Scotty_Tradewind
Well-Known Member
Hi Tom ... and I suspect you'll remember and cherish those moments and the trip as a whole, with the satisfaction of having achieved it all satisfactorily
How big is your chart table?
- Thread starter Greenheart
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Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Nice going, Mr Price.
It's great to know you can do it when you need to...and a timely warning not to get out of the habit...
...and it's sad, and a bit scary, to consider how many crews/junior skippers only have fleeting knowledge of navigation without volts.
It's great to know you can do it when you need to...and a timely warning not to get out of the habit...
...and it's sad, and a bit scary, to consider how many crews/junior skippers only have fleeting knowledge of navigation without volts.
Tom Price
N/A
My education was Eric Hitchcock, Adlard |Coles - and Peyton cartoons;. One image is indelibly printed on my memory: in the background some rocky cliffs; in the cockpit a cold and dispirited crew; running back from the bow is the skipper-navigator, throwing his cap in the air.
Sans paroles!
VO5
Well-Known Member
Full size chart tables are only found on Merchant Ships and Warships.
I have a half size chart table that wil take an Admiralty Chart with only one fold = 21" X 28 1/2" with space under to store all my other charts.
I have made two improvements to it. I have fitted a coil that holds the lid vertical when I need it. Also I have fitted vertical stops round two edges that hold the chart down frmly on the table to stop it sliding off in a seaway.
To protect the navigation area and the instrument pods above it (when in bad weather) just in case the main hatch is open when spray comes aboard I have a drop down transparent plastic curtain as there is nothing more annoying than a wet chart.
I have a half size chart table that wil take an Admiralty Chart with only one fold = 21" X 28 1/2" with space under to store all my other charts.
I have made two improvements to it. I have fitted a coil that holds the lid vertical when I need it. Also I have fitted vertical stops round two edges that hold the chart down frmly on the table to stop it sliding off in a seaway.
To protect the navigation area and the instrument pods above it (when in bad weather) just in case the main hatch is open when spray comes aboard I have a drop down transparent plastic curtain as there is nothing more annoying than a wet chart.
Poignard
Well-Known Member
Mine is 39" wide by a little less depth. That is in a 28-foot yacht. It doesn't seem out of place and it is a very useful feature.
In port it doubles as a sideboard and general dumping ground. Below the lifting lid is a space for stowing charts, about 6" deep, and beneath that is a trotter-box and a locker containing spare parts and tools that aren't often needed, e.g. prop-puller, rig tension gauge, caulking gun, mallet, epoxy kit, etc
In port it doubles as a sideboard and general dumping ground. Below the lifting lid is a space for stowing charts, about 6" deep, and beneath that is a trotter-box and a locker containing spare parts and tools that aren't often needed, e.g. prop-puller, rig tension gauge, caulking gun, mallet, epoxy kit, etc
snowleopard
Well-Known Member
There isn't a standard size for Admiralty charts or rather there is but some exceed that. I made my table to take anything I could want to put on it. It's 82 x 123 cm. It has a piece of perspex that fits inside the fiddles and I keep an area chart underneath. The hard flat surface is ideal for drawing on charts with a pencil.
Don't you just love having the space to work?
Did a couple of passages on an Island Packet 42 and the chart table wouldn't even take a folded chart. Plus it sloped and had no fiddles so you couldn't leave a chart on it. What a pain!
Don't you just love having the space to work?
Did a couple of passages on an Island Packet 42 and the chart table wouldn't even take a folded chart. Plus it sloped and had no fiddles so you couldn't leave a chart on it. What a pain!
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Thank you, gents. These are interesting points, and I have to say, my desire for a whopping chart table is reinforced, not lessened. I'm sure a clear, good-sized nav area is at the heart of the competently-crewed yacht...it says so much about the skipper's priorities.
It doesn't say much for the mass-producers of AWBs, who prefer to extend a sofa through the chart table area and claim another berth in their layout.
I suspect I shall have to commandeer the main saloon table, and decree that scheduled meals will have to wait, or be eaten on deck. Or in the loo. These remarks are not for SWMBO's reading.
Actually, I'm wondering whether it would be daftly unworkable, to cap the amply-proportioned saloon table with a similarly-sized fiddled sheet of 18mm ply...which can be hoisted and lowered to and from the ceiling, without clearing away chart and pencils and dividers, to allow for meal times!
Hoisted electrically, ideally, for the full Ernst Blofeld 'map-of-the-centre-of-evil-operations' image.
Just imagine that hunk of wood swinging around. My dentist will be upgrading his children's private schools as I type.
It doesn't say much for the mass-producers of AWBs, who prefer to extend a sofa through the chart table area and claim another berth in their layout.
I suspect I shall have to commandeer the main saloon table, and decree that scheduled meals will have to wait, or be eaten on deck. Or in the loo. These remarks are not for SWMBO's reading.
Actually, I'm wondering whether it would be daftly unworkable, to cap the amply-proportioned saloon table with a similarly-sized fiddled sheet of 18mm ply...which can be hoisted and lowered to and from the ceiling, without clearing away chart and pencils and dividers, to allow for meal times!
