Boat
navigation
equipment

On our last cruise we carried photocopied charts for parts of the South Pacific. For the most part they were useless. They were b & w and we were told that the quality of the reproduction was excellent. The quality was OK, but too much detail was lost. Ask for a sample and be very critical. We have several hundred dollars worth of wrapping paper from our encounter with photocopied charts.

We too used photocopies in addition to originals on our last trip. We found that on those dark and stormy nights, when you go below in your foulies to plot your position and drip on your chart, copies have a tendency to turn to mush, ink smears, and life gets more difficult.

Ours get pretty wet sometimes and don't smear or get mushy.

You don't lose any detail to the copy process in my experience, and we've used lots of these. The lack of color is no problem at all for someone experienced at using charts. If you really want to highlight the shoal areas or a danger you could just use a highlighter. You should be looking for them anyway. We don't bother.

There is a difference between "photocopied" charts and charts made with a photocopy process by a professional company like BCP. I've made my own copies and they do have the problems you mention [detail was lost, turn to mush, ink smears].

We also like the downsized version of the charts since Scotty Ann is small and has no dedicated chart table.

I have used Bellingham photocopies with no problems. Yes, you do lose something without the color but it usually does not matter, just be more careful. There are a few places in the world where I would recommend current, full-color government charts, for example: Torres Straits entering Australia.

The cost savings are enormous. Bluewater also does photocopies, on slightly better paper than Bellingham. I have not had any charts turn to mush or have ink smear but they do need to be kept dry.

Armchair Sailor in Seattle does copies as well. Most of our charts between Seattle and San Diego are copies from them. Only our Eastern Pacific chart which we expect to use and use and use is the real thing. So far (after 3 years) ours are holding up fine and are perfectly clear. So far we haven't gotten ours wet yet though. Guess we've been lucky.

We have a large set of Bellingham charts, 75% are 2/3 size and the rest are full size. As far as copies go they are as good as any I have found. The real issues is, do copies work as well as the real thing. The answer in my mind is a strong NO! For general ocean passages copies are ok but for island groups they do not provide the detail I want in a chart. In Fiji copies would be a mistake: too many reefs and details that are hard to read on a dark night. If money prevents you from getting the real thing I suggest you carefully mark the chart in color prior to sailing in the area. This way you can identify hazards in advance and make sure they can be easily seen. If you have the dollars, don't compromise.

I used 'em [Bellingham charts] but spent some winter(?) evenings with a hi-lighter pen to outline the land edges. Otherwise they're fine. Colored charts are easier on the eye to quickly find features. Generally I commit a specific chart area to memory before arrival so quick reference orientation is easier.

I used them (for some areas). Biggest problem is their life expectancy. Get em wet and they're toast. Highlighters run 3 times as bad as the photocopy which also smudges. Folds tear very quickly. If you plan to use them again and again better make a backup because they don't last unless you never take em to the cockpit.

Ink highlighters can be a problem on copies or real charts. We have a good selection of colored pencils that do the job very well. In prep for going into a new area I will spend a day on the charts and fill in areas of concern with the colored pencil; it not only leaves me more assured of our safety but also helps me to find areas that may not be shown in the cruising guides.

The AIS is a shipboard broadcast system that acts like a transponder, operating in the VHF maritime band. Each AIS system consists of one VHF transmitter, two VHF TDMA receivers, one VHF DSC receiver, and standard marine electronic communications links (IEC 61162 / NMEA 0183) to shipboard display and sensor systems. The system coverage range is similar to other VHF applications, essentially depending on the height of the antenna. The system is backwards compatible with digital selective calling systems, allowing shore-based GMDSS systems to inexpensively establish AIS operating channels and identify and track AIS-equipped vessels, and is intended to fully replace existing DSC-based transponder systems.

A Class A AIS unit broadcasts the following information every 2 to 10 seconds while underway, and every 3 minutes while at anchor at a power level of 12.5 watts. The information broadcast includes: MMSI number, navigation status, rate of turn, speed over ground, lat/long, course over ground, heading.

In addition, the Class A AIS unit broadcasts the following information every 6 minutes: radio call sign, name of ship, type of ship/cargo, dimensions of ship, draught of ship, destination.

