South Pacific Electronic and Paper Chart Recommendations

[Austin]

We will be cruising the South Pacific this coming season and I need to purchase both electronic and paper charts (yes, I am one of those people who do choose to have paper charts aboard). We have a Furuno NN3D BB and have the option of either C-Map or Navionic Charts. Does anyone have any experience with the accuracy of the recent releases of these specific Chart packages that would suggest that one is preferred over the other? I also want to buy a limited number of paper charts as backups. Does anyone have any experience with the Bellingham Chart Printers 2/3 size portfolios? I was considering the South Pacific Collectors Series and the Pacific Ocean Passage Maker folio as our base package. Any experience and recommendations for these or alternate paper chart products are appreciated. Thanks for the help.

[chouliha]

Austin

It's been a number of years since cruising the SP but on my last trip we had a collection of various charts (French, US, NZ, AUS, BA) and in addition used the 2/3 Bellingham charts. We found them to be just as good as any other we used. Even with the larger size charts we always had a stamp magnifier at hand. So yes the Bellingham charts worked fine. With that said we found some charts had more detail in specific areas than others. For example we found the BA charts to be much better for Fiji than others.

On this trip (departed 2005) we have been sailing Central and South America we have been using openCPN with cm93 and cm95 charts. In addition we are also using GE2KAP program to creat Google earth charts. We have found Opencpn used with GE chartlets to be terrific. Both programs are free and so easy to use. This method has allowed us to get into places where regular charts are lacking detail. In addition we are using a Furuno chart plotter(CMap) and INavX on our ipad. Of all the above mentioned hands down OpenCPN wins out for its ease of use, being able to create our own charts and over all versatility.

We are also from the school to have paper charts onboard just in case but to be honest it's a backup for us.

Safe sailing and good luck. See you in the SP this coming season

Chuck
Jacaranda




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[chouliha]

Austin

If you are on the Pacific side and passing thru Puerto Vallarta there is a large chart lending library that covers all the Pacific. You sign out the charts you need and then take them to a local copy shop. For about $1-2 a chart you could have the entire SP.

Where are you located?




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[Austin]

Chuck,

Thanks for sharing your experience and information. We will be leaving the San Diego area in January and heading south. I had also heard about the chart lending library in PV. Something we will want to look at. I am also planning to use OpenCPN and GE charts to augment the NN3D system.

[Neptune's Gear]

all the very latest NZ charts are available for download for free - the link is on the Opencpn site. They are the same as the NZ paper charts.

For the remote parts of the SP, there are no perfect charts, paper or otherwise. be a bit more cautious than you are at home and you'll be fine.

NZ and Ausy charts are good, the others less so, and the further you get from civilization the worse they are, but it's manageable, even with CM93, which is what many cruisers have.

[BambooSailor]

For about $1-2 a chart you could have the entire SP.

Yes, those paper copies do get expensive . I am using C-MAP Mega wide on C-cards (with Standard Horizon chartplotter). For example, AU-M007.29 covers most of South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia and contains more than 1900 charts/chartlets, for about $300. These charts are updated twice a year (for a fee).

[chouliha]

Austin

May I suggest you join the Yahoo Southbound Group which covers Mexico to Peru. Also the yahoo Puddle Jump Group covering the SP.

The chart lending Library in Puerto Vallarta can be seen here http://cruiserscomfort.com/charts

All the best

Chuck


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[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Austin

..... We have a Furuno NN3D BB and have the option of either C-Map or Navionic Charts. Does anyone have any experience with the accuracy of the recent releases of these specific Chart packages that would suggest that one is preferred over the other? .....

I use the NN3D too. So far I have only bought C-Map charts for it. They seem to be better than Navionics in a number of places and equal in others. Not sure about the SP, but I will be purchasing the C-Map South Pacific Mega-wide in a month or so. I try and wait till I am pretty close to needing the charts before purchasing the unlock key as you don't get a free upgrade from Maxsea. Make sure you do the download early while you have good Internet because the files are big and the file server is slow.