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Old 18-11-2012, 18:39   #1
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Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

Hello all,

So I'm looking into the cost of world charts, and getting very scared.

Ideally I'd love to have a plotter + a set for iPad / Mac as backups.

I've started looking into pricing the above up and it runs into the 1000's, in fact closer to 10,000's. How do you guys do this? Do you really have to just lump it and budget for the high cost of charts? Is there a secondhand market somewhere I'm missing?

I think I'm just used to google maps, free, well detailed, and FREE.

Regards,
Simon
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Old 18-11-2012, 19:26   #2
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

1. Download OpenCPN and the CM93 charts and install them on your boat computer or laptop. All free and covers the whole world.

2. Buy iNAVx for your iPAD for about $50. Another $50 for the Caribbean, another $50 for the Pacific. Seems pretty reasonable.

3. Buy about 5 or so paper charts for each ocean or major region of the world. Start with the first region initially. Cost $250. Then start trading and copying as you progress around the world.

4. 3 x USB GPS. $35 each on Amazon.

5. Sextant $100. Nautical Almanac $50. Pencils $2. Dividers $25. Parallel rules $35.


Assuming you already have a laptop and the iPAD, the total cost should be under $1000.
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Old 18-11-2012, 19:29   #3
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

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Originally Posted by Jimbo485 View Post
1. Download OpenCPN and the CM93 charts and install them on your boat computer or laptop. All free and covers the whole world.

2. Buy iNAVx for your iPAD for about $50. Another $50 for the Caribbean, another $50 for the Pacific. Seems pretty reasonable.

3. Buy about 5 or so paper charts for each ocean or major region of the world. Start with the first region initially. Cost $250. Then start trading and copying as you progress around the world.

4. 3 x USB GPS. $35 each on Amazon.

5. Sextant $100. Nautical Almanac $50. Pencils $2. Dividers $25. Parallel rules $35.


Assuming you already have a laptop and the iPAD, the total cost should be under $1000.
I would be very interested in where to find CM93 charts for download. Please PM me if you have the source.
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Old 18-11-2012, 19:41   #4
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

I googled it and downloaded them a couple of years ago. I see just now that they are even on piratebay.

Usually around the anchorages you will find plenty of people who can copy them from their hard drive onto your USB stick.
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Old 19-11-2012, 00:46   #5
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

Hi there,

Thanks for the heads up regarding cm93. Can I ask how good these are compaired to say navionics? Do they get the job done?


Also… in terms of chart plotter, can you use these cm93 maps with one of those? Or do you have to buy world maps? I've seen the odd local area SD card with Navionics Gold maps on, can you buy secondhand cards with global maps on somewhere?


Regards,
Simon
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Old 19-11-2012, 01:13   #6
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

I use both CM93 and Navionics Charts. Together they are pretty accurate. To bad one never knows which is the more accurate until one get some hard evidence. Just now I came into Puerto Galera and the CM93 had me on the land (260m SE on UKHO 3559F 2008 05/29) . Navionics appears to be spot on. Back in Palau a month ago it was the opposite. Navionics cost a small amount, are updated regularly. The CM93s one gets bootleg are free except for the guilt and will not ever be updated again unless someone cracks the new chart files.

The equivalent paper charts would fill a minivan. But a cruiser only needs charts of places expected to be visited soon. Personally I don't carry but a few small scale paper charts. Maybe 10 total.
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Old 19-11-2012, 01:14   #7
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Simon,

We use both openCPN cm93 charts and the Navionics charts at the same time. They do not always agree. Here in Fiji, the free cm93 charts are correct and the Navionics commercial charts have some errors. In the San Blas, both were incorrect.

Someone else will have to answer your chart plotter question. I don't know.
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Old 19-11-2012, 01:43   #8
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

I agree that the cost of charts can be staggering. If you want them, check with Bellingham, they make grayscale copies of charts that are much cheaper than original - not color, not as good paper but OK. They are at Bellingham Chart Printers

I doubt that there will be paper charts in another 20 years, the market is small and constantly shrinking. We have Navionics on our Raymarine plotter and Navionics chart packages for the iPad. The latter are a great bargain - two cartridges from Oz to South Africa (actually from Japan). I think it might be better to have different chart types on the plotter and iPad since one is sometimes better than the other, eg Garmin have licensed the Explorer Chart data for the Bahamas so they are clearly superior there.

