Navigation on a small boat

[Hurleyburly]

How is this done ? I've never sailed anything without a proper forward facing chart table, so say you've got a 21 footer with one cabin and sitting headroom on passage from Portsmouth to Weymouth how do you perform the nav ? Down below / in the cockpit (what if it's rough / raining ?). What do you lean on ?

Anyone with experience please enlighten me.

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[Guest]

two pieces of perspex hinged togther and a folded chart between.
Chinagraph pencil and a protractor ......

If you use Stanfords / Imray small boat charts they are water=protected paper and actually come in a plastic wallet that I use for knee-naviagtion !!!!

If you have you GPS cockpit mounted and able to program in waypoints / routes etc ...... then you're halfway to getting the job done .... along with your plastic protected chart ..... jobs a flyer.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[Stuart_Wyatt]

I now have a decent chart table, but when I had your size of boat I used to place a board on one bunk and kneel on the cabin floor. Best of luck. And watch out for the arthritis.

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[dickh]

On my 20' Vivacity, I had a Stanfords (waterproof) chart clipped to a portable board which had dedicated slots just below the companionway, so I could glance down & see the chart, and did all the navigation on deck. This was before GPS mind you. I set up the board so as I ran out of one chart, the next chart was underneath, and I just chucked the redundant chart down below. Have several pencils handy, as you will inevitably break one or two.

<hr width=100% size=1>dickh
I'd rather be sailing... /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[seaesta]

Trouble is that smaller boats tend to pitch and roll a lot so even if you have a chart table below then using it in an ungentle sea may make you feel sick. In my case going below means either quickly piling into the berth to sleep, retrieving a flask/sandwich or performing a number 2 in the portaloo.
The secret of small boat nav is to do as much as possible before departure - working out plans and contigencies and putting these into the GPS so that you have routes to hand. Most of teh time you can then confine navigation to noting your progress for future reference and in case of GPS failure.
The charts should be made avilable so you can grab them from the cockpit if you need them. If you are entering a harbour for the first time then have a photocopy of the harbour chartlet in your pocket.
GPS has made it much more practical to make longer passages in smaller boats - e.g my recent circumnavigation of Scotland in a little 'un. Good luck
Martin

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[Georgio]

I made a forward facing chart table for my 24 footer, it folds down onto a removable leg when in use and folds back up against the main bulkhead when in port. (actually it doubles up as cooking surface/work bench also!)

Done over 1000 miles using it in the few couple of months and it works great.

tip - make sure you add fiddles and rap a couple of pieces of elastic around the table to keep the charts/dividers etc in place

George

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[Birdseye]

the guys at my local club sail wayfarer dinghies up and down the bristol channel, and acroo to france. they navigate using charts between sheets of perspex, chinagraph pencils and plotters. plan beforehand since you cant really use a silkcut in an open boat in a rainstorm.

what puzzles me is how they manage to sleep eat and.... on boats that size, but they do.

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[Mirelle]

There is no magic in forward facing - most older and smaller boats have the chart table, if any, athwartships.

Now, navigating a little boat, as has been said, you do it by pre-planning and eliminating the non-essential. I used to make (indeed, out of habit, I still do) a simple passage plan with courses, marks and main dangers written down.
Ideally on something waterproof!

A really good dodge, if you are singlehanding, is to make a sliding tray under the companion hatch slide. I keep an Admiralty small craft folio (in plastic wallet) in that with a handheld GPS and I use it perhaps more than the proper chart table. This idea goes back to about 1900.

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[coco]

Yeoman has a laptop version of their product (Sport XL). All you need is a plug down below and in the cockpit for power and GPS NMEA data.

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[tgalea]

Hi,

Whilst on this subject I would be interested in feedback from people who replied to this thread with regards to a short offshore hops in these small boats.

I own a 24 ft sailing sloop and have been considering crossing a 50 nm channel from Malta to Sicily.

