Charts

[Marian Claire]

Have found this site to be very useful. http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/m...artViewer.html I use it to update my paper charts and for general daydreaming/trip planning. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[joe_db]

http://www.sping.com/seaclear/ for a good free nav program

[Ript75]

Laptop chartplotter

Have found this site to be very useful. http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/m...artViewer.html I use it to update my paper charts and for general daydreaming/trip planning. Dan S/V Marian Claire

You can turn your laptop into a chart plotter using Seaclear II Software (free),
a USB GPS adapter (under $40.00), and NOAA raster charts (free to download). Works great and cheap.


Regards,

Jon

[jhwelch]

I found the user interface in OpenCPN easier to use than that of Seaclear. Take a look at it and see if if suits your needs: http://opencpn.org/ocpn/

[Mo]

I use openCPN as well with my seaclear charts...one of the members on here told me about it and it's certainly easier. OpenCPN was like moving from DOS to Windows for me.

[joe_db]

I have both. I find SeaClear easier to use, but YMMV. SeaClear is much less demanding - an old 300 MHz laptop and Windows 98 is plenty for it.
OpenCPN does ENC charts and tides/currents.

[sastanley]

I am with joe. I haven't figured out OpenCPN yet...I have an old D610 with XP, and SeaClear runs fine on it. I should have used the winter time to figure out OpenCPN, but I didn't.

[Marian Claire]

How do y'all that use a laptop for navigation use it when the weather is bad? Rain, bumpy. Some of the times I have really appreciated my chart-plotter is when the visibility was low due to rain/fog. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[sastanley]

Dan, I primarily use my laptop as a chartplotter from down below when motoring into an unfamiliar or tight channel I don't traverse very often. I have the galley counter top at the bottom of the stairs and can see it easily from the helm.

For bad weather, I have a Delorme PN-40, which is only a 3" screen, but it has raster charts on it & I can use it in the cockpit...when we beat up to Oxford at night it got us all the way there, even though I'd sailed that route a million times before in the daylight.

[jhwelch]

It is only about 4 steps for me to get below and look at the computer and decide how many degrees of directional change to tap into the autopilot.

That said,I hardly ever have the computer on showing a chart. My handheld GPS has most of the waypoints I need to get around, plus I can see my radar on a swing-out bracket in the companionway.

[Marian Claire]

Thanks. I have tried to figure out a way to do this on the MC but the times I need/use the chart plotter the most and the design and features, or lack thereof, of the boat are limiting. I tend to use the CP in tight channels, shoal waters and anchorages as another bit of info to add to my charts, depth sounder etc. With no auto helm I am reluctant to leave the helm. If the wind is anything but on the nose rain can and does blow into the cabin. O well. The garmin 441 has been well worth having. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[Mo]

Dan,
I too use the chartplotter more than anything. Mine is a now aging Garmin 172...not even color but it has everything I need. I bought a larger storage card for it and loaded maps from Florida to Labrador in it and that is the mainstay on the boat for nav.

I do love the Open CPN in conjunction with Sea Clear charts for browsing the charts and looking for places that I might enjoy sailing to.

[joe_db]

My chart table is easily seen from the forward end of the cockpit. Under power 95% of the time I am on autopilot and sitting forward in the cockpit. The only time this system breaks down is when I need to steer and see the chart "in real time". I'll transfer some waypoints to the handheld GPS for that. Future upgrades do include a cockpit GPS of some kind, but I *hate* the idea of buying charts that I know should be free.

How do y'all that use a laptop for navigation use it when the weather is bad? Rain, bumpy. Some of the times I have really appreciated my chart-plotter is when the visibility was low due to rain/fog. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[Marian Claire]

Paper charts are pricey. One thing I have done is bought or in most cases been given old charts. I bring them home and us the site I first mentioned to update them. It is a slow and tedious process but 90% of the markers are the same. My paper charts from Delaware Bay to Key West are very old. But with the updates I do from the computer and the changes I note on the chart as I travel I bet they are as up to date as what I could buy off the shelf. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[Mo]

I think Chartplotters are the answer. Mount it on the binnacle and everthing is in front of you at your fingertips. Position of the boat is bang on accurate, you are where the cursor is, and the chart information is right there. No fooling around except to zoom in as required to navigate tight areas.