NOAA charts in your plotter?

Tim R. · Feb 21, 2009

All the "charplotters" I know of use proprietary charts. All the charts are based on the NOAA originals but have been coded for each unit. Garmin charts will not work on a Raymarine and vice versa.

It is possible to use a Windows based unit as a chartplotter and code the NOAA charts yourself.

I use a chartplotter at the helm, a laptop at the nav station and my mobile phone or handheld as a backup.

seadaddler · Feb 21, 2009

Different

They all seem to take different type of loading of chips and different ways of loading charts.
I have had two different raymarine chartplotters and they both were different models and they both used different chips from different companies for the charts.
I had a Garmin hand held and they used different cd's with charts for down loading.
I know Raymarine use different companies on different chartplotters also,so I would say that you can not use a garmin in a raymarine chartplotter,but I think you could down load Noaa charts to laptop with charting software.
I am no expert on these things that's why I have a Raymarine C-80 chartplotter and also have paper charts.
Nick

RECESS · Feb 21, 2009

Scott

I powered up my unit, there is a rather large difference between Hotmaps and Navionics Gold+. The unit allows you to read just the Hotmaps or the Gold+ or all information from both. Much much more depth information and wreck detail and dangerous areas for the Gold+. The Gold+ loaded on these units also has maps for all of the continental U.S. waters, The Florida Keys, and The Bahamas.

I think we both will need to purchase a computer cable for the serial bus as it allows us to update our maps and system from the Humminbird site.

sailingdog · Feb 21, 2009

Most of the manufacturers either have a tie to a commercial map vendor, or have their own proprietary maps. Garmin has a huge GIS department, since they do so much, and produce their own electronic charts. Raymarine, Furuno and the others usually use someone else’s charts, like Navionics, C-Map, etc.

AFAIK, none can use the ENC or BSB formatted maps on their chart plotters. The manufacturers have no financial incentive for doing so. Most of the PC-based chart plotter applications can use ENC and/or BSB formatted charts, but these aren’t dedicated chartplotters and as such don’t fall into the chartplotter category really.

Stu Jackson · Feb 21, 2009

Don't know if your "theoretical" question is aimed at

your Humminbird conundrum or really generic, Hermit.

Try this for the generic answer: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/westadvisor/10001/-1/10001/ElectronicCharts.htm

The free ENC downloads and such software as has been discussed here many times, Sea Clear, is beyond the scope of the WMA, because one, it's free, and two, they ain't sellin' it!

sailingdog · Feb 21, 2009

SeaClear also doesn't do ENC format charts IIRC, it only does the older BSB, raster-format charts.

Stu Jackson said:
your Humminbird conundrum or really generic, Hermit.

Try this for the generic answer: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/westadvisor/10001/-1/10001/ElectronicCharts.htm

The free ENC downloads and such software as has been discussed here many times, Sea Clear, is beyond the scope of the WMA, because one, it's free, and two, they ain't sellin' it!

jibes138 · Feb 21, 2009

Maptech

You can get the maptech charts for use on your PC then link a GPS with a USB to the PC and it will work as a chartplotter. Now you just need a full enclosure to keep the PC dry. I don't bother with any of this stuff preferring to plot my position on charts and just using lower price GPS and an old LORAN to give me Lat/Lon. This forces me to keep my navigation skill honed. A large part of sailing is the fun of navigating. Get a nice set of parallel rules, a divider, a compass (the kind you draw circles with) and some charts. You need to understand variation and deviation, set, drift, advancing lines of position and all the other fun stuff. Take a course or at least study up and practice. i wouldn't consider a chartplotter until you can navigate well in pea soup fog with currents, tides, and wind and still be able to get into port without incident. Since most of my sailing was in New England over the years these were the prevailing conditions and typical 99% of the time. The other 1% I could see where I was going and just had to avoid the rocks and sand bars.
I remember one time a guy in a 16 foot runabout with a wife and kids on board approach me in visibility of about 30 feet in the Watch Hill channel in front of napatree beach, fairly narrow passage with rocks on one side and the beach on the other. Ferry boats use it as the main route to Block Island so there was also large ship traffic to be concerned with. The guy asked me which direction he should go to get back in and I said go north and you will get to the beach. He said he didn't have a compass. Can you imagine going on the open ocean in fog without a compass??? I threw him a key chain compass and told him to go north and anchor by the beach until it cleared up.

