An Affordable Chartplotter Option?

[Joe]

Wlufibugs...... question? do you have any kind of gps now? I ask this because I think it is super important to have a handheld gps (not chartplotter) onboard. It is also important to have a set of paper charts available too. coordinating all the info through NMEA is nice..... but it won't make or break a passage.

So, my recommendation is to take your time deciding on you chartplotter options, but to run out today and purchase a handheld GPS such as the Garmin gps 76 http://www.megagps.com/gpsmap76-factoryrefurbished.aspx then purchase set of charts for your area.... such as those by Mapteck... http://www.maptech.com/water/chartkitbooks/index.cfm?infopg=buy

BTW the maptech chartbook comes with a cd version that includes nav software.

 

[wufibugs]

Good points, Sail. That kind of experience and knowledge is why I rely so heavily on this forum.

Joe, can you share with my why you feel the handheld is crucial? Are the paper charts crucial as backups if the electronics fail?

 

[sailingdog]

The fact that you ask this question makes me worry. Every boat should have paper charts of the areas they are cruising in, regardless of whether they have a chartplotter or not.

Joe, can you share with my why you feel the handheld is crucial? Are the paper charts crucial as backups if the electronics fail?

 

[Sumner]

Wlufibugs...... question? do you have any kind of gps now? I ask this because I think it is super important to have a handheld gps (not chartplotter) onboard. It is also important to have a set of paper charts available too. coordinating all the info through NMEA is nice..... but it won't make or break a passage....

Good points Joe . We recently found a new 76S with more memory than in that link for $85 on ebay, but that one is exactly like the one we bought last year. These are cheap enough I believe you should have 2. We will use one in the cockpit that will have waypoints in it downloaded from the computer and the other will be there if the one in the cockpit ever fails and it will be hooked to the VHF with the DSC.

wufibugs I would maybe think about starting your search from a different perspective. You say you are going to expand your sailing area and that it might be down to Cabo and I would assume maybe the Sea of Cortez. I would find a source for who has maps at a reasonable price for that area and any other area you plan on sailing and then find a GPS/Chartplotter that will work with those maps.

We are interested in the Sea of Cortez as a possible destination and considered the Garmin 400/500 series as they come loaded with the BlueChart g2 charts for costal US (East/West/South). Now if you look at the description............

http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/g2/region.jsp?RegionPK=25421

............... for the g2 charts they show coverage down to the tip of Baja and even further south. Sounds great, but when I called Garmin on it they say that the g2 in the chartplotters have been stripped of some of that coverage and don't go very far south of the border. Like their adds say "US Coastal waters". She couldn't tell me how far south they do go and I think they also cut out some of the North Channel :cry:. I've ask if anyone would look at their 400/500 and tell me how far south down into the Sea of Cortez the coverage goes, but so far haven't heard back from anyone. So the point I'm making is that if you get say a Garmin 400/500 and expect the charts to go that far south they might not. Find charts for where you want to go and then find a unit that will support them.

We were going to buy a 400/500 but then I realize the screen was measured diagonally and it isn't a whole lot larger than our 76. So now I'm embarked on making a computer/chartplotter.....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/Comp-ChartPlot-Index.html

....but this for sure is not for everyone. It is not a plug and play. We got a good 9 inch screen, but still it is pretty useless out in direct sunlight and is not waterproof but sure......

...shows a lot more than most GPS's or chartplotters until you get to real expensive ones. I plan on mounting it just inside the cabin where I can see it from the cockpit, but we have a small boat. Also we will chart with it and download the waypoints into the handheld. The handheld, like Joe pointed, out is key.

The charts, plotters and all of it is confusing at first. Just keep researching it as you are now doing and you will come up with something that will work for you. Unfortunately it is going to cost more than $299.00 :cry:,

c ya,

Sum

Our Trips to Lake Powell, UT - Kootenay Lake, Canada - Priest Lake, ID

Our Mac Pages

Mac Links

 

[wufibugs]

The boat had Loran, which I just removed as obsolete. I had some paper charts for Catalina Island, but frankly, never had to consult them. All my sailing has been so straightforward that compass and eyeballs have sufficed thus far. The point of this exercise is that I may be doing some more "sophisticated" sailing and would feel more comfortable with greater navigation aids. Problem is that I know very little about electronic charts. The obvious was to have paper to back up the electronics, but my question to Joe was whether there was another reason for insisting on them, such as clarity, detail, etc? I just don't know how the two compare.
I am surprised, but probably should not be, at Garmin's casual treatment of the misrepresentation of the Zone 1 chart coverage. Sure the wording seems to make it clear that it does not cover outside the US, but the drawing is significantly to the contrary. Given the volume of coastal sailing between the States and Cabo, Garmin must offer a supplement to Zone 1 that covers the area between the US and where their South/Central Zone picks up.
I looked at Sumner's home built unit. Frankly, having a relatively inexpensive plotter as suggested at around $350, a handheld gps, say $70, getting a dedicated used net or notebook for the cabin, covering all the other functions, say $200, and my existing wall mount TV [19" 1080 mostly shore power or genset], if you really wanted to splash the charts in vivid color, would be sufficiently and sufficiently redundant.

