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Old 04-11-2012, 13:12   #1
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NV Charts of the Bahamas

I am using Sea Clear and have been very happy with it. I have navigated up and down the east coast and Gulf Coast and have found it to be intuitive to use after some early teething pains. I am looking to go to the bahamas and am considering the NV Charts combination Pack because they include the BSB charts that are compatible. I have seen everyones positive comments about Explorer charts but they are not available as compatible electronic charts, only cmap cartridges.

Does anyone have experience with the NV charts in the Bahamas and comments + or - about these charts. These are NV charts not Navionics.


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Old 04-11-2012, 18:22   #2
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Re: NV Charts of the Bahamas

I haven't used SeaClear in the Bahamas yet and can't say if it supports the NV charts. But there is a Yahoo Group for Seaclear with some very knowledgeable folks. Chuck
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Old 05-11-2012, 07:39   #3
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Wink Re: NV Charts of the Bahamas

I was not concerned about the functionality of SeaClear II, only about the accuracy of the NV-Charts. I have posted a parallel query on the Sea Clear Yahoo group.

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Old 05-11-2012, 08:06   #4
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Re: NV Charts of the Bahamas

I have not used NV charts. A while ago someone from NV posted here and claimed they had done their own surveys of the Bahamas. I have not seen any reports from users as to their accuracy. Explorer charts are the gold standard as far as the Bahamas goes. They are available with Garmin and C-Maps. I have also seen them on CD's but do not know who put them out.
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Old 05-11-2012, 16:47   #5
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Re: NV Charts of the Bahamas

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mhorowitz View Post
... I am looking to go to the bahamas and am considering the NV Charts combination Pack because they include the BSB charts that are compatible....
I don't think the new ones are compatible with SeaClear. They are suppose to be compatible with OpenCPN with a plugin that is free and available.

Maybe look at this thread also...

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ion-89502.html

It looks like the NV charts might still be in BSB3 which should work with SeaClear, but they might have the wrong file extension for SeaClear to work with them. If you get them and find they do work with SeaClear will you please PM me with that info.

If/when we go to the Bahamas we plan on using the NV Charts with OpenCPN and also buying the Explorer charts. We will get the 3 chart set from NV...

..::NV-Charts.com::..

We have used SeaClear up to this point and I like the program, but have started switching over to OpenCPN and see us using it most of the time in the future.

One thing I really like about it over SeaClear is the tide and current information right on the chart. Before with SeaClear I would have to look on the Garmin handheld 76S for for the tide info where we were and had no current info.

OpenCPN just seems to have more features being added to it all of the time and SeaClear seems to be where it is.

Good luck and please let me know if the NV charts do work with SeaClear,

Sum
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Old 08-11-2012, 11:41   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sumner

I don't think the new ones are compatible with SeaClear. They are suppose to be compatible with OpenCPN with a plugin that is free and available.

Maybe look at this thread also...

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ion-89502.html

It looks like the NV charts might still be in BSB3 which should work with SeaClear, but they might have the wrong file extension for SeaClear to work with them. If you get them and find they do work with SeaClear will you please PM me with that info.

If/when we go to the Bahamas we plan on using the NV Charts with OpenCPN and also buying the Explorer charts. We will get the 3 chart set from NV...

..::NV-Charts.com::..

We have used SeaClear up to this point and I like the program, but have started switching over to OpenCPN and see us using it most of the time in the future.

One thing I really like about it over SeaClear is the tide and current information right on the chart. Before with SeaClear I would have to look on the Garmin handheld 76S for for the tide info where we were and had no current info.

OpenCPN just seems to have more features being added to it all of the time and SeaClear seems to be where it is.

Good luck and please let me know if the NV charts do work with SeaClear,

Sum

=====================================
All I bought the NV CHARTS Region 9 kit covering all of Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. I installed it with their installer and then copied the KAP files into my Seaclear charts directory rescanned for new charts using Mapcalc. It is all working and looks good. Don't know how accurate they are til I get their.

Fair Winds

Mark
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Old 08-11-2012, 11:46   #7
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All.


Bought the NV Charts Region 9 Bahamas kit installed and functioning with Seaclear in 1/2 hr

Won't know about accuracy til I get there buy they look good.
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Old 08-11-2012, 17:24   #8
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Re: NV Charts of the Bahamas

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Originally Posted by Mhorowitz View Post
All.


Bought the NV Charts Region 9 Bahamas kit installed and functioning with Seaclear in 1/2 hr

Won't know about accuracy til I get there buy they look good.
Thanks, that is good to know. I'm probably going to totally switch from SeaClear to OpenCPN, but still like SeaClear in some ways and would like it if I could use either. Sounds like that is the case with the NV charts,

Sum
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Old 11-02-2013, 08:16   #9
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Just got back from Bahamas the NV Charts were decent mostly. But....the chart for North Bimini Alice Town entrance did not accurately reflect recent dredging. Also, and much more problematic was the chart for the entrance into Emerald Bay Marina. Following the chart put us onto a reef which luckily did only minor damage to our keel although at one point we thought we would not get off so easily. When we compared our charts with Navionics and Explorer the NV Chart was almost 50 ft off.

After that fiasco it was quite unnerving going anywhere where precise placement was critical. In the end those were the only places where the charts let us down.
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Old 11-02-2013, 11:03   #10
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Re: NV Charts of the Bahamas

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mhorowitz View Post
Just got back from Bahamas the NV Charts were decent mostly. But....the chart for North Bimini Alice Town entrance did not accurately reflect recent dredging. Also, and much more problematic was the chart for the entrance into Emerald Bay Marina. Following the chart put us onto a reef which luckily did only minor damage to our keel although at one point we thought we would not get off so easily. When we compared our charts with Navionics and Explorer the NV Chart was almost 50 ft off.

After that fiasco it was quite unnerving going anywhere where precise placement was critical. In the end those were the only places where the charts let us down.
Thanks for the update. Sounds like you have to be careful and not put total faith in them and we try that approach with about anything we use. Sometimes in water that isn't clear though you are trusting them quite a bit,

Sum
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Old 13-02-2013, 04:16   #11
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Re: NV Charts of the Bahamas

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mhorowitz View Post
Just got back from Bahamas the NV Charts were decent mostly. But....the chart for North Bimini Alice Town entrance did not accurately reflect recent dredging. Also, and much more problematic was the chart for the entrance into Emerald Bay Marina. Following the chart put us onto a reef which luckily did only minor damage to our keel although at one point we thought we would not get off so easily. When we compared our charts with Navionics and Explorer the NV Chart was almost 50 ft off.

After that fiasco it was quite unnerving going anywhere where precise placement was critical. In the end those were the only places where the charts let us down.
Navionics charts of the Bahamas will also lead you over reefs and cays in the Bahamas. The only accurate electronic charts of the Bahamas are those based on Explorer data, Garmin and newC-Map. As I have posted frequently on this forum, I have made Navionics aware of the problems I found but afaik no corrections have been made. They did offer me a "new" chip but the new one was worse than the old one as proprietary data had been removed. Many unhappy Raymarine plotter users in the Bahamas.
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