sailingdog · Feb 21, 2009

jibes138 said:
I remember one time a guy in a 16 foot runabout with a wife and kids on board approach me in visibility of about 30 feet in the Watch Hill channel in front of napatree beach, fairly narrow passage with rocks on one side and the beach on the other. Ferry boats use it as the main route to Block Island so there was also large ship traffic to be concerned with. The guy asked me which direction he should go to get back in and I said go north and you will get to the beach. He said he didn't have a compass. Can you imagine going on the open ocean in fog without a compass??? I threw him a key chain compass and told him to go north and anchor by the beach until it cleared up.

This guy was bucking for a Darwin award. Really, really stupid thing to do. Probably didn't have flares or a horn either.

Bill Roosa · Feb 21, 2009

Navigation certified

IF the chart plotter is "certified" then they have to use the USCG approved charts. Those are the BSB and ENC charts available from the NOAA site for the US coverage. With that said, the different manufacturers use odd memory chip sizes or obfuscating file structures to hid the fact that with some ingenuity and work you can get the free charts to work on your certified plotter. What you don't get is all the extra data like phone numbers to shore facilities and pictures of the harbor....
Maptech chart navigator, for instance, has a parser (getting geeky a) that will suck out the paragraphs from the coastal pilot download and display it once you mouse over a reference. I manually parsed the coastal pilot and it works great. Figuring out the file structure and the map key layer structure was the hard part but you only have to do that once a year. I now just have a copy of the coastal pilot in .pdf format and do a search to find any reference I run across. MUCH easier.
You get what you pay for but for navigation you really need to consider the cost and what you are getting. You NEED navigation data that is up to date and the NOAA charts are the baseline for everybody, if that other data is important to you then you have to make the determination of wither the cost is worth it. For $90 a pop I'm getting a PCMCIA card reader/writer and doing it myself. The first time you update pays for the card.

sailingdog · Feb 21, 2009

Bill—

If the system is an ECDIS, yes, it has to use government charts. I don't know of any small chartplotters that are certified as an ECDIS system. Most ECDIS systems are far too complex, power hungry and expensive for use on a small sailboat.

If you have the name of one that is suitable for a small craft... I'd love to hear more about it.

Using a PC as a "chartplotter" isn't the same thing at all...and none of the software I've seen is certified for use as an ECDIS.

Stu Jackson · Feb 21, 2009

Options, we got options

Hermit Scott said:
1. This is a question for the plotter I am getting and a generic question for plotters in general. It would be nice if someone would make a plotter that read free maps, but why would they do that?

2. Bill- I have read some of the threads dealing with seaclear. That looks great if you have a pilot house, otherwise inconvienent to have a pc in the cockpit. The chart card I need is $90, no big deal, but if I can get it for free...

3. I will have a computer aboard. I did consider buying a waterproof LCD, the kind used in the shower, and running a cable to it. But it's just seems better to have a dedicated plotter in the cockpit.

1. You got it, we all agree with that one! Good to hear the reason for your question, as I guessed earlier.

2. PCs in the cockpit have pretty much been found short for smaller boats. I agree. There was a recent discussion on the C36 MB about down-below vs. in the cockpit plotters. One fellow argued strongly for down below because all he claimed he needed was depth and speed up above. Many disagreed.

