Cruising-guides exchange

[dianaofburlingt]

I have thought about this for a while and would like to know if it's already a thing. As we all know, those cruising guides and chartbooks can get expensive! I prefer the Dozier's Waterway Guides and the Maptech chartkits - the Dozier's run about $40/each and the Maptech kits about $120/each. For a trip from New Jersey to The Bahamas that's 4 books and 4 kits. Owww.

Here's the thing - for Diana this is at least, in part, a one-way trip (boat is most likely not coming back north, at least not all the way - and if she does it may not be in the same year; so the guides might be a year or more out of date). In short: for example, I won't have any use for a 2021 Delaware-Chesapeake guide after about August 20th.

Is there any such thing as an exchange program, however informal, by which we share cruising guides and chartbooks? I'll buy new ones for Delaware-Chesapeake and the ICW; but when I get closer to Florida (late October) I can make these available to anyone going north; and someone can provide me with ones for Florida and The Bahamas. In this way we can share resources and encourage each other.

Does anyone thing there'd be interest in anything like this?




Re: Ship Store | Waterway Guide | Atlantic ICW 2021



BTW - I've had the same idea about sharing kids' school textbooks with cruising liveaboards - this would foster community & goodwill as well as cut WAY down on the weight, volume and expense of physical textbooks which (speaking as a teacher) are vastly better as education tools and vastly more reliable than having to count on adequate Wifi at sea to read online resources. I may be getting rid of a lot of old classroom books very soon and, if anyone's interested, NOW would be the time to let me know!

[GordMay]

You might be interested in CF’s “General Classifieds (no boats)” forum.
➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f64/

[dianaofburlingt]

It's only $676 and then I'll own them myself. Just thought it'd be neighborly to offer to share the value.

[Benz]

I quite often trade books and charts with people going the opposite direction, but it just happens by chance encounters at the marina laundromat or the dinghy dock. Never seen it formalized, beyond the "Buy, Sell, Trade" section in the radio nets that occur in foreign ports (and San Diego).
Keep at eye out at book exchanges in marina laundries--lots of copies of waterway guides and similar publications there.

[belizesailor]

Many marinas have book exchanges, you could drop them there.

If you prefer to sell them then post in clasifieds here. Many marinas also have swap meets.