Star/nautical almanac or downloaded app?

[pcatterall]

Well the trusty sextant went on eBay ( for a pittance!!) but not fitted with filters so not the best for sun obs!!
now looking for a cheap replacement may even go for the' lifeboat' plastic Davies mk3 as dead simple and light, ok for training crew and emergency use??
I will need to get an almanac and seek advice on this.
We used to use a massive 3inch tome from Shortreads(?) for land survey obs. but also had a booklet type publication for quick sun shots, polaris obs and so on.
I know that Reeds produce an almanac but they seem expensive and contain other info which I don't want.
I wonder if there is some sort of download of either just the tables or table with some quick calculation aid.
I would like to be able to get just the tables so crew can work out fixes by hand so as to get an idea of what they are doing!!
The purpose is a bit of fun/keeping old skills alive and emergency use.
Any advice please.

 

[GHA]

Sight reduction tables can be downloaded here.. (other handy stuff as well )
http://msi.nga.mil/NGAPortal/MSI.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=msi_portal_page_62&pubCode=0013

Also, navsoft site worth a look at, 2013 nautical almanac there but not 2014..
http://navsoft.com/index.html

 

[oldvarnish]

may even go for the' lifeboat' plastic Davies mk3 as dead simple and light, ok for training crew and emergency use??

Don't be too hard on the plastic Davies. I've had some v good fixes with one, some within 2NM - more than good enough for open sea, and pretty good for a landfall.

 

[2nd_apprentice]

As much as I like using my tablet for yottie stuff it seems a bit silly to use a device with inbuilt GPS for celestial navigation ;-)
Why not get a copy of Geoffrey Kolbe's long term almanac? Costs around £ 20 on Amazon IIRC. Good until 2050 too and about the same size as an iPad.