How often to update charts?

[Belezar]

How often do most folks update their charts? In my new to me boat, the charts are 2013. Last week, based on the chart, I thought I had found a nice anchorage but when i got there, they had need building a man made island across the entrance. Is there much of a reason usually to update?

[Dockhead]

It's basic seamanship to have at least one set of fully updated cartography on board in one form or another. Not just this year but updated as of the last Notice to Mariners date.



You can get in a heap of trouble if you hit something which was on the updated charts, which you didn't know about because you were using old charts.


I typically use Navionics Freshest Data and update every week or two.



You can update paper charts by hand using the Notices to Mariners, and that's much cheaper, but it's really laborious.


Or if you are in waters where there is free cartography, like the U.S. or Norway, you can download that frequently and study your passages using OpenCPN. The fresh cartography doesn't necessarily need to be on your chart plotter.


In UK waters I use the Visit My Harbour cartography, which is fantastic. Official "For Navigation" raster charts, in OpenCPN. Not free but very cheap. But normally Freshest Data for the main navigation system as well.


2013 is way too old!

[rslifkin]

I generally update the Navionics charts on my plotter at the beginning of the season and also before any trip out of home waters. OpenCPN charts get updated before any trip and any other time I have the nav laptop out and think to do it.

[a64pilot]

It depends, by that I mean I’m not spending hundreds of dollars a year buying new electronic charts for the plotter.
However where I sail is covered by an app called Aqua Map and its a subscription thing but not very much maybe 10 or 20 bucks a year or something and you can update it as often as update become available, so I do always have very recently updated charts on board. But so far as buying new chips for the plotter? Maybe every 5 years or so? I am in the habit of using the App in close things as it’s more accurate and has Active Capt etc, but not for open water navigation, I don’t even bring the IPad up for that.

[Tillsbury]

I try to update charts monthly, but don't always do it so it might be two months. But definitely not much longer than that.

In your local area there's no reason to have out of date charts. And when setting off to a specific location why wouldn't you update the charts of your route before setting off?

[Belezar]

Well, I never said I wouldn’t, but in general fixed objects don’t move much. My plane I have to update every 28r 56 days, depending. But things change and differences matter at hundreds of knots that are deadly versus 6 knots and may just be inconvenient. Also, I see offshore different from coastal. And amateur versus professional. But every few weeks seems unnecessary ( and expensive, depending on what you’re updating. I am getting new chart plotter data, and plan to more often than the previous owner, but I’m not sure of and benefit more than every couple of years.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Belezar

Well, I never said I wouldn’t, but in general fixed objects don’t move much. My plane I have to update every 28r 56 days, depending. But things change and differences matter at hundreds of knots that are deadly versus 6 knots and may just be inconvenient. Also, I see offshore different from coastal. And amateur versus professional. But every few weeks seems unnecessary ( and expensive, depending on what you’re updating. I am getting new chart plotter data, and plan to more often than the previous owner, but I’m not sure of and benefit more than every couple of years.

The data is updated constantly -- do you read Notices to Mariners?


Fixed objects don't move perhaps, but they are added, they are discovered, they are changed. In the Baltic Sea, thousands of rocks are added to the charts every year.


Shoals move around; channel markers are changed. Harbours are reconfigured. Wind farms are built.


Depending on the cartography, there is usually no cost to updating every few weeks versus once a year -- you normally get a subscription (like Navionics Freshest Data) which you can use as often as you like over the course of a year. The subscription for a year costs half of the price of a new card.


I sail a wide area which covers 4 or 5 extra-wide Navionics cards (Europe West; UK waters; Baltic Sea; Denmark/Skaggerak; Iceland/Greenland). I don't keep all of them updated constantly; the lesser used ones get Freshest Data subscriptions every other year. But if the main nav system doesn't have right up to date cartography, I make sure and consult another source which is right up to date, when doing passage planning.


If you sail an area covered by a single card, like most people, then it's a no-brainer -- just keep up your subscription.


Navigation is a serious responsibility. As I said, if you hit something which was on a fresh chart, but you only have an outdated chart on board, even outdated by only a few months, you are in a heap of trouble. I wouldn't risk it to save a hundred bucks a year or so.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Belezar

How often do most folks update their charts?

