laptop on a yacht

[Miker]

I've had a quick look at Ozi Explorer and SeaClear. What I'm wondering is how easy is it to scan charts with a bog standard A4 scanner. I've also come across the Admiralty RYA Chart Plotter at around £48 which could be a cheap option, but can't find sufficient details of its facilities.

 

[Superflid]

It's not too difficult, just time-consuming!
I spent a lot of time re-joining the seperate scans back into a full chart before realising that it would work just as well if I'd left them seperate.......

 

[Miker]

I've been into the UKHO website. The Admiralty RYA Chartplotter seems just to be electronic maps hooked up to a GPS to show where you are, which I suppose is quite useful. However, it does not appear to have any planning facilities as it will not import/export waypoints nor can it be updated.

 

[Amulet]

The RYA one is the only one apart from Offshore Navigator which I tried. I gave it a swerve for all the reasons mentioned, but that was two years ago. May be better now.

I like the ability to get all the data in and out of the program. I have to fess up - I do all my route planning in Excel! I wrote simple systems to do all the calculations and I like the fact that I can edit, join reverse and generally futz about with routes without going through umpteen menus which ask me if my trousers are fastened before I make changes.

Perverse.

I think that at least the ability to download routes to a handheld is a huge benefit. It means that even if the briney or someone's ill-guarded beer does your laptop in, you've still got basic GPS route navigation available.

 

[Miker]

At the moment, I too use a program that I have written in Liberty Basic for all my route planning. When the route is finalised, I transfer it to my hand held GPS via software called GPS Utility, and from that to my fixed Garmin 128 in the boat cabin. The 128 also drives the autopilot and gives the position to the radio.
With all the likely waypoints and hazards such as windfarms and gas platforms in the Irish Sea now built in, my only chore is feeding in the local tide times and heights.
I think that I shall stick to what I've got and save a bit of money which will go towards the increased marina charges.