paper charts are so passe - what sensibly priced options are there for navigation?

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niccapotamus

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As you may have gathered we are buying a boat. It doesn't have a GPS. The last time we sailed properly it was Decca anyway.

I'd prefer to buy something secondhand and would be inclined for a cockpit gps unit with paper charts.

but am i being a dinasour - are there sensibly priced options that work for electronic charting mainly done from the cockpit (therefore avoiding feeling seasick)! and are they ok secondhand?

our sailing is mainly pottering around places we know but the odd night trip and occasional ventures further afield, coupled with stuff like fog probably mean that I should know where we are (roughly)

(wait for it the next thread that I post will be on weather information as the bloody bbc service is going)

cheers

Nick
 
Until this year I have always been a paper-chart-and-GPS navigator, latterly with a Yeoman to simplify the mechanics of plotting lat and long (excellent tool).

I decided it was finally about time I moved on to a plotter, at least for pilotage, and this spring I mounted an older Raymarine C70 in the cockpit. It has certainly had its benefits, but it hasn't been the panacea I was possibly expecting. Too much scrolling and zooming, and details are removed from the screen at what I would consider too wide a zoom level. On our last outing, going down the western Solent at night, I was watching a stationary radar target and wondering what it was. Turned out to be one of the channel buoys, which was not displayed at the selected zoom level when it really should have been. Similarly there was a point where we were debating ETAs to Itchenor versus Gosport, and faffing about on the plotter whereas if we'd had a chart on the table I'd have found it much easier to jump down and prick it off with a physical pair of dividers.

I've now settled down to a hybrid approach using plotter for tactics and paper for strategy.

Pete
 
I think for plotters you benefit from the screen size. Many have very small screens which mean you have to zoom out to see anything of significance and then you lose all the details that you might bump in to. I am sure that second hand ones are OK but the more modern the better as with this type of technology things tend to improve quite quickly. If all you need is a rough idea of where you are and a reasonable chart then an iphone will do this and more or an ipad for a bigger screen. You can even get waterproof covers and the whole thing with UK and western europe charts for less than the price of a similarly sized plotter. We managed to find a rather nice second hand but new garmin 15" plotter on ebay which works well and we have it mounted down below but in sight of the tiller. You occasionally have to send someone down to fiddle with it but an iphone in the cockpit is useful to give you the closeup while the plotter gives you all the other stuff with perhaps a more rigorous GPS signal. So far the iphone has always been spot on which makes me wonder about how much you need the extra gps dome.
 
Plotters come many and varied, like smart phones and tv controls you need to become very familiar with their functions.
It took me a couple of years to realise that I had a split screen facility on mt Standard Horizon! I can now have one half zoomed out and the other half zoomed in, previously I used the facility where you can hold the level of zoomed in detail when zoomed out.
PS Other options are now also quite good, especially for planning, ipad and tablet apps, and openCPN on different flavours of pc's.
 
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Where are you planning to sail? The answer can depend upon how many isolated rocks and hazards there are to hit - and whether the hazards are generally fixed (rocks) or moving (some sandbanks).
And usual rules of not believing the chart, paper or electronic, in some areas where surveys limited or out of date.

PS. Personal I am an advocate of decent sized plotter at helm, paper backup and for passage planning, plus phone/laptop/Pc with independent gps and charts in case of power failure (been there, and in a gap in the admiralty paper portfolio)
 
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only the usual I guess - south coast. france occasionally. generally places where all the lumps and bumps are fairly well known!
 
I still favour paper charts and a gps.Thee was no GPS in the old days and that didn't stop people from sailing.I ike the feel of a paper chart(if not the price) and the GPS makes things much easier.My handbearing compass is still there ready for use too.
 
i don't think anyone would say that paper charts aren't essential. However there are some advantages of having a chart showing a position where you can see it at all times, and I'd like to dip my toe in the water (to wreck a metaphor)

the ipad is starting to look very good for a bit of toe dipping
 
niccapotamus said:
i don't think anyone would say that paper charts aren't essential. However there are some advantages of having a chart showing a position where you can see it at all times, and I'd like to dip my toe in the water (to wreck a metaphor)

the ipad is starting to look very good for a bit of toe dipping
Click to expand...
I agree.I'm just to cheap to spend on a plotter.
 
niccapotamus said:
As you may have gathered we are buying a boat. It doesn't have a GPS. The last time we sailed properly it was Decca anyway.

I'd prefer to buy something secondhand and would be inclined for a cockpit gps unit with paper charts.

but am i being a dinasour - are there sensibly priced options that work for electronic charting mainly done from the cockpit (therefore avoiding feeling seasick)! and are they ok secondhand?

our sailing is mainly pottering around places we know but the odd night trip and occasional ventures further afield, coupled with stuff like fog probably mean that I should know where we are (roughly)

(wait for it the next thread that I post will be on weather information as the bloody bbc service is going)

cheers

Nick
Click to expand...


Nick
I had pretty much the same problem, I have charts and a small gps unit but wanted a chart plotter for 'those' times, (and so I can kick back with a cuppa whilst deftly avoiding all those pesky obstacles....almost looks like I know what I'm doing)
I went with a Panasonic Toughbook with NOAA/NGA total world coverage and a whole heap of useful stuff plus quite possibly the best after sales care I've ever encountered, all for the price of a decent second hand plotter or a low range new one with the added benefit of not being a slave to the on-board leccy as one charge will do for 4/5hrs.
Londonchartplotters, I'm not sure if I can post links on here but google 'em and send an email with your required specs, they'll have what you need.

Happy sailing
 
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