3. With a computer aboard you have the choices we discussed in one of the earlier threads on this topic: up above, down below, repeaters or two different systems. When you say dedicated, you could mean a single system that is in the cockpit while you have your computer down below for longer range or small scale planning. Like Seaclear. Don't know what you meant for sure. The downside of having two systems is it's twice the work. We've been comfortable with a Garmin GPSMap 76 Cx, with its charts. I can plan on my home computer and transfer routes and waypoints to the hand held. I dump the old material from the handheld to separate clearly named files on my home computer for future use. The best of all worlds, for me, would be to have a laptop on board, but we don't have one. One day I'll convince The Admiral, one day, one day...one day at a time!

The downside of a dedicated cockpit is that you don't have the luxury of doing planning down below, like when it's raining.

Good luck with your new system. It'll be interesting to learn what comes in the box you bought.

sailingdog · Feb 21, 2009

I use a laptop aboard my boat regularly, but not for navigation purposes. I mainly use it for writing and work, and do use it for voyage planning... but can't see any sense in exposing it to the elements that would kill it.

RECESS · Feb 21, 2009

I did a little reading on Navionics MMC and SD cards. It seems that you cannot read the chart cards being made now by directly putting them in a laptop. You must have a Navionics card reader hooked to your PC. It seems it is their way of keeping their cards from having the map software pirated. In the reading I did I read about a guy in Australia who said he was trying to make a back up of his SD card to keep at the house just in case something happened on the water he would have a back up. He said he blanked his $200 card for his efforts. That's gotta be a horrible feeling to wipe a card you just paid $200 for, ouch.

Rick D · Feb 21, 2009

I think a laptop with a USB GPS bud and loaded with SeaClear and NOAA charts is a really good way to go. Add a Smart Radio AIS and it beats most dedicated charters IMHO for nominal money. If your boat leaks, if your chart table is under the companionway, then there is reason to not do it. Otherwise, it's a great back-up or even primary. If you worry about your laptop, you can by a hardened, military-grade surplus one fully loaded with all NOAA charts on e-bay for a lot less than a lot of the chartplotters I've seen. I think a laptop plus a basic chartplotter is the way to go. Part of the reason this works for me is because I have no need to display a chart at the helm. In SoCal, our ports are widely separated and the bottom is deep and there isn't much to run into. I find that just the waypoint information on the helm is plenty for me. I get that on my radar and autopilot, so I'm just fine with the set up.

Stu Jackson · Feb 21, 2009

There's a parallel Sea Clear II GPS thread

running right now, why not read it.

T37 SOLARE · Feb 23, 2009

My first post here, been lurking for a while.

Thought I'd add my $.02 on this topic.

For the past couple years I've been running Rose Point's Coastal Explorer on my laptop for navigating, works great but has it limitations (IE, not being able to use in the cockpit in adverse weather situations). The software come with the entire NOAA chart collection, and has an option to update the charts with the most current versions. I spent some time looking into helm monitor options, and came to the conclusion it's just not practical.

Last fall I installed a new Furuno NavNet 3D plotter, it comes preloaded with the full NOAA chart library(both raster & vector), plus high resolution satalite photos. Updates will be made available free for a while, then at a cost as the data is reformatted by MapMedia for Furuno.

So far I'm very impressed with the Furuno unit, although I've really only had the opportunity to run it a couple times.

The next step is to interconnect the 2 so I can do my planning on the PC, then transfer the routes to the plotter, plus I will be able to repeat the N2K data on the PC at the nav station (GPS, wind, depth, etc).

paulj · Feb 23, 2009

T37 SOLARE
I have Rose point also.
I used a marine moniter to view all my navigating stuff.
Marine moniter....................$1100
Computer new at BestBuy...$420
Cables2Go............................$100
RamMount............................$75
Gps puck...............................$80
Hand remote to computer.....$87

http://picasaweb.google.com/1dbpaul/Cabls2go?authkey=SpQxq_rSObs#

http://www.cablestogo.com/index.asp?cm_mmc=AdWords-_-Company+Name-_-cables2go_2720437671-_-cables2go_Exact_%7C-%7C100000000000000152986&cm_guid=1-_-100000000000000152986-_-2720437671&gclid=CJKG0K6a85gCFRo-awod2DVU1w

paulj :troll: