Does anybody actually use their nav station?

[anotherT34C]

Maybe this is a really dumb question, but most people I know (even on 40ish size boats) just use the larger saloon table or the cockpit. Other than a convenient place to cubby the instruments and collect junk, does anybody actually sit at the little desk and do 'naving'?

[btrayfors]

Yes, absolutely. For planning. For logging info while underway. For monitoring progress on paper charts, electronic charts, radar, GPS, etc. For communications (VHF and HF). For checking tide and current tables, cruising guides, etc.

Here's a crewmember puzzling out a problem at the Nav Station during our trip to Maine last year.

Gallery :: Born Free Maine Trip 2007 :: DSC_0265c

Bill

I do. That is my personal space, and I like it. I make it as comfortable as possible. That said, the trimaran does not have the space for a dedicated nav station, and I a still trying to engineer something into the design. I have used the saloon table in the past, but it is not my preference. Having a dedicated nav station allows me to have my paper charts plotted, and left out for convenience, as well as to have a permanent set up for all related activities, so I do not need to search for tools.
On the trimaran, I am considering designing a fold down nav table in the pilot house. Into this I plan to build a cabinet to hold dividers, parallels, pencils and the like. I even considered back lighting the chart table. Any thoughts on this?

[anotherT34C]

I wonder if this is a digital divide question? For longer distance planning I find myself using the computerized instruments exclusively. I only tend to use the paper charts and tables for quickie reference work.

[speedoo]

Primary navstation is my cockpit because I singlehand a lot. Installing a real chartplotter at the helm this year will make that a lot easier.

But I also have a real navstation below that I will still use for paper chart maintenance and planning.

[David M]

I usually have a paper chart out for the area I am working in. An entire paper chart still shows more detail and more area than any electronic chart screen. Besides, paper charts can be kept updated through Notice to Mariners. Does anyone ever do chart updates? I never hear any mention of it here. One day someone will get smart and devise a way to do electronic chart updates through the internet.

I find myself using the electronic chart much more often.

[GordMay]

Of course, the question presupposes that one actually has a Nav' Station.
What's a "chartplotter"?
[I'm not totally ignorant: I know what a pencil is]

[Jolly Roger]

I’m really quite surprised at the results of this survey, especially for cruising boaters. 50% for the chart table, and only about 25% for the dining table. Every boat I ever sailed on, (and that’s quite a few), had a chart table, seat, instruments, etc, but the larger dining table always finished up being used. One reason, most small chart tables usually slope and stuff rolls off, also, you can usually spread a full sized chart, dividers, rulers etc., on a dining table. On the average 30 – 40 footer, imagine how much extra space you could make into seating, storage, TV cabinet, etc., if you ousted the chart table?
On the other hand, if these results are general you can see why they still make ‘em with chart tables.

[anotherT34C]

Plus, it's easier to discuss a full-size chart with the others on board if it's on the saloon table. Small nav-stations (like on a 30-40 footer) are really a kind of one-man-show. I can sort of see the benefits of leaving the chart/tools out always, but for me, that always seemed to mean an eventual slide (or bump) onto the floor.

[Pelagic]

Found this a strange question,
as my first answer to ...“What is your primary nav station?” …….was……
My head! (…..No!.... not the toilet!)

Like btrayfors and Kai I agree it is an important space to keep the tools organised to monitor your passage plan and consider deviations.

Very few yachts actually will dedicate so much space that a chart will fit unfolded, but log books, references, folded charts in order all need a dedicated space that is user friendly underway and can be used with the electronic monitoring.

Don't misunderstand. Not saying the tools are out (although the chart is), but they are easily at hand in my nav station. As are the radios, and light specifically set up to focus on the chart. Charts not in immediate use are carefully flat stored in the nav station, easy to access. AND, my gimbled coffee cup holder is smartly mounted within reach so I am never without. My boat is 40'. The trimaran will present other problems, but I would never consider relying solely on electronic charts. While they are simple to use etc etc... there is real piece of mind in having a hard copy record of your last position. Stuff happens. Electronics fail. Redundancies do not account for every possible situation. BUT, a paper chart will always show your most recent fix, and from there, even the most basic of navigation will get you where you need to be.

[imagine2frolic]

I use my nav station all the time. I keep my laptop with electronic charts on the table, and it can be seen from the steering station. In the nav station is a standup freezer that I lay out the corresponding paper chart on top of it.

[btrayfors]

Once upon a time...

Chart tables were used almost exclusively for charts. Paper charts. That's all there was.

Even very small boats, like the 30' Wanderer in her around-the-world voyages had a full-size chart table! One which could take full-size paper charts. Wow...how many of us have one of these, these days? Even on 50-footers!

Nowadays, the navstation (vice chart table) is used in a somewhat different manner. Many of us have computer-driven chartplotters at the nav station. I use a laptop on mine, running Maptech's Offshore Navigator and NOAA raster charts, which are identical facsimiles of the paper charts I also carry.

The chartplotter is attached to a GPS. Thus, it shows the boat's position directly on the raster chart image. I can see the boat's position at all times.

Additionally, at the nav station there are other things of interest. The nav log, for example. We update ours every hour -- at a minimum -- when offshore, and much more frequently when inshore. Usually, we record the GPS position. It's very easy. Also, the boatspeed, windspeed and direction, waves, barometer, and any other pertinent data.

Also available at the nav station is the VHF/DSC marine radio, the VHF 2-meter ham rig, the marine HF/SSB, the ham HF/SSB, the two Lorans, the radar, the speed log, a radio direction finder (yeah, real retro), a secondary compass, and assorted other goodies.

A great place to relax. Or to plan (cruising guides, paper charts, electronic charts readily available). Or to bone up on ship's systems. Or to listen to music (AM/FM/cassette player at hand). Or to monitor the various electric systems aboard.

I kinda like my nav station, though it doesn't much resemble the full-size chart table on Wanderer, which recorded a hellava lot more miles than I have :-)

Bill

[ssullivan]

Interesting thread.

In the days of smaller boats, I couldn't put a chart at the nav station, so I had to use it in the cockpit - protecting it from rain.

As I moved up in size, I kept the old habits of liking to have my chart handy in the cockpit - or in the case of the Gulfstar, the GPS in the cockpit with my waypoints already programmed in for the passage.

I only used the nav station in the evenings to plan out the next day's course.

Now, I just put the laptop on the salon table and do everything there. When it's time to get underway, the laptop moves to the helm. (my helm is indoors now - or at least the instruments and laptop are, while I stand right next to them outside)

So as of now... the answer is "no", I do not use the nav station at all.

[GordMay]

What Bill said - the modern Chart Table has become more of a Computer Workstation.