Hoisted electrically, ideally, for the full Ernst Blofeld 'map-of-the-centre-of-evil-operations' image.
Just imagine that hunk of wood swinging around. My dentist will be upgrading his children's private schools as I type.
VicS
Well-Known Member
Mines this big
Versatile too
And stows away in the forepeak
Carefully sized to suit the piece of ply I had left over from another job
Versatile too
And stows away in the forepeak
Carefully sized to suit the piece of ply I had left over from another job
maxi77
Well-Known Member
I can't remember the sizes but back in this distant days when Queenie gave then to me free so I could navigate one of her black messengers of death there were two sizes. One was the normal folded in half, the other had a second fold making it about 1/8th wider when unfolded.
As an aside I had lots of them but fortunately I had the services of a chart depot to keep them up to date
As an aside I had lots of them but fortunately I had the services of a chart depot to keep them up to date
prv
Well-Known Member
I've seen pictures of a self-built yacht which had a huge chart-board probably 3 foot by 4 or 5 that hinged down from the deckhead. The hinges were along the top of the cabin side; when the thing was hoisted it was above head height and unobtrusive, when lowered it hung down slightly below 45º, supported on the joinery below. It had a big fiddle along the bottom but charts etc were mostly held in place with big spring-clips round the edges. Obviously you couldn't leave pilot books etc lying on it while you popped out on deck, but the owner said he preferred to work at charts standing up rather than hunched over a table. Preventing people leaving junk all over the chart was also a design goal
Worked quite well in his boat, but that has an unusual interior layout and a boxy flat-topped coachroof. Wouldn't go so well in something curved and fibreglass.
Pete
Tom Price
N/A
Abuse!
This is what it should be used for
Back to the OP: IMHO John Illingworth's dictum is faultless -
a boat is run from chart table and galley.
This is what it should be used for
Back to the OP: IMHO John Illingworth's dictum is faultless -
a boat is run from chart table and galley.
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prv
Well-Known Member
I'm used to "no drinks etc on the chart table" rules on bigger boats, but I'm quite relaxed about putting stuff on the chart table on mine. After all, it's the only permanent flat surface on board, so multi-tasking is pretty much inevitable. At least the new version I built, incorporating heavy-duty drawer slides so it rolls aft over the quarter berth, means it doesn't need to be cleared to gain access to the fridge or sink.
Pete
Tom Price
N/A
Any mileage?
. . 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!
. . 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!
pyrojames
Well-Known Member
I beg to disagree. Full size table, plus two draws for once folded charts.
VO5
Well-Known Member
That's right. That is what I mean. Its exactly like mine.
The drawer is about 5" deep.
And then when you fold up the lid, the underside is a useful flat surface to stick notes on, etc.,
Modern boats are not fitted with these. What with all the electronic gizmos, they are no longer considered necessary, but I would never have a boat without one.
Then even with the lid folded up I have room for the instrument rack behind it: Compass, dividers, parallel ruiler, pencil, rubber, etc.,
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Tom Price
N/A
VO5: " I would never have a boat without one".[/QUOTE said:
pyrojames
Well-Known Member
I have two drawers 4" deep, and the top doesn't lift though. I detest ones that do. Evrything slides to the back and you can't see the next chart without everything being shifted. I can pull out a draw and check the restof the charts without disturbing the one in use. The table is about 50" by 28".
VO5
Well-Known Member
....Then there's another advantage...when SWMBO is on board...as the chart table is the skipper's domain...she cannot complain about the saloon table being used for works in progress or to temporarily park objects D)...whereas anything parked on the saloon table is ...er..unsightly...untidy...or at the wrong time and in the way of dinner...
Nah ! She's a brick really, puts up with a lot...
D)...whereas anything parked on the saloon table is ...er..unsightly...untidy...or at the wrong time and in the way of dinner...Nah ! She's a brick really, puts up with a lot...
VO5
Well-Known Member
I don't have that arrangement. I have a single deep cavity.
Each chart is numbered (folded) bottom right hand corner.
Pasted to the underside of the lid is the chart inventory describing each chart and its bottom right hand corner reference number. Makes for fast and efficient sorting.
VO5
Well-Known Member
Then if the Sea Scouts come aboard (with pork pie hats and all) they are each detailed small easy jobs on board.
The youngest ( Snotty) is detailed to take out all the charts and replace them in numerical order.
When all the jobs are finished, SWMBO breaks out the sandwiches (fish paste, or tomato, or cheese, or salami or chicken slices) and soda pop and all hands are content to the accompaniement of Ship's Music, on sunny days in the cockpit, otherwise in the saloon. They love it.
The youngest ( Snotty) is detailed to take out all the charts and replace them in numerical order.
When all the jobs are finished, SWMBO breaks out the sandwiches (fish paste, or tomato, or cheese, or salami or chicken slices) and soda pop and all hands are content to the accompaniement of Ship's Music, on sunny days in the cockpit, otherwise in the saloon. They love it.