Yeoman Plotters

[martinwoolwich]

Have they had their day?

With chartplotters coming down in price so much and with laptops everywhere has technology overtaken this product.

I just haven't heard about them for so long

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[bigmart]

I still use mine. I think its a fabulous piece of kit. Even If I were to move to a Laptop based system, which is most likely the next option for me, I would still run it alongside. Paper charts still make a lot of sense you know.

Martin

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[apollo]

I have both laptop and yeoman and use the Yeoman much more when actually on the boat.

Its waterproof and works with real charts.

The laptop is great for passage planning and I keep it running in the wheelhouse, but I can have the Yeoman up on the flybridge in the spray.

Also when you need to upgrade the charts its only £12.50 for a new paper one.



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[kds]

I did enquire at the boat show.
When B & G were bought out, it was agreed that their products are going to be supported for the foreseeable future - except the Yeoman. It will still be available from ex B&G retailers etc. but the salesman was making no promises about the future.
Shame really. I don't know whether to get one now ?
Ken

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[Robin]

We have 2 electronic C-Map plotters, one below & one in the cockpit but STILL have a Yeoman on the chart table and I bought a new one when we changed boats 2 years ago. Ours is mounted under a fitted perspex cover which protects it and holds the regular English Channel passage chart in place, other charts are clipped on top of the perspex as required. I think the Yeoman is an excellent and under rated piece of kit. That said I have to be honest and say the 2 electronic chart plotters are the primary tools, the Yeoman is now providing backup.

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[StephenSails]

I think they are great bits of kit as the charts are not as expensive as the electronic ones and that is good for the budget boater and for safety it means that you have a good chart of where you are which will not break down. I think they will be around for sometime yet, the distributors are still offering them as well, I was thinking about stocking them, I would be interested to see what others think?
Cheers

Stephen

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[stephenmartin]

I'm just thinking about a laptop based system....have you reasearched the subject....have you any recommendations

Steve

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[ccscott49]

I had one, liked it, still got it, but it now lkies under my bunk! Superceeded by a laptop charting system. I plot positions 100 times a day at work, so I can plot almost as fast as the yeoman could. But they are a good bit of kit, just outdated now, in the electronic plotting way.

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[bigmart]

I have not conducted any serious research so I do not feel confident enough to offer any opinions or recommendations. Many would say that its a rare subject that I am not opiniated on.

Martin

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[Ric]

I think if you sail in more or less the same area, it is better these days to get a chartplotter for the reasons you mention.

If I were planning long distance sailing, I would get a Yeoman. You can buy (and swap) paper charts as you trundle around the world, but you can't easily obtain electronic charts. Electronic charts are currently way overpriced and the manufacturers don't make it easy to buy them. It should be possible to burn worldwide charts onto one CD for free, because the US hydrographic office does not copyright their chart info. However, at the moment you still have to pay rather a lot for a chart from Navionics etc, and most chandlers do not sell them except on special order, and in remote areas of the world they will look at you in baffled amusement.

My dream boat would have a full-sized chart table and a Yeoman. Passage planning is easier on a large chart. I also find old paper charts with pencil marks and coffee stains on them rather evocative - I frame my favourite voyages and put them on my study wall and they are great to look at on winter nights. You can't do that with a chartplotter!

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[starboard]

The beauty with the Yeomen is that you still have the ability to put a pencil mark on real charts...at least when the systems all go tits up as sure they will you can at least revert to good old DR. I remember the first time they came out and we fitted one to our Arrun class Lifeboat, I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread and today with all the jiggery pokery going on I still think the same!!!For the money you pay you cannot beat it.

Paul.

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[Luanda]

Is the Yeoman the same as the Autohelm Navplotter? This I have had for some years, and find it excellent - even thougth it does sometimes show that I am sailing overland, indicating that the charts are not always correct.

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[bigmart]

Yes. In fact mine is the Autohelm job too that I use connected to a Garmin 48. I can't say that I have ever sailed over land with mine but I have recently had some funny readings that seem to be related to pressing the wrong buttons on the device. It just goes to show that you can't be too complacent about the accuracy of any electrical device. Always double check when things seem wrong & don't assume that the electronics are infallable.

Martin

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[Robin]

I cannot think how that could happen unless the GPS is set on the wrong datum (ie not the same as the chart datum), the chart is wrongly referenced, or the chart has slipped it's position on the Yeoman. I would want to find and eliminate that error PDQ!

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[pugwash]

I agree, it's a fabulous device, easy to use, intuitive -- change my life. After using this I'd never commit myself to a tiny video screen.

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[ashanta]

Yes, Yeoman made them for autohelm. They produced a limited number for them.

I think the answer to the original question has to be whether you want to rely on paper charts or chartplotters. IMHO I believe that we should always have an up to date paper chart of the area we are sailing in just in case you lose battery power.
If you have a paper chart on a half size admiralty chart table then a Yeoman could be an excellent suppliment to your navigational aids. It does what it says it does, just like a chart plotter.

Regards.

Peter

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[roger]

Plotters

As with everything its horses for courses. If you sail in the skerries of Scandinavia its not much use. You cant spare the time to change charts - you are so close to the rocks. We met one guy in that area last year who had just bought one of the small plotter/GPSs. He was happy as Larry. "For the first time I know exactly where I am all the time. He had it mounted on the steering wheel pedestal. In practice in those waters I'm happiest with paper charts on deck. A Below decks unit of any sort is very dodgy.
Out a tsea a Yeoman is fine and very easy to use.
I'm not very keen on plotters. They are pricy and so are the charts. £300 for a superwide cartridge is a lot of money in my book.
Lap-tops tend to be fragile but it seems to be getting easier to find charts on CD. I got one CD for free with a German chart pak for a large chunk of Denmark. It came with the reading software too.
Being of conservative bent I worry about keeping chart plotters out on deck - there are a lot of connections to get water in and I dont trust all the connections. However thats just prejudice - not experience. Do you guys have experience of using them on deck? Are they reliable?

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[colin_jones]

The beauty with the Yeomen is that you still have the ability to put a pencil mark on real charts...

If you enjoy the reliable presicision of a good electronic system, there is, of course, nothing to prevent you from being a good belt and braces seaman also putting pencil marks on charts.

Indeed, every skipper I know who enjoys navigating does that as a check that both systems are correct.

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[Close hauled]

Just to stick my oar in....

I have a yeoman and a chart plotter. I like the plotter for passages but much prefer the Yeoman for 'real' navigation. Its a great bit of kit.

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[pheran]

I'm with Pedro on this one. I run the two side by side and regularly cross-check but like to plot my position on the Yeoman at regular intervals especially when on extended passages. Having experienced complete instrument failure on two occasions, I now derive real comfort from having a record of exactly where we were, say, 20 minutes ago! Do I understand that most people now no longer indulge in this 'archaic' practice?

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