My concern is not as much the navigation etc which happens to be something i earn a living out of but some people i spoke too seem to have there doubts if it could be made in such a small boat... others say that with sail and a small engine you could tour the mediterranean.

Any views from people who definitely have more experience than i have in this field and may have possibly done some similar crossings with small boats ?

Thanks & Regards
Tyrone Galea

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[Guest]

A good trick I saw on one boat ...

On the top of the companionway hatch was a lift up device like a music sheet holder, hinged to be upright with a Adm Small Craft plastic wallet held in it with the chart folded accordingly. The whole was under the sprayhood and looked very good and worked ..... as most small boats actually don't really plot - it's mostly a matter of being able to SEE the chart to read of buoys etc.

I am in process of making another perspex / ply chart panel as I had before and let go with previous boat ...... it is portable and you can prop it up, lay it down, pass back into cabin and place on table etc. etc. without disturbing the folded chart under ......


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[Guest]

A number of boats I surveyed ..

Had a Solent Chart suitably trimmed and placed under perspex on the saloon table ..... permanent ! along with current diagrams etc.

Very good idea ...... a chinagraph and away you go.

Of course please substitute chart of YOUR choice for the above Solent one !!!!!!!



<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[jimi]

Re: A good trick I saw on one boat ...

I colour photocopied relevent bits of charts and then laminated them, great for pilotage on wet windy nights, and it does'nt matter if they get wrecked or blow away. Really is very useful.

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[Guest]

GPS Nav group ......

You could have access to PC based chartlets to print properly and then plasticise etc.

PM me ......

<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[richardandtracy]

Too small a boat?

24ft too small for 50 miles in the Med?

What?

If that's true, then Jester was probably only just big enough for a mill pond. Didn't stop it crossing the atlantic. Almost anything is possible if you want to do it. Just go for it & ignore the moaning minnies. If you don't enjoy it, well, you won't do it again will you? However if you do like it, you're free. Free to come and go wherever you please.
Free to throw off your shackles and march proudly into the world!

Oh dear, I think I need to calm down & have a nice mug of tea.

Regards

Richard.


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[coco]

There was a good report of a First 210 (21 ft.) trip from Port Leucate (France) to Greece (crossing to Corsica, etc) in one of the French magazines a year or two. If you like me to send you a scan (and if you read french), let me know.

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[Hurleyburly]

What ? Some people say it's too small ???

Leisure 17 and Hurley 20 have crossed the Atlantic (bilge keelers) !

You've even got an inboard diesel.

Who were these people telling you your boat is too small ? Do they have 50' Hallbergs and Najads ?

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[Hurleyburly]

Also a chap from UK in the 1970's circumnavigated on a 17' ply yacht called Shrimpy.

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[Hurleyburly]

Re: A good trick I saw on one boat ...

Have you got any dimensions for your ply and perspex arrangement ?

I'd like to make one of my own - any ideas as to likely cost ?

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[Guest]

Re: A good trick I saw on one boat ...

The dimensions are based on the folds of a standard chart ..... particularly if you use stanfords / imray - then its multiples of the standard plastic wallet its supplied. To be honest mine was about 2ft x 2ft ..... exact I cant remember now as the one I saw was from the PBO article, about 1/2 size admiralty chart ....... mine was based on the space I could stow it ..... width just less than the bunk and length so that it didn't disapear under the trotter cockpit box !!!!!! and could also sit on top of my saloon table that was about 2 x 2 !!

Its a piece of ply for base, nicely smoothed off edges and then epoxy run around to seal and give protection to the ends. Perspex same size fitted with hinges and also very strong Gutter tape ...... in my trade we call it Cargo Tape !! to seal the hinge line...... as that will often be highest point and most liable to ingress......... in fact the simpler the better .....

Sits on the lap and anywhere else you want.

Actually the laminated cards by another is an idea that I really want to explore ....... even to having a series on a ring !!!! like large keys. I have PC charts that can be sized to A4 etc. and can be made up to a set to cover harbours, etc. etc.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !