Best Edition of Bowditch

[gallatin1988]

If you were going have a hard copy of Bowditch onboard, which edition is the most complete and timeless? Which is the absolute go-to edition?


Over the years, I have accumulated multiple editions over the years and might need to thin the herd. The one I have actually read the most of is my 1988 2 volume edition. It is also the one I have the longest and the one I would definitely keep if sentimentality were the only criteria.

[SeanPatrick]

No replies? Huh.


When you ask which is the "best" edition, I suppose it depends on what you are looking for. Older editions have more on things like celestial. Newer editions have more on things like RADAR and GPS.


FYI: You can check out numerous editions of Bowditch for free over at NavList. That may help you decide which is the "best" edition for you. The problem may be finding a hard copy of [both volumes of] the one you want.

[Adelie]

One of the ‘50s or ‘60s editions has a see thru star charts. That was neat but something you can find elsewhere.

The 1984 edition I got first has 2 volumes so maximum info for a recent edition.

Newer editions are more up to date but did away with a lot of tables.

All depends on what you use for it is.

If I were going to go to see I’d carry my 1984 edition since I have it and load the PDFs for 2002 & the most recent edition which can be downloaded free.

I would also carry The Mariners Handbook (Admiralty Nautical Publications NP-100) which you can pick up for about $40 used including shipping.

[Benz]

I like the two-volume 80's edition for the multitude of useful tables. Just skip over the Loran, Satnav and RDF sections.
Right now I'm reading the 1930s edition, which pre-dates Radar, so lots of good piloting there. Haven't got to the celestial section yet to check out how it compares to later ones, but loving it so far.

[tkeithlu]

The later editions deal with more current navigation (celestial and loran down, GPS up), so are you a modernist or classicist? As Sean Patrick notes, multiple versions can be downloaded of the internet, so I have one two-volume 1980s hard copy that keeps me oriented to the old stuff, and another more recent copy on this computer in PDF.