Also, cruising guides can be very helpful, although not all areas have them, nor are they kept up-to-date. Other useful sources include Google Earth, Active Captain, personal blogs. It is a learning process, but easier once you are moving.
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Old 19-11-2012, 01:48   #9
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

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Originally Posted by simonpickard View Post
Is there a secondhand market somewhere I'm missing?
Many, if not all cruising crossroads will have copy shops with piles of charts to copy.
And lots of areas can safely be done with a few small scale charts and cruising guides, which will have chartlets of all the ports and anchorages. Atlantic Europe can be done with a few charts and the cruising association almanac though you'd want some decent charts of the some areas like the Brittany coast. But do a bit of homework and you can get by without spending tens of thousands.
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Old 19-11-2012, 01:49   #10
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

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Navionics cost a small amount, are updated regularly.
Small amount? What platform are you using these on? When I looked into global Navionics charts for a chart plotter I almost cried!

Regards,
Simon
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Old 19-11-2012, 01:50   #11
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

Agree on OpenCPN and CM93. CM93 has been my ultimate backup for many years, and OpenCPN is a great way to view them.

For the Furuno NavNet3D chartplotters the C-Map charts are much less expensive than the Navionics, and they do support both. I am relatively new to the chartplotter world (I only used mine for a few months before starting the current refit), so I haven't developed a strategy yet but I do intend to start with the C-Map charts for Canada West, Mexico, and the Caribbean (one package for a few hundred dollars). One of the disadvantages to Furuno's NN3D approach is that purchased charts only work on the target chartplotter; charts that are bought on a flash card can be traded.

I used to carry piles of charts, but no more. For the paper chart side of things small scale (large area) charts combined with cruising guides are usually a good solution. Cruising guides normally contain good chartlets for harbors and anchorages, plus a lot of other useful information, for the cost of 2 or 3 charts.

As stated by others, only buy for the immediate cruising needs. Then when leaving an area or coming into a new area look to trade with someone going the other way. In any event it makes no sense to buy years ahead of the need - charts and guides will be obsolete by the time you need them.

There are errors with all charts, paper or electronic. Another reason to never rely on any one source of information, so confirm with depth sounder, radar, Mk. I Eyeball, whatever, and always assume there will be errors. And keep in mind that ships sink, shoals develop, buoys are unlit, moved, or sunk, and all manner of other obstacles develop. Slavish following of charts and GPS will get anyone in trouble eventually.

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Old 19-11-2012, 01:52   #12
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

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Originally Posted by conachair View Post
Many, if not all cruising crossroads will have copy shops with piles of charts to copy.
And lots of areas can safely be done with a few small scale charts and cruising guides, which will have chartlets of all the ports and anchorages. Atlantic Europe can be done with a few charts and the cruising association almanac though you'd want some decent charts of the some areas like the Brittany coast. But do a bit of homework and you can get by without spending tens of thousands.
Thanks for the reply, and to others.
Sounds almost like this'll work itself out more when I'm out there and cursing rather than trying to plan for it now.

I guess the area I'm missing is the find I'm trying to sort all this out before I get started?

Regards,
Simon
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Old 19-11-2012, 02:52   #13
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

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Originally Posted by simonpickard View Post
I guess the area I'm missing is the find I'm trying to sort all this out before I get started

You won't know where you're going til you get there

Also, it's not just charts you're after, but any info you can lay your hands on.

Various progs can download entire websites, like Download HTTrack Website Copier 3.46-1 - HTTrack Website Copier - Free Software Offline Browser (GNU GPL)
With something like that you can download the entire noonsite to your hard drive. Good manners not to eat up all the bandwidth though, NetLimiter - The Ultimate Bandwidth Shaper allows you to throttle back and do it overnight. Lots of handy sites on the web now crammed with handy info.
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Old 19-11-2012, 03:15   #14
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

You can save a lot of money by buying a wide area chart for where you want to go and then only buying local charts for the harbors that you want to enter.
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Old 19-11-2012, 04:19   #15
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Re: Cost of world charts- how do you do it?!

Check out Navionics for mobile - e.g. at Google Play (e-shop). They do not seem to cover vast areas of open water but then that's that and not much need to have detailed charts of open water. They cover all (or else all major) destinations and the inshore - interland area).

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