Plotter essential?

Is a chart plotter essential/vital to your sailing?

  • I have a GPS

    Votes: 72 35.1%

  • I have a chart plotter

    Votes: 40 19.5%

  • I have both

    Votes: 113 55.1%

  • I have neither

    Votes: 5 2.4%

  • A GPS is a must have

    Votes: 63 30.7%

  • A GPS is a nice to have

    Votes: 73 35.6%

  • A chart plotter is a must have

    Votes: 30 14.6%

  • A chart plotter is a nice to have

    Votes: 114 55.6%

  • More than happy to sail without electronic nav gizmos

    Votes: 84 41.0%
  • Total voters
    205
In my view it all depends, I happened to have voted essential to plotter but then I have 3 on board with separate power supplies. You may or may not not know that planes and RN subs no longer carry paper charts and have triple redundancy. What's good for the goose ....
 
KellysEye said:
>Plotter essential?

No, as said in another thread you have to carry charts so a plotter is a waste of money.
Click to expand...

Disagree. Not saying a plotter is essential, but a plotter by the wheel is extremely useful in some waters.

We had to bail out of an anchorage when the forecast f7 from south became f8 from north. In the dark we moved round to another bay, but too deep to anchor, so I motored slowly round in dark white SWMBO went back to bed. The we're rocks around and very dark, but easy to motor in close circles around shelter of bay checking track on plotter. Could not possibly have done this single handed at the helm amongst dangers whilst using paper charts.
 
Safety is essential.

For simple reason of safety prudent navigator should have and use every method available.
Plotter is available method... :p
 
Many interesting replies. I wonder how professional sailors would vote and how many of them do not have chart plotters as standard. Very few I suspect.
 
Desirable, yes. Essential/vital, no.
It's essential to know where you are relative to your surroundings but this can be achieved by any number of methods. A plotter takes much of the hard work out of the process but a gps and a chart can achieve the same degree of situational awareness and when piloting the mark 1 eyeball is even better at close quarters.
 
When HMS Astute went aground they were using paper charts.
Anyone on the fin with an iPhone could have averted the grounding.
 
dylan said:
When HMS Astute went aground they were using paper charts.
Anyone on the fin with an iPhone could have averted the grounding.
Click to expand...

If the iphone had the appropriate charted data.

A gps position alone is nothing but a bunch of numbers. It's what you do with the numbers that's important surely?
 
Not sure that the mistrust of plotters/gps is really justified.
The old plotter we inherited with the boat was, I admit, a bit iffy- it would quite often lose the signal- but the Garmin 551 which replaced it has, touch wood, never missed a beat.

On the other hand, the engine, sounder, and roller reefing have all caused varying degrees of anxiety- maybe I should get rid of them instead?!
 
Navionics Marine - Europe on the Android Play Store for €24,19

Why any sailor with a phone capable of running it wouldn't buy it as a back-up is beyond me. Abstain from 5 pints down the pub and it's paid for!!!!

I've got it and at night it lives next to the bunk, best use for it is to have a quick peek at the track when at anchor to see how it's swinging around - if all is well, then no need to get out of my cosy bed, just roll over and go back to sleep - as long as the anchor chain isn't grumbling constantly or the wind howling - then I'd get up and have a look anyway.
 
I don't like navigating by plotter. Not because I think it's likely to suddenly stop working, but because it feels like it's making me lazy and I don't like that. So most of the time I navigate by GPS and paper chart, with a Yeoman to automate some of the ruler-and-dividers work. This keeps me involved with the navigation and I think gives me a better appreciation of what's going on and what's around me, and lends itself better to incorporating other sources like visual fixes, clearing lines, etc.

Nevertheless, there are times when it is prudent to use a plotter if available - Dunedin's situation outlined upthread, for example. So I have one on board and do use it for things like entering unfamiliar harbours at night. On Kindred Spirit it was a portable unit - stowed on a shelf down below, mounted in the cockpit and plugged in when required. So it was easy and natural to ignore the thing until a conscious decision to use it was made. Not sure how this will work out on Ariam with a cockpit console. Having it sitting there switched off starts to look like bloody-mindedness :)

For more than a small area, charts work out more expensive than plotter cards. But you can at least update charts for free as often as you like. The card in my plotter was several years out of date as there's no way I was going to buy a new one just for the updates. Another reason charts are the "master" system on my boat; they are corrected to the last couple of months at worst.

Pete
 
prv said:
I don't like navigating by plotter. . . . because it feels like it's making me lazy and I don't like that.
So most of the time I navigate by GPS and paper chart, This keeps me involved with the navigation and I think gives me a better appreciation of what's going on and what's around me,
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how you know what is going on and what's around you when you are down below bent over the chart table.

and lends itself better to incorporating other sources like visual fixes, clearing lines, etc.
Click to expand...
clearing lines, etc. can easily be put on a Chart Plotter.

Nevertheless, there are times when it is prudent to use a plotter if available . . . on Ariam with a cockpit console. Having it sitting there switched off starts to look like bloody-mindedness
Click to expand...
Too right :)

PS - It will be interesting to hear what you have to say after you have had a seasons use out of the plotter.
 
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