How Do I Stop My Charts Rotting!?

[downunder]

Google Clove oil.

It will kill mold spores and prevent them from forming.

[MarkSF]

For the cockpit, I love the plastic charts. You can't write on them very well with pencil though, so not great for the chart table.

[JPA Cate]

SHANALY,

It's seeming that the greater problem is the present fragility of the charts. I liked Hello Sailor's idea about talking to the museum folks, they usually like sharing their knowledge, and you might learn whether there is anything you can do to save them. I'd also seriously consider copyiing them. How many are involved? Sometimes you can negotiate a special rate for a large order.

In any event, I wouldn't try bleach again! Thank you for showing me something to not do: there are so many things to avoid... When you get your charts fixed, or photocopies, store them in soft clear vinyl bags you make up, the sailmaker will sell you the lightweight stuff that is good enough for your envelopes. You bond the material with pvc glue (like for pvc pipe.) Or, we just use giant trash bags, not elegant, but does provide a moisture barrier. If you make an envelope, it can then protect the chart above decks, too, and being clear, you can still read it.

Good luck with it.

Ann Cate, us yacht Insatiable II, lying Hobart, TAS

[scimitar]

How Do I Stop My Charts Rotting!?

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use them or give it to someone who will.

[GordMay]

There are three good alternatives for neutralizing hypochlorite bleach: bisulfite or metabisulfite, thiosulfite, or peroxide.
➥ FAQ: How can I neutralize the damaging effects of chlorine bleach discharge

[TheTeelSea]

Originally Posted by forsailbyowner

I had a friend who coated his with thinned clear epoxy. He reported good results

Originally Posted by Pete7

How about having them photocopied?

I vote for the two above Pete7 and forsailbyowner.
I believe are on the right track here. Never use any chemicals like that on any paper charts. If I did maybe Oxy-Clean. Quickly though before its too late take them down to any printing company like, a Staples or a local print shop and have them "scan" them into their system and onto a thumb drive to reprint them on the paper of your choice. Then you now have a re-printable copy for yourself for the future too. At that time you can even ask them to vacuum plastic wrap them just like your drivers license even both sides if you desire. Oh by the way! Now with the right color markers you can mark on them and even wipe them down later. It's a good thing!
Now, the next question or comments may even be; I thought or isn't the charts copy-righted? If the charts comes from and/or was made from and provided by NOAA, the chart is yours to do as you like because your TAX dollars paid for them in the first place. It really is the repackaging or added value, the vendors are making money on. So what does this mean, if you purchase a chart that has "NOAA" displayed on a chart or credits given to NOAA, you can then legally reproduce , make copy's of, display and make modifications-to without infringing on there holding's. However; you can not Transfer ownership or Sell it to anyone else legally without the expressed permission of the vendor/seller.

I hope I made this clear enough and sorry for being so winded here!
If you need more comments please let me know!
Best Regards, Richard __

[hellosailor]

"the next question or comments may even be; I thought or isn't the charts copy-righted?"

Well, yes, NOAA charts are copyrighted material but the reproduction rights belong to the American citizens. There is a questionable area in that no one in authority seems to be willing to comment on whether NON-citizens have any right to use, let alone copy, the materials. The laws seem totally ambiguous about how "the people" are defined when a copyright belongs to the people.
In the UK, what belongs to the Crown belongs to the Crown. In the US, all federal government copyrights belong to the citizenry.

Aside from that, Staples is a special problem. They got dragged into court some years ago for illegal copying of sections of college texts. The argument was over what was or wasn't fair use, I don't recall how it ended but Staples, as a company, got the Fear Of The Lord put into them. If you bring anything into a Staples store, and it is not very obviously your work, you may need to argue with the store manager. There are some things like birth certificates that they won't reproduce because they are "government" documents. Which is illegoical and plain dumb wrong, but there you go, they're scared. What each store will copy depends on the store manager.

On the other hand if you go to a "reprographics" shop that specialies in copying large sheets for architects and other trades, they usually have no problem with whatever you present. If your local Staples store manager has their act together, they won't have a problem either, unless the material says "COPYRIGHT...REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED" or something similar on it.

From the other side of the coin, some years ago I contacted NOAA when you could first download Bowditch in PDF form, and they only had it available as one chapter per download. The numbnuts at NGA said because their online version had "their copyrighted agency logo" in it, you couldn't distribute it or copy it, because that was their property. Ah, no, the logo is not protected that way, and sticking it onto a public document doesn't change the rights to the document, either. The copyright laws really are NOT COMPLICATED and the copyright office has done a marvelous job of making them clear, going back to faxback systems and free brochures before they had web sites. Easy enough to check out firsthand.