... Not all commercial vessels are required to use AIS and there are tugs and barges out there with no signal.

In an AIS message the distinction between moored and underway is purely an operator input, which means it can be incorrect.

You can trust only the automatic portions of the AIS messages (speed, heading, position and MMSI number). You should not blindly trust the operator input data (navigation status, IMO number, ship name). I once detected a 800 foot long ship claiming to be "Underway-Sail" and often see ships claiming to be moored which are moving at 12 knots.

There is a similar discussion going on about this on the Great Loop discussion list, and a well-seasoned cruiser I know posted this summary which I picked up from the digest this morning (owns a Monk 36, by the way): Obviously one reason I post this is because he largely echoes my comments so far on this thread. And to a large degree those of others who cruise their boats long distances:

Perhaps this might help some folks put into context what AIS can and cannot do. It's not my intent to beat a dead horse. These were some thoughts that came up in an off-list exchange that I thought might add more light than heat to this discussion. Item 1 is history, 2-12 are as I have personally observed them over the last 6 years and 30K miles of cruising (several trips up the Hudson to the Thousand Islands, the Great Loop, the A-ICW 9 times, the NJ ICW from Cape May to Manasquan twice, the Abacos and the St. Lawrence Seaway):

1. AIS was developed under SOLAS for COMMERCIAL SHIPPING, *not* pleasure craft. It is an international (SOLAS) safety standard. In the US, the FCC did not type approve Class-B (pleasure boat scale systems) AIS units until long after they were available from manufacturers; they came within nano-meters of not type approving Class-B in the US at all (for what I now realize were pretty good reasons!). They were "encouraged" to approve by Homeland Security, who thinks they can keep track of *all* boats with motors using AIS; just try to imagine that chaos!!!
2. Not all commercial vessels are required (by coast guard regulation) to carry AIS.
3. Only a small percentage - the largest gross tonnage - commercial vessels actually carry AIS.
4. Small harbor tugs and work barges *do not* carry AIS.
5. Most Moran and McAllister ocean-going tugs do carry AIS; they do not - will not - respond to Class-B callers !
6. The Navy and the Coast Guard carry, but usually do not use, AIS (run in "quiet" mode); the bad guys might see them coming, dontcha know ...
7. On the Inland Rivers, only large towboats that operate in the controlled ports of New Orleans and Mobile carry AIS; that accounts for 75% - 80% of large river tows; Casino boats do not generally carry AIS.
8. On the East Coast A-ICW, only a very small percentage of commercial traffic carries AIS; only a slightly higher percentage on the gulf coast ICW, and the bulk of that in the area of New Orleans and Mobile.
9. In NY Harbor, only a small percentage of commercial traffic carries AIS.
10. Some of the Staten Island Ferries carry; some do not. All ferries or cruise boats carrying 150 passengers or more have a security zone associated with them, so if you're near one, AIS or not, you're already in trouble.
11. Water taxis and fast ferries from Atlantic Highlands and Weehawken *do not* carry AIS.
12. Most large ships do filter AIS in harbor areas, and on the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.

By far, the area where having an AIS receiver was of the greatest value to Sanctuary was on the Tennessee River and the Tenn-Tom Waterway, where we could call tows by name; it was also of moderate value in the Tennessee River Lake country. It was useless in Mobile Harbor because of the number of hits, mostly from moored ships. This is typical of all large harbors, including NY, Elizabeth, Baltimore, Norfolk/Portsmouth, Morehead City, Charleston and Savannah. It has never been of any value on the Neuse River, Pamlico or Albemarle Sounds, Cape Fear or Beaufort River, or Port Royal Sound. It is of little value on the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, and Tampa Bay, where the big fellows all run in well-documented channels. It is of no value on the Chesapeake Bay Rivers (James, York, Rappahannock, Potomac), the Gulf-ICW or in South Florida generally. It was of little value on the Great Lakes, except possibly for night crossings, I guess.

That leaves the remaining issue of clutter. That's obviously up to each captain, but my advocacy remains with a dual-channel receiver, not a transponder. Just keep a good helm watch. At trawler speeds, that's plenty of safety margin!

