Estimated position

[ QUOTE ]
And of course paper charts are a fraction of the cost of a chart plotter let alone three!!!! (especially if you want one with a screen big enough to show the 'larger picture' in any sort of detail)


[/ QUOTE ]

A chart plotter these days costs very little more than a fixed GPS set, so a fairer comparison would be simply the difference in cost of paper charts versus chart cartridges or CDs. In fact I doubt that anyone would ever buy the paper versions of all the charts in a C-Map cartridge as they include many very detailed harbour ones, more detailed even than in the pilots. However we carry both paper and electronic, so yes we have spent quite a bit on the electronic ones, but a mere drop in the ocean compared to our boat cost or the overall running costs.
 
Merchant ships will generally be using electronic chart systems today.

Indeed a friend who installs them says that every Master Mariner's secret fear is not "Suppose I have a heart attack - what will the Mate do? " but "Suppose the Second Officer has a heart attack - what will the Mate and I do?"

Personally, I like the ARCS charts, but you need a big screen to display them on. I am not terribly happy with some of the vector charts sold for the yacht market, which sell mainly on their ability to zoom in and out on a small screen.

When I last looked at the new boats offered at LIBS, which admittedly was some years ago, I noticed that they all had a place to fit a plotter but almost all lacked a chart table able to take a half Admiralty chart.

I use paper charts and a simple GPS; the hand bearing compass and RDF are still on the boat but the sextant and Walker log stay ashore unless we are going somewhere properly. The RDF makes a good radio receiver and the handbearer does get used sometimes.

The weekend before last I sailed down the Wallet at night with a friend, who has just retired as Master Under God of large merchant ships and who sails his own boat very seriously (currently in Patagonia) aboard. He remarked that this was the first time for many years that he had actually plotted positions on a paper chart!
 
A big screen would be nice but we get on well enough with the smaller ones especially bearing in mind too the power consumption. C-Maps zoom in by changing to larger scale charts within the cartridge rather than enlarging a portion of the smaller chart and on small screens the vector ability to switch off unwanted detail can make things clearer, like turning off light arcs in daylight or ignoring spot depths greater than 'x'.

We are fortunate too in having a full sized chart table and can keep the main English Channel West chart permanently displayed under a perspex top, with a Yeoman to make putting a position on quickly and simply. The perspex is flatted with wet/dry so it will accept a pencil line but is still clear to see the chart below. The perspex top makes a useful extension to the in harbour galley workspace too!

I left the mount for our Walker log on our last boat so whilst I still have it I would need to lash it to the pushpit somehow now.
 
To be honest, I am a very late adopter and always have been; my boat is run on a shoestring and a good plotter, like a radar, is somewhere astern of "new engine" on the wish list!

My excuse is that the technology is still evolving quite fast.

I did sail around for a season, running ARCS on a laptop, which was great, but the power drain was too much for this to be a sensible solution.

I like the idea of flatting the Perspex with fine wet and dry.
 
Ours is well equipped although the instruments and radar are not state of the art, but everything works unlike the house where everything is very dated, worn out or overgrown!

I bought a yottie Decca set when they first came out and it cost £750, a lot of money back then and indeed double what I paid for a colour plotter with GPS last year. There is no doubt cruising has been made much more relaxing with modern aids, not to mention reliable engines, roller headsails and fridges etc and I wouldn't really want to go back.
 
The wonders of modern science...

I think this disqualifies you from the role of Meldrew impressionist! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I will concede that Terylene and nylon rope and sails, plastic water containers and, above all, inflatable plastic mooring buoys and fenders are advances on what we had before! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

(I am under some domestic pressure from the household goddess in the matters of a Yeoman plotter, a radar and a fridge!)
 
We have sailed for quite a number of years now using the NZ equivalent of ARCS (NZ Mariner) on a notebook and have not used a paper chart in all that time.

(And to the poster who said electronic charts and plotter cost more than paper charts, speak for yerself as some of us are in the fortunate position where the official charts are essentially free).

My practice is that when in sight of identifiable landmarks (which is most times here when in sight of the coast because is so hilly) I never note our position but just count the landmarks off in my head against the electronic chart, so I know where we are if the electronics die (which has never happened). Out of sight of land depends how far and situation - if close and land not visible due to rain or such I would note our position/velocity frequently, if far enuff away it would be infrequent - no hard and fast rule, depends on the risk.

Personally speaking, I can't imagine why anyone would want to log their position on a note or paper chart every hour (whether using electronic or paper charts for main navigation) if more than 12 hours sailing from land unless they just did it for pleasure.

John
 
[ QUOTE ]
Personally speaking, I can't imagine why anyone would want to log their position on a note or chart every hour (whether using electronic or paper charts) if more than 12 hours sailing from land unless they just did it for pleasure.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thats pretty much why I do it.....
 
"...some of us are in the fortunate position where the official charts are essentially free..."

It is very well known that shipping company offices, and ships, require two copies of the Tide Tables and the Almanac as well. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
'its the only way we can be sure of our position'

[/ QUOTE ] so what was he actually plotting then? How could he miraculously come up with a position to plot with the accuracy of GPS?

[/ QUOTE ] I rather think it had to do with the engineroom apprentice once pulling the wrong switch and blacking out the bridge...! At 18kts on a dark night in the shipping lanes you dont have 5 minutes while everything
resets itself. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
You would be surprised at just how primitive the "type approved" stuff inside the grey boxes on a ship's bridge actually is. Espescially the Japanese kit. Bullet proof but hardly state of the art!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top