Bellingham chart printers

[dnimigon]

Having just recently been to our new aquasition, a 30 ft Catalina. I notice we have no local charts for the west coast of Mexico etc. A long story and won't get into that. Anyway been searching the internet for charts and notice Bellingham has very reasonable prices for charts that I need. full size originals for $25, 2/3 copies for $8 and full size copies for $19. Are these charts okay and will they be to scale and be able to be used for plotting etc. as in will the scale of the 2/3 copies be acurate.

[drewvta]

They have a different look and feel from regular charts. Single color, look and feel more like b&w copies than true charts. They would make a good backup for electronic charts. As a stand alone you may not be pleased. I would buy a couple of their larger scale ones (eg, great circle route or Eastern Pacific) so you can see first hand. Then you can determine if they meet your needs before sinking major cash. That's what I did and determined they would not meet my needs as stand alone paper charts.

[svmariane]

Originally Posted by drewvta

They have a different look and feel from regular charts. Single color, look and feel more like b&w copies than true charts. They would make a good backup for electronic charts. As a stand alone you may not be pleased.

We used the 3/4 sized sailing from British Columbia to La Paz. Mostly as backup for electronic charts and to record position at watch change. Also had harbour books and cruising guides.

[savoir]

The Bellingham chart packages represent great value. What they do is buy up cheap old charts from all over but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Some of the old ones are much more accurate than the new electronic ones.

I have a few by the French navy from the 1890's that are just beautifully drawn although I doubt those guys ever charted Mexico.

[dnimigon]

All sounds good guys. I am eventually going for the electronic charts once I figure out which ones but need something in meantime. I did get a quote from Bellington for two 2/3 charts. charts were cheap but shipping was triple the price of the charts. Zarcozza Marine in PVR had the charts (full size originals) and they wanted about $65 each which i thought was bad but seems closer to the Bellington prices for copies. I think I'll wait till i get back down there and grab them from the marine store.
On the same note about electronic charts i was talking with a fellow who said the Ipod with a chart package is actually better and more details then say one of the Navionics packages. Not sure as I'm not familiar with them and also don't own an Ipod. Any thoughts? I do want to get something soon. I guess some sort of plotter that'll work for us.

[savoir]

I still remember the day that a 120 year old French chart had me anchored in the bay where I was supposed to be while the C Map electronic chart had me on top of a hill.

[dnimigon]

HaHa
I know what you mean. So about the Navionics chart packages. Can a guy run these on a PC. They seem to say their for plotters etc which I don't have. They have a online version that's available online but you can't print from it and you need a WIFI for it to work which does no good when your away from shore. I wa thinking of the Gold version which should do us fine for what we're after. I'll grab some sort of GPS for figuring out where I'm at. Just need to know some deptha and where the rocks might be. Simple but safe.

[donradcliffe]

I used the copies, and the first thing I did was to take a highlighter and trace the shoreline. Once you leave the first world, you can borrow and copy paper charts for a fraction of the cost. Nowadays I just use electronic charts, which are cheaper and better.