• AIS sends info on two VHF channels. An old single-channel receiver that flips back and forth between the two channels often will miss information broadcasts, perhaps for hours. Upgrade to a dual-channel receiver.
  
  
• A standalone AIS unit is preferable to a system using a chartplotter or laptop computer and external GPS. It will use much less power, so you're more likely to use it 24/7, as you should. It may allow adding a louder external alarm. The controls will be simpler. Reliability will be higher. You can add connections to chartplotter or laptop computer as a backup in case the AIS display or buttons fail. Author's experience has been that dedicated unit displays info minutes sooner than chartplotter or laptop, and chartplotter sometimes displays incorrect details.
  
  
• Your info (including MMSI number) has to be programmed into the AIS transponder by the vendor before it is shipped to you (legal requirement).
  
  
• Connection to a laptop computer may be required to finish installing the AIS unit and verifying that it works, even if the laptop is not required for routine operations.
  
  
• Some transponder units include VHF switching so your VHF radio and AIS transponder can share the same VHF antenna.
  
  
• Author installed and likes the Vesper Marine AIS WatchMate 650 display and Digital Yacht SPL250 transponder-and-antenna-splitter. There is a new unit, Vesper Marine AIS WatchMate 850, which integrates everything into one box.
  
  

Hand held windmeters: There are the 3 cups type (fragile/expensive). There are the modern tiny turbine type [e.g. Kestrel] (expensive and need batteries). There are doubtless other types. However - the time has come for me to own one for myself, and the type I am looking for is the disc-rises-up-inside-a-clear-cylinder kind. And no-one seems to make them anymore. ...

... at the boat's level the wind is always a bit gusty, making its way around the various parts of the boat. ... If we use ours it's more for entertainment than real need. ...

The only time I've attempted to use a handheld anemometer was in an Atlantic crossing. When we were most interested in wind speed, the waves were so high the deck-level anemometer was pretty useless.

It seems to me that there are only four windspeeds: motoring, full sails, reefed, bare-poles.

What you must realize is that you don't just buy a navigator-program; at the same time you choose a type, a family of charts. Amongst others you can choose C-Map, or Maptech or Transas. ...

I also looked into the Nobletec Suite. We are planning on several years of cruising from the Mid-Atlantic area down the ICW, through the Bahamas and then into the Caribbean. After investigating the cost of the Nobletec charts for all this I was informed that it would run about $2000. That is just too expensive for me. I guess a chart program like that would be ok if you were staying in one area. But the nature of cruising means that we will not be staying in one area so I guess I will have to settle with paper charts which you would need onboard anyway. The technology is nice but until the cost becomes reasonable I will have to continue living in the dark ages.

One thing often overlooked in these software selections is the cost of the necessary raster source charts. Jeppesen have their own variety which is about half the price of the Maptech series. This can add up considerably if you are looking at going down the East Coast for example.

I don't recommend that anyone substitute using these programs instead of mastering some basic piloting skills.

We are using Chart View Planner. I think it is wonderful. Considering that I don't use a computer on-board, and that I do coastal cruising, this is perfect for me. I can make routes as quickly as I can click the mouse, compare parallel routes on screen, print the 'route strip charts' that I want to keep, and go sailing. The Perfect Quilting feature is really nice. This lets me move from one chart to another without even a hiccup - even if the two charts are not the same scale. If two adjoining charts are different scales, they will be shown as if they are the same scale. Also, it never runs to the edge of a chart, within my operating area. Up-load/down-load of waypoint and route information between the computer and GPS is no problem.

If I were going to use a computer on-board, I would buy the next level up, that shows position info on-screen in real time.

We use Maptech Reg. 8 Chart CD with the Chart View Planner, and it too is wonderful. The charts look better than real, and they are just about the most up to date available.

I also have Maptech's Chart Navigator. Awkward to use, slow, and jerky.

A friend uses The Cap'n and likes it. I have seen it in action, and it appears awkward to use, jerky, and runs right to the edge of a chart before it tries to find the adjacent chart. Then there is a delay while the next chart 'loads'. Perhaps he does not know how to operate it properly.

...

I don't use the tides and currents on my Chart View Planner. I don't like that information to appear on my charts. I do use a separate tide program, but on the other hand, tide tables are free just about anywhere in this country.

...

... for long distance cruising the cost of charts could put a serious dent in the kitty. The Maptech CD Chart Kit for the Florida West Coast and the Keys sells for about $200, while the paper version, which are wonderful charts, sells for about $115, which is much less than the equivalent NOAA charts.

The same thing applies to GPS chart plotters. For example, currently (Nov 2000) a Garmin G-Chart covering Tampa to Key West sells for about $300 (similar for the competition). G-Charts for the entire east coast would cost serious money.

...

Generally, I subscribe to the KISS philosophy, and even though I love the hi-tech tools, I won't be buying a chart plotter any time soon. A basic GPS will do everything necessary, and is so cheap (Garmin 12 is currently $130) that if it vomits once just throw it away and get out a spare. Besides, we should all be keeping a current DR anyhow. The Chart View Planner that I use is definitely a toy, and great fun. However, I don't plan to use it outside my local area.

I'd say the [Cap'n] program was not set up properly if it was stalling out at the edge of charts.

In Cap'n 4.0 and 4.5, at least, you can tell the software it should switch charts 5 miles (or 3 or 8.7 or whatever) from the edge of the existing chart.

Personally, I find the lack of a quilting feature in The Cap'n annoying, but I also find Visual Navigation Suite (with quilting) is unstable and drops out too often.

Different strokes for different folks.

We've settled on Nobletec VNS, but did so in a round-about manner. A friend sold me his Chartview Pro for diddly-squat in thanks for helping him with his boat systems. I liked it ok, but was concerned that they had been bought by Nobletec and that there might not be future support. So we upgraded to VNS. (Nobletec treats Chartview Pro owners as if they own a prior version of VNS.) Since we're in the middle of an extensive refit, I've only had one short cruise with VNS so can't vouch for it either way. I've been playing with it in the interim to get a feel for it.

I can say that with each successive patch or version upgrade more and more parts of it are broken. When talking to Nobletec at the boat show I was told that the patches and upgrades really don't install well and that I would be better off uninstalling and reinstalling a complete new version instead of the step-by-step patches. Big hassle, but we'll see if it cures it's ills.

The other thing I've noticed is that it is a major memory hog. And to make matters worse, it has memory leaks especially near the outer edges of the installed charts. I have a 1 ghz machine with 256 megs of memory and VNS will periodically bring it to it's knees, but so far only when I've been manually scrolling around large areas of the ocean. (I was playing with straight routes Vs great circle routes.) Even after closing all the charts I had open, it wouldn't release all the extra memory it had allocated. I finally had to just shut it down.

But it is easy to use, and that's a big plus. Time will tell. We may return using only our backup charts.

After a decade of using Nobeltec and most of the other echart nav systems, last month I did a side by side of Nobeltec and Fugawi ENC comparison on a CT - Lake Champlain and return.

My advice - if you already have a program and know it well - stick with it. Familiarity may breed contempt but it is invaluable when you have a problem. If you are just starting out, Fugawi ENC wins hands down. It supports raster and ENC [the free charts] very well, is less expensive, and the support is excellent. ENC is the future and Fugawi clearly is in the lead so learning it now will pay dividends. ...

We have used several different electronic charting systems, and there are things you should know about each:

Nobletec is a fabulous system, but the software is about $500 and each Passport chart region is $250 (US). The Passport charts are vector charts; that is, they are built up from a database, and thus are always in the same orientation, and the detail is incredible. However, the Passport charts for Lakes Erie and Huron are for US waters only; they do not show Canadian detail. The Nobletec system supports Maptech raster (scanned) charts, and some others, but when I started using Softchart raster scans, the system was unhappy and gave me bad data.

Maptech makes great charts. Each chart disc also comes with photos and a lot of other detail such as marine facilities. I do not like the system; it is short on controls and hard to use underway, though that may be a function of what I'm used to.

The Cap'n seems to be a better system, and supports both Maptech and Softchart charts flawlessly, and the controls are good. Neither Maptech or the Cap'n support vector charts.

