Chart Corrections

[CharlesFCook]

Hi all,

Do you keep your paper charts up to date?

Would you pay to have someone do your paper chart corrections?

How much would you pay?

This is one of my duties on the big(ish) boats I work on. I am wondering if I could do it from home to make a little extra money.

I would love to hear ideas & input.

Charlie

[Cheechako]

The problem as I see it is, for your local cruising area... you often know it pretty well already with local knowledge. For cruising outside the US/Canada etc, you cant rely on a light, bouy etc being there at all, or being the same color as the paper might say..... Still, If I had a bunch of charts I was going to use , it might be worth a couple bucks to get each updated...
So If I send you a chart from 1980... how many updates will you have to do?

[CharlesFCook]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

So If I send you a chart from 1980... how many updates will you have to do?

That's something I have not thought about. I have never had to update a chart more then 1 yr out of date. I wonder how far back the Notices to Mariners go?

[captain58sailin]

They can go back quite a long ways. My experience is, it is better to get the latest edition of the chart and then keep it up from there. Personally you couldn't pay me enough to do someone other person's chart corrections. Well you could pay me, but it would cost a lot of money. Or I would take it in trade for rum.

[SailingwithSoul]

I usually update my charts right after I run aground. Don't ask me how many times I've had to turn a 13 into a 3

Why spend money, when mother nature keeps the most accurate charts for free?

[Cheechako]

Yeah, anymore, if I found a good, but old set of charts I would just use them.... and have. Also bought new ones. But keeping them up, especially when 80% of the changes seem to be ones that mean nothing to the navigator has never seemed worth it to me. Locally, we have Captains Nautical who provides all corrections when you buy a chart. But with the price of new charts, my feeling is the land doesnt change (nor does the info collected for a chart that often). It's just another tool to be taken with some grain of salt.

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by CharlesFCook

That's something I have not thought about. I have never had to update a chart more then 1 yr out of date. I wonder how far back the Notices to Mariners go?

They only go back as far as the latest edition, but that edition could be years old....

As an example, onboard we have BA 2760 (9th November 1979 Edition) which is the very latest edition available and corrected to date, as are all charts when purchased new from a class A supplier (we received a new copy only last week)....

Now if somebody came to me with this same chart that they bought in 1979, and had never corrected it, i would suggest they use it to light the barbecue and buy a new up to date corrected one......i guarantee it will be a lot cheaper than paying someone to apply every correction that has occurred over a 33 year period.....

Would you also offer to apply and remove the Temporary and Preliminary NTM’s ? These are quite often more important than the permanent corrections, and account for the majority of complaints about the accuracy of chart information from those who do not correct their charts.....

Personally i would rather suffer 12 hours of root canal surgery, sans anaesthetic, before correcting someone else’s charts....

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

It's just another tool to be taken with some grain of salt.

Used correctly (decipher all the information on the chart correctly that is) and corrected up to date, a navigational chart is one of the better tools at your disposal......

[rakhesh]

If you are using Admiralty Charts it's not a big issue to correct any chart from the date of publication. Make sure you are using the correct edition. Go to NMWebSearch Home enter your chart numbers---> got to View selection you will be listed with all corrections in that chart with T&P. Just do the corrections. And make sure you entered the correct Notice Number on the chart. Keep your paper charts updated.

[jeremiason]

Charles

The problem is and as you are aware, there is no legal requirement for the Charts to be upated on the smaller uninspected recreational boats.

Also now, with many boats being equipped with electronic charts, most recreational boaters don't even think about their paper charts any longer. Cruisers inheriently are cheap skates and in my opinion would rather spend the money else where.

You might want to thinking about approaching local medium sized commercial operations, like dinner boats, tug companies and ferry services. They may contract you to do the changes on a regular basis.

When I was working for a couple of of those types of companies in SF Bay, they would pay me to come in and do chart updates, usually right before an inspection :-)

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by rakhesh

If you are using Admiralty Charts it's not a big issue to correct any chart from the date of publication. Make sure you are using the correct edition. Go to NMWebSearch Home enter your chart numbers---> got to View selection you will be listed with all corrections in that chart with T&P. Just do the corrections. And make sure you entered the correct Notice Number on the chart. Keep your paper charts updated.

Only if that chart was published after the 10th of April 2003, as per the link you supplied.....

"Please note that this service only contains NMs since the 10th of April 2003, and will only return NMs for Current Chart Editions."

....if the chart was published before 10th April 2003, say 10th April 1980 (and had not been corrected) then the corrections for the period 1980 to 2003 would not be available......you would have to buy an edition later than 10th April 2003.......hopefully the latest....

[JayCall]

I think Jeremiason has it right. Too many recreational boaters do not even have paper charts, or if they have them, are not so good at using them. They rely exclusively on the chartplotter. With sites like ActiveCaptain providing user generated updates as well as official updates (and now Navionics going to almost the same model), many I know rely way more than they should on electronics.