ?

There appears to be Platinum/ Gold / and Classic offerings. Any opinions as to whether the Platinum/ Gold options are likely to be worth buying into?

On the Navonics web site it looks like I will need chart areas 481 / 485 / 479 but some paperwork that came with the CF card box (that I have in front of me) shows a chart area
24G on XL3 size which appears to cover South Scotland Ireland and the English Channel

I'm thinking maybe this is the 'Gold' option ?

Is there much of a trade in 'pre loved' electronic charts ? Any other hints and tips greatfully absorbed !

Before anyone 'warns' me, Yes... I will have full paper charts as well !

Many thanks,

Nick
 
mmmm.....I purchased a Raymarine A70 last year and it has proved invaluable not least in money saved on charts. I also used a Yeoman prior to purchase. Thats not to say I don't purchase charts now - just large scale form passage planning where necessary. Our yacht is in the Med. I purchased the A70 in the UK it "came with Uk and N Europe Navionics Silver chart". No good for me ! So on purchased I changed this for a Navionics XG (Gold) chart for the Med. Apparently there is an exchange service available (according to my source) so you may be able to get a Gold chart this way although you'd have to pay for the upgrade, albeit at a lesser costs that a full price Gold chart.

There is a card reader available from Raymarine to enable the CF card to be read on your laptop. Don't be tempted to try and read it direct on your latop as it may get wiped ! Download any operating instructions for the C70 from the Raymarine Website if you haven't got same. Mine came on CD.

FYI a friend of mine has a C70 and apparently can develop a screen fault esp. if located "outside". Yes you can only use Navionics chart cards. Personally I would not bother with Platinum esp. as you're used to the Yeoman and basic charting. Go for Gold and get the 24G - G for Gold. My XG for the Med. is just what we wanted and for £180 (at the time) was considerably better value than for example any of the Garmin chart offerings (I was looking at a Garmin plotter and the cost of charts put me off).
 
If you need a few small area charts, you would be better off buying the Navionics 28XG card for the whole of the UK. Its about £175 ish. Same level of detail, just larger geographical area thats covered.

Also, the C70 can only use Gold navionics charts.
 
This reply is based on my Raymarine 400 plotter with a Navionics Gold card. Outline detail is always available for the whole of the UK, but for navigation detail, it is necessary to go into the chart set-up menu and select the chart area required, there are 5 or 6. I can't remember the exact coverage, but one gives me the W. coast of Scotland for example, another is NW England. All on the same CF card, so check what you have.
Hope that helps.
 
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