where to site my chart plotter

Adrian

Adrian

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8 Jun 2001
Messages
841
Location
Me Midlands, Boat Port Grimaud SOF
www.kydproducts.co.uk
I’ve recently bought a chart plotter (Simrad CX33) and can’t decide whether to put it at the chart table or in the cockpit.

My thinking
Chart table
Can use for planning when in port
Will repeat other instruments (Haven’t got any repeaters at Chart table)

Cockpit
Can be viewed while sailing.

Any thoughts?
 
You can go to the cockpit to do your planning, but you wont see it when sailing if its down below. I have a PC system for planning below and a chart plotter in the cockpit but if I only had a chartplotter I would mount it in the cockpit.
 
Another vote for the ability to see it when at the helm. Like BoatMike, I have both, but the first system was the plotter at the helm, and especially when singlehanded, this is a great boon.
 
With such a limited system go for the large hole in the cockpit.

I've my chartplotter on the chart table and the radar in the cockpit but they both repeat and control each other via digital bus - best of both worlds.
Fair winds
ken
 
I've just gone down this path, passage planning, longer distance, channel etc works best on paper chart at the chart table. A zoomed in view on a chart plotter half way across the channel will give you a little arrow and a lot of blue.

Put the plotter at the wheel, this is where it will work best, during pilotage into an unfamiliar port the picture will be right in front of you. You will not want to be running down below doing 10knts over the ground on your first approach to, say, St Peter Port.
 
On small boats an arm that swings across companionway with a board and mount on is excellent ... GPS can be mounted and swiung to view in cabin or cockpit.
In larger boats as your avatar suggests - really most practical is at helm station - its a plotter so you need to see your track / position without trotting off to cabin .... thats the major idea of most plotters these days ... if you want Lat and Long in cabin - then a data repeater at chart table so that you can plot without getting shouts of numbers or jotting down etc.

IMHO of course ....
 
Am having exactly the same debate myself & now edging towards the cockpit mount, largely as the time when I'll really need it is when the weather is rough & I'm somewhere less familiar. If I'm busy at the helm & the washboards are in place it'll be no use having the plotter down below...
 
Definately the cockpit.

I have a plumbed in laptop at the chart table which is great for planning, but pretty useless when trying to navigate shallow waters or areas where a real chartplotter would be useful. The money you spent getting a piece of equipment that is designed to be viewable in daylight and waterproof is well worth putting to use.

A PC down below is a very nice tool to have, but I'd swap it for an exterior plotter any day.
 
I mount mine under the sprayhood on the coachroof using a data/power cable long enough to allow the unit be taken down to the chart table for planning, etc. Works fine on my 27 footer...might not be so easy on a larger yacht or where the chart table is some distance from a good external viewing point. If only one choice, then it has to be the cockpit...
 
At the helm so you can see it well when driving, it's a real boon close to the coast or manouevering near reefs. Would you mount the car GPS in the back of your car?
 
Have both!

Raymarine could offer no objection to cabling to both locations and moving the plotter between the two PROVIDED the cabling was properly engineered and the vacated cockpit position was protected when not occupied.

Such a fit also reduces the likelihood of a cockpit mounted plotter "disappearing" when the crew is ashore.

Interested to hear which models allowed viewing and control from two stations. Raymarine RL70 and?
 
Raymarine, Furuno, etc. Most suppliers have screens that can be networked now. Used to be only Raymarine with the older RL series.
 
Wire it for use in both locations, that way you can do your routes etc down in the warm and dry at your convenience below and have it up top going along. I wouldn't mount it at the wheel however as on passage I rarely steer because the autopilot is on, on the coachroof would be better IMO so it is visible to all in the cockpit and gets some protection from the sprayhood. Personally I find the modern trend of having all the instruments right back at the wheel irritating and much prefer them mounted at eye height above the mainhatch.
 
Agree with that...

Mine's mounted under the sprayhood too. Visible from the wheel, but much easier to use when autopilot is in control.
 
Robin has a point there and I agree with the mounting at fwd part of cockpit ....

I like the over hatch garage mounts where the garage arch provides the basis. Everyone can then see them, if navigator is not helming - he has view for popping out and being to keep an eye while sitting out in the fresh-air etc.
Pods are great at the wheel / helm station on boats that are single or limited crew handed ...
 
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