How big is your chart table?

parsifal said:
Why would I object to the chart table being used for other purposes when in port? It's a chart table - not an altar.




It certainly is. Estuaries usually find me in the cockpit - not plotting at a chart table. And, had I been there twenty times, I reckon I would know it well enough to be able to dispense with a chart.
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The estuaries round here change fast enough so that a chart is only a vague indication. Seagulls with their knees showing are a good visual indicator
 
sailorman said:
So what do x channel ferries use then :rolleyes:
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Cross Channel ferries usually have one or more electronic plotters with radar and/or AIS overlay to help them navigate but behind the chairs is normally a paper chart on a table with the 'intended' route marked on it.

The IMO have a specification for a legal electronic chart (ECDIS i think they are called) but they are large and mega-expensive.
 
rogerhudson said:
Cross Channel ferries usually have one or more electronic plotters with radar and/or AIS overlay to help them navigate but behind the chairs is normally a paper chart on a table with the 'intended' route marked on it.

The IMO have a specification for a legal electronic chart (ECDIS i think they are called) but they are large and mega-expensive.
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and actually use autopilot, Mk1 eyeball, throttle and joystick. They are on the ball. I steered a Townsend Thoresen Free Enterprise for most of one cross channel.
 
rogerhudson said:
An electronic device displaying 'charts' is not a LEGAL chart, only an aid to navigation. You may not be an IMO COLREGS 300 ton ship (i'm 4 and 16/100 TM) but in any court (say you barge through a TSS the wrong way) you need to show planned route and track, only the paper version is legal.
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Can you point to any source for that assertion?

Personally I much prefer paper charts, so I'm certainly not advocating people sail with plotters only, but I can't see any justification that doing so will of itself lead to legal liability.

Physical objects do not of themselves have a "legal" or "not legal" status. Do you imagine a court will pretend that a plotter on board a yacht did not exist when they consider the facts of a case?

Since there's no specific requirement for a private pleasure yacht to carry any kind of chart at all, the only thing I can think of is that it might be seen as somewhat negligent not to have them in case the plotter failed. But if the plotter did not in fact fail, and so the absence of charts had no effect on the case, is such negligence (if it even exists) of any relevance in determining liability?

Pete
 
prv said:
Can you point to any source for that assertion?

Personally I much prefer paper charts, so I'm certainly not advocating people sail with plotters only, but I can't see any justification that doing so will of itself lead to legal liability.

Physical objects do not of themselves have a "legal" or "not legal" status. Do you imagine a court will pretend that a plotter on board a yacht did not exist when they consider the facts of a case?

Since there's no specific requirement for a private pleasure yacht to carry any kind of chart at all, the only thing I can think of is that it might be seen as somewhat negligent not to have them in case the plotter failed. But if the plotter did not in fact fail, and so the absence of charts had no effect on the case, is such negligence (if it even exists) of any relevance in determining liability?

Pete
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Do you know, there are paper charts of the South Pacific that are still using Captain Cooks survey data? Well I never.
 
rogerhudson said:
Cross Channel ferries usually have one or more electronic plotters with radar and/or AIS overlay to help them navigate but behind the chairs is normally a paper chart on a table with the 'intended' route marked on it.

The IMO have a specification for a legal electronic chart (ECDIS i think they are called) but they are large and mega-expensive.
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Quite so
intended
 
FullCircle said:
The estuaries round here change fast enough so that a chart is only a vague indication. Seagulls with their knees showing are a good visual indicator
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When we sailed Muddy Paws she was so shallow we could relax when the seagulls' knees were showing. Now we draw 1.4m I reckon we're going to have to watch those blighters more closely :o
 
Tom Price said:
. . in my earlier post showing that the cooker can provide a working surface too?
I suspect that AWB's bigger than yours have done that already!
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The cleverest layout I have seen was in a Krogen 38 - see http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/archives/kadey-krogen-38/krogen-38.htm - which had the double cabin berth become the chart table seat, with a huge chart table folding down over the vanity unit in the double cabin. The underside of the chart table was a big mirror on the bukhead when the cabin was used for sleeping when moored. This cabin was right by the companionway.

As a coastal cruiser design I really liked the Krogen - design for a set purpose - cruising in shallow waters in considerable comfort with reasonable sailing performance and interesting looks.
 
Our chart table will a full size chart with space above and both sides, the draw under the chart table is close to the same size so charts are never folded, all are laminated so I can use a chinagraph (sp) pencil to mark regular sightings.

We have a chart plotter and radar, however they do nothing to maintain you chart skills in the event they drop dead.

I love my charts, and even sacrificed a little headroom in starboard aft cabin to get the chart table I wanted.

42 foot long and all but 20 wide cat, so space is not a problem.
 
Annie and Pete Hill had a full sized chart table for Admiralty charts on Badger their 34 foot dory, Badger. They also had storage for unfolded charts in the draws underneath. More difficult to do as the boat get smaller.
 
sailorman said:
You poor poor man how do you manage :o
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Yes but a chart table and even a chart is not essential for going somewhere, it is nice to have perhaps but people navigated for years without such aids. Why I can remember the times when people had a vision of a chart kept in their mind and navigated by that and listening out for dogs barking ashore (just off Miss Mary's place) to cows a-mooing away, by old farmer Giles top field on the cliffs...:D
 
Robin said:
Yes but a chart table and even a chart is not essential for going somewhere, it is nice to have perhaps but people navigated for years without such aids. Why I can remember the times when people had a vision of a chart kept in their mind and navigated by that . . .
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Captain Bligh, RN, successfully navigated an open boat 3,600 miles from Tofua to Timor without a chart or a chart table on which to put one.
 
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