In my usual cruising grounds on Chesapeake Bay, whenever I think of it in OpenCPN and AquaMap, every couple of years on my chartplotter. Note that I use the chartplotter for general reference and OpenCPN for navigation and piloting.

Originally Posted by Dockhead

It's basic seamanship to have at least one set of fully updated cartography on board in one form or another. Not just this year but updated as of the last Notice to Mariners date.

Which makes updating electronics charts even more important as manual LNTM updates aren't practical on electronics charts.

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Shoals move around; channel markers are changed.

Which is the big deal in the OP's home waters. Every time there is a storm shoals shift and often markers are changed.

In my mind that is worth extra attention. On the delivery I just finished from New Bern NC to Solomons MD there were many differences between the updated charts on OpenCPN and those on the five year old chart chip in the plotter.

[canyonbat]

We were sailing up the Straight of Georgia last summer when someone issued a pan pan on the radio for a hazard to navigation, that they had hit, with a GPS location near us. I started looking on my charts and had just figured out what they hit when the Canadian Coast Guard came back with the reply that the location was a charted fish farm! Only silence from the reporting boat....

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by canyonbat

We were sailing up the Straight of Georgia last summer when someone issued a pan pan on the radio for a hazard to navigation, that they had hit, with a GPS location near us. I started looking on my charts and had just figured out what they hit when the Canadian Coast Guard came back with the reply that the location was a charted fish farm! Only silence from the reporting boat....

Case on point!!

[kas_1611]

Remember a paper chart is already several years out of date as soon as it is available for sale. Purely because of the time it takes to survey, calculate, draft and print. For the most part though a chart from 1979 will probably still have all the same data as one from 2019 but there are always stories of things that were missed or have changed.

The classic example of that is in Stanford Lough in Northern Island were the Admiralty leading lights for the entrance to the lough have been in place for decades but in a recent survey they discovered a sand bank right in the middle of the "leading light" course. Been there for years but no one had actually realised. How no one hit it is one of those mysteries.

In the UK the UKHO and Admiralty issue regular "Notices to Mariners" indicating changes that should be made to charts but these often take sometime to appear on updated electronic charts (again it takes time to redraft and process the charts) so one should update ones electronic charts on a regular basis. In some areas "notices" are broadcast daily over VHF (Croatia I know does this) so it is often vital to listen in and note these as they may be significant, such as navigation marks that are in the process of being repaired/moved/replaced.

I try to do mine at the beginning of the season but you do need a subscription to Navionics et al to do this, which is a pain sometimes as the subscription costs almost as much as new charts. There are some online/app based navigation softwares that seem to update regularly but do you really want to rely on them?

It does depend on where you are sailing. Some areas haven't been resurveyed since Captain Cook in the 1700's so not much will have changed but that still doesn't stop HM Royal Navy running into an island they've known about for 200 years (Lord Howe Island off Australia).

[IceOps]

When sailing I do it weekly. I am retired from Uncle Sam's Confused Group. I was with them over 30 years. They are constantly moving, fixing, removing, and adding Nav aids. Other boaters/ships are constantly hitting, sinking, and dragging markers/Buoys around.

I was racing off Mobile Al. on someone else's boat and thought we were at a specific marker (at Night) and as Navigator I said this is the one we go around - NOT - the updated chart would have shown we had another 1.5 miles to go - they had renumbered the buoys.....Learned My Lesson...

[MJH]

Originally Posted by Belezar

How often do most folks update their charts? In my new to me boat, the charts are 2013. Last week, based on the chart, I thought I had found a nice anchorage but when i got there, they had need building a man made island across the entrance. Is there much of a reason usually to update?

If your laptop charts are annual subscription then just before departing on a cruise and at least once again before the subscription ends. If your just sailing local, I wouldn't bother.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[requiem]

I feel spoilt being in the US; I can get updated charts from NOAA as part of their weekly updates. It's minimal effort to hit the "update charts" button, and like most maintenance it goes much quicker if you keep up with it.

If I happen to be doing a longer trip, or taking other people out, I'll check the LNMs (Local Notices to Mariners) as well. Once you're used to the format it's easy to tell check if anything new needs attention.

[geoff3nebel]

We’re talking paper charts, yes? All the time! