yeoman plotter what dose it do is it REALLY usefull today??

[Ships_Cat]

Hi Tom

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Yeoman Plotters. Just the absurd and fanatical claims being made by some here are as if there are no sensible alternatives.

I quite agree it is down to personal preference and that is exactly as it should be. But I suspect that some of us, including yourself, actually manage very well with whatever we are faced with using (take that as a complement /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif).

Regards

John

 

[Robin]

I think the RNLI fit them under the table or used to at least. We have ours under a perspex sheet on top of the chart table, the passage chart for our area (ie English Channel West) is permanently located under the perspex over the Yeoman and on top of a thin sheet of non-slip mat, the perspex is cut to fit the Yeoman (cut out for the 'box' bit) and the chart table, it is screwed down and cannot move. We plot on the perspex for the 'fixed' chart and use the Yeoman clips stuck down with Blue Tack to hold larger scale charts on top. If you rub down the perspex with 1000 grit wet/dry you will still have a good clear view but will be able to use a normal pencil for chart work, remove pencil marks when required with a wipe over with a spray polish.

I rate the Yeoman very highly and I think it is greatly underated. That said I have to be honest and say that these days it is there as a backup to dedicated chart plotters which have the ability to continually show ship's position on their chart which is more useful when entering harbours and so on. Plus our chart cartridges (C-Map) contain many more and even bigger harbour charts than I would ever buy in paper form or exist as inserts on the Imray charts I mostly use. However the Yeoman is referenced to some of the Imray chart 'harbour plans' for some harbours 'just in case'!

 

[tome]

Flattery will get you everywhere and I now find myself in total agreement with everything you've ever posted.

Seriously, it's hard to ignore the argument that a small chip can store so much more information than my chart stowage, and I'm sure that plotters will improve over the short term. I'm not ditching my Yeoman just yet, all the same.

 

[Marsupial]

"you are very unlikely to find a professional using a Yeoman Plotter. I have never seen one in use on a commercial vessel,"

Ships Cat, just for your information Yeoman make plotters up to size 0 ie a full size admiralty chart, too big to fit on on most leisure boats so we can only assume that they find their way onto commercial vessels - most of the Yeomans we see are the leisure range.

But look at the redundancy commercial outfits can afford in terms of kit, space and cash resources. IMHO commercial vs leisure is not a fair comparison in this respect. IMHO it is reckless to go offshore reliant upon "leisure quality" electronics.

I ve read various posts on this forum declaring that the end of charts on paper is nigh - I think it will be a long long time before that happens. Yes digital images of charts are prefered by the manufacturers these technologies must reduce production and distribution costs but at point of use they must be on paper; for all the reasons given by the many contributors above.

The yeoman makes their use easier, theres nothing fanatical about it its a technology that works. Life before the yeoman involved pencils, dividers and errors, especially when people were cold, wet and tired.

Cheers


David

 

[jon]

Excellent piece of kit, one word of warning, careful buying second hand. My sport was fine for a year or so, then noticed was inaccurate plotting, returned for servicing to discover needed new grid installed.Even though recon grid fitted bill was still over £100, I seem to recall.

 

[Ships_Cat]

I think you will find that you would be very lucky (or unlucky, depending on what way you see it) to see a Yeoman plotter going onto a new or refitted commercial vessel. In the case one was it would be almost always secondary to ECS or ECDIS and would not be the main plotting tool.

The relevance of the comparison with commercial is that you made words to the effect that it was the professional approach to use a Yeoman - most professional navigators I know are on commercial vessels (if not they would be amateurs) and they do not use them (although I expect that there is an exception or two).

As Tome has said, and so have I, it is a personal decision. To lay claims to Yeoman (or anything else) being the only choice and is the professional approach smacks of little knowledge and fanaticism.

John

 

[Ships_Cat]

Re: Somewhat unfairly

Having used both the Yeoman and 1st and 3rd generation plotters I have to agree with your inference - obsolescent technology.

Tend to agree and just to put some balance against the romantic responses of the fanatics /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif it is interesting that B&G has dumped Yeoman by selling the manufacturing rights, etc for them to a couple of guys starting up a new company (hope the new guys have something else to sell /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif). One assumes that B&G saw no wildly exciting future for Yeoman.

John

 

[Coppershield]

Thank You Marsupial

Hi Marsupial,
Thank You for the information regarding the " clear view"
it sounds like it might be the right answer.
Thanks again. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Muzaffer

 

[trouville]

As someone asking myself "should i buy a yeoman plotter" the answer has been no.But i sail in areas where possition points are listed,and can enter way points destination points with ease.
Now im looking at the Baltic,for the first time,i dont have a lot of information books accsses to route plans etc. I see how a plotter could be of use, instead of taking 5mins to plot one possition in the same time useing a plotter i could list 20!
There must be a baltic pilot somewhere?? And i cant afford the £240 i found the sports plotter for online. I also found the same plotter for £350 and the super one for£700!! Of course used ones can be found S/H at a fair price.

Im keeping my fingers crossed that paper charts and pencils on boats are not banned by Brussells.

 

[Anonymous]

Quote: Obviously you haven't used a plotter, such activities are easily carried out especially with 3rd generation plotters

Suppose you wish to go to Point B, which is 20nm due east of Point A, in tidal waters, in a boat having a speed through the water of 5kts. Given a tide atlas or hourly tidal diamonds you can, with a chart, pencil, ruler and protractor, fairly quickly work out a single compass course to steer from leaving Point A, and give a fair ETA at Point B. Neptune, and maybe other PC-resident packages, will do this for you but I have not yet seen a 'plotter' that is able to do this. I'm not saying that none do - only that I haven't seen it done. Note: I do not accept that using 'track' or 'navigate' mode - i.e. staying on a constant ground track - is a satisfactory way to navigate a vessel in tidal waters, unless one's track is constrained by hazards, regulations, or other special circumstances other than being too lazy or incompetent to lay a proper course.

- with GPS who would end up with a cocked hat?

Those of us who still use hand bearing compasses and charts, especially at anchor. With GPS it is becoming fast the case of "who would know what is meant by 'a cocked hat'"?

 

[fireball]

And it is always good practice to do the odd "fix" now and again - keeps your hand in and reminds you how to do it .... I definately need more practice, and at least I can use the GPS position to check my results ...

 

[trouville]

Untill this forum,id never realised how far behind i was in trerms of equipment,my GPS was a Garmin120 and still works, now ive added a 72 which just seems to be a smaller version of the same?
I thought id mention that i use somthing called a Bretton plotter, which cost me £8 i think. and sofar has only needed the compass rose re rivitting once! I dont suppose it will ever be as fast as the yeoman or as easy but i use it in the cockpit. Its water proof and has withstood sliding off the cockpit chart table which hasent got fiddels as the hurt my arms. Pity they dont make them any more.

Reading the posts, i want to ask what should i do if the GPS is switched off decca still not back and im 50miles offshore heading for an Island when it happens, would i be better off with a yeoman plotter or my old direction finder?

Please dont say i should have a sextant, ive sold it as i could no longer make a position with it and mostly in the end i left it ashore to keep it dry,over winter and stopped putting it back in spring. And i remember trying a plastic Davise 25 which i then dident think much of.So it wouldet be anybetter now even if there still made??

What should i do, apart from wishing i was back in port!!

 

[Anonymous]

Quote: I thought id mention that i use somthing called a Bretton plotter, which cost me £8 i think. and sofar has only needed the compass rose re rivitting once!....Pity they dont make them any more.The Breton, and others, are fine. I use a square protractor that I used to use when flying - no moving bits - my old pair of compasses from A levels, and a ruler. I'm sure they still make the Breton - everyone on DS theory goes through plotting on charts (or did, do they still??).

Quote: Reading the posts, i want to ask what should i do if the GPS is switched off decca still not back and im 50miles offshore heading for an Island when it happens, would i be better off with a yeoman plotter or my old direction finder?I bought an old Seafix DF at a boat jumble for a fiver in 2002. I haven't used it and must remember to take the battery out!! At least I have it available. We used to go everywhere with DF, especially using aero beacons, in the 1970s before Decca was affordable and long before GPS. We made quite a few harbour approaches in fog or poor viz with nothing more than DF and radar.

Quote: What should i do, apart from wishing i was back in port!! Make sure that the log is accurate (i.e. calibrate it), compass is accurate (swing it and adjust if necessary) and keep a regular position log. Provided you have charts and tide tables and/or a tidal atlas you can correct your DR position to arrive at a pretty accurate estimated position if you work carefully. No need to get steamed up about it - it's how we all managed pre-GPS. Radio DF and depth are icing on the cake and when you are in practise you can go anywhere in almost any conditions.

 

[trouville]

I use my old DF to pass the time on passages there are still quite some beacons!

Now you see how used to GPS ive become! My logs have long ago stopped working,both the log and one intigrated with my "fish finder" and i gave the log from my walker log to someone who needed it!Before that whenever i used it i always forgot to bring it in when i arrived! And never looked at it!!
I always rely on my GPS for the distance!!!!

What a luck i posted, Indeed i will need a log for my new boat,!

 

[Thresher]

Since my Yeoman XL broke down I quickly got into the habit of transfering my position straight from the gps in the cockpit to a folded up chart held in one hand without the need of a straight edge. As the gps gives me my bearing to the next waypoint I find that I don't miss the Yeoman and won't bother getting it fixed.

 

[jfkal]

Yep. It is possible. Dunno about the 5 cm but normal chart table thickness works fine (not if it is steel though).

You need to change a setup parameter however to tell the Yeo that it is upside down ;-)

Joerg
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