 

[Sumner]

.......... Problem is that I know very little about electronic charts. ................I am surprised, but probably should not be, at Garmin's casual treatment of the misrepresentation of the Zone 1 chart coverage. Sure the wording seems to make it clear that it does not cover outside the US, but the drawing is significantly to the contrary.......

Download SeaClear II ..............

http://www.sping.com/seaclear/

.............and/or Open CPN.....

http://www.bigdumboat.com/cpnindex.html

...... and the free NOAA charts.......

http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/OnLineViewer.html

.................. for your area or any area. Then work with them and plot some routes and if you get a handheld GPS download them into the GPS. This all costs nothing except for the handheld which you should have anyway. You can plan/plot a simple course and download it into the handheld in a few minutes. At first you will flounder around with these programs, but hang in there and they will make sense.

Start with the Open CPN as it is easier to use. I'm working with SeaClear now and it seems to be more powerful than the CPN, but not near as user friendly. Working with these will then translate pretty much to whatever you get and you can do this right now at home.

Both of these programs are all you need with a laptop and hand held in my estimation along with the NOAA charts. The problem with them is if you go outside of the NOAA chart range (inland lakes or outside USA) then it gets harder to use these as you pretty much have to scan paper charts and do some work on your part to be up an running, but from what I'm finding out I think you could do this for the Sea of Cortez, but the problem there is that a lot of charts aren't accurate for down there. Get Sea of Cortez A Cruiser's Guidebook and it will fill in a lot of blanks and has the GPS waypoints for a lot of anchorages.

With Garmin if you buy the 400/500 you won't get the coverage outside the US, but you still can turn around and buy the 1 chart mentioned and pickup that coverage down there. At least that is the way I understood it talking to them.

Finding the coverage for any of these commercially available charts is a pain and they don't describe many of them very well.

If you try the Sea Clear or Open CPN I'd help you the best I could,

Sum

Our Trips to Lake Powell, UT - Kootenay Lake, Canada - Priest Lake, ID

Our Mac Pages

Mac Links

 

[stephen Penny]

Look into a Garmin Chartplotter with gps and radar. If you are willing to purchase last year's discontinued models the cost is $1000 for Chartplotter + $400 for radar + sales tax and freight. New ones are $2000 each + sales tax and freight. GPS tied into the VHF emergency radio signal. Works great!! Feel free to contact me on what I purchased and how they were installed on a 1987 31 ft Hunter.

 

[wufibugs]

Steve, believe me I'd love to do as you suggest, but as soon as my wife spotted the invoice, it'd mean movin to the aft berth on the boat and the garage at home [which means sleeping in the Fiat]. I promised, unlike all my other promises, that I would keep this project within budget. Unfortunately, she actually looked at the budget, and demanded a line item veto. What a man will do for the warmth of a woman's body . . . . .
I am going to take Sum's advice and start working with the charts on my desktop. When I settle on a handheld, I will download some routes and see how it goes from there. Meanwhile, I will continue my research, my pestering of the forum, and my appreciation for your comments and your offers of help.

 

[stephen Penny]

Sell it as required “safety” equipment. A really heap alternative is to download charts and tide table to a i-pod, which I do not have and cannot read without reading glasses, albeit you will cannot pick up radar. Having access to all information at the helm on large screen vs. computer below is more user friendly, especially if you are sailing single.

 

[wufibugs]

If I bought what I would really like to have, I would indeed be sailing single.
I tried the safety ploy. She said she'd feel far safer sailing with the tanned competent captain a massive air conditioned Benetau 2 gangways over, and with the right halter top she said she could probably swing that for nothing.
After walking around with a pager on my hip for a few years, my son finally broke it to me that the provider had ceased service several months earlier. I just thought I was unpoplular. Until a year ago, my cell phone only took calls. My current version also has a camera, a calendar and an alarm. I consider it to be astoundingly full featured. An Ipod, as far as I know, is a an egotistical group of marine mammals.
Actually, playing with the downloaded charts is kind of fun. It will be interesting to cmpare them to paper charts.

 

[Michael Cotton]

An inexpensive GPS input to laptop chart programs is Microsoft streets & trips. This program comes with a GPS antenna that plugs into a laptop usb. Sells for about $50.