You might also look at Garmin's Blue Chart package. A single disc covers everywhere with vector charts, costs $139 US which includes one chart region; additional regions are $99. You can upload small sections of charts to a mapping Garmin GPS or chartplotter. I don't know if it works at all with other brand units.

A final note: don't attempt this without good paper charts. There are places in electronic charts where there is no data, as in the approach to Drummond, and the only place you will find depths and marks is Richardson's. Then there is the danger of relying completely on a computer ...

I have discovered downside of Garmin Bluecharts on CD. Ready to add 2 new chart areas, Garmin says I need FREE update CD, nice I think. Next I find that to use it, even with new unlock cards, ($89 ea at Defender) I must pay $75 extra to upgrade each old chart that I purchased 7-13 months ago. Otherwise I can unlock more OLD charts on CD. Seems I must upgrade minimum of one old chart area to make it accept any new updated maps for the new unlock cards. An alternative was offered, that I buy a NEW ver 5.5 CD, not using the "FREE update" CD. This is $139 at West Marine, but includes one more unlock card. Nowhere are these policies explained in Garmin literature; the first phone tech support person had no knowledge of it either. This makes me wish that I had gone Laptop PC rather than Garmin Chartplotter. Garmin definitely should not offer a FREE CD that has fees to use it that are not disclosed.

[Re: Free charts on-line:]

1. http://www.maptech.com/search/digitalcharts/index.cfm
 1. Choose area
 2. Chosse sub-area
 3. Select show charts
 4. Click view it!
Small scale charts only available for the US territorial waters.

2. http://www.boatchart.com/mapping/chart/chartindex.cfm

You can also create routes with this site, and I think it is more easy to navigate through the charts.

Large scale chart available for the whole World.
Small scale chart available for North America, and north part of South America, some parts of the Pacific also covered.

3. http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/mcd/enc/download.htm

You can download for testing purposes digitised NOAA vector charts. You can also download a navigational software for the maps. Only parts of the USA is available yet, but this is absolutely free.

4. http://advocacy-net.com/mapmks.htm

A link collections of maps around the world, not for navigation.

5. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/index.html

A lot of maps around the world (most of them are not nautical).

> I am trying to buy a GPS Chartplotter but struggling every step of the way.
>
> The chips seem very expensive (2 to 3 hundred a piece) and are more convenient
> but are they really that much better than having a CD that you download what you need ? >
> I'm not worried about the convenience issue. I want to know what you get in
> the chip that you don't get in a CD.
>
> I have heard that you don't get a lot of depths in the CD.

I prefer the CDs for a variety of reasons:

They are a lot less expensive.
They are easily updatable.
CDs will, in the future, contain much more local information, like marinas and fuel docks.
You'll be able to update the data via downloads from the web.

You'll notice that most of the new units coming out, at least the recreational ones, are CD based. However, the cartridges are "plug and play" and currently, as you note, provide charts with more detail.

NMEA is basically a single talker, multiple listener system. You can connect all the devices (radar/chartplotter, autopilot, cockpit repeaters, ...) to your GPS in parallel and everything will work fine, but there is not device intercommunication in the SeaTalk sense. You can also buy an NMEA multiplexor if you have more than one talker, but again, this just muxes multiple inputs into a single output for distribution to the other devices.

Most NMEA compatible devices can drive 3 listeners. Some can drive less, some more. If you are connecting to an autopilot and a radar, neither of these needs to talk TO the GPS unless you want the compass information from the autopilot to go to the GPS. I think you should be able to wire the OUTPUT from the GPS to the chartplotter, and the autopilot, and the radar. Then decide which unit has the most valuable information to send to your GPS and wire ONLY that unit to the INPUT of the GPS.

Some GPS units have more than one NMEA port so you could then wire more than one unit to the GPS thus getting the compass info to the GPS from the autopilot AND, if you are using a computer as a chartplotter, still be able to up and download waypoints and routes between the computer and the GPS.

Caution: Many autopilots will not operate well with too much data (other than what is required) coming in the NMEA port. Try it out in safe waters before you rely on it. If you have more than one NMEA port on your GPS, I recommend dedicating one of these outputs to ONLY send the data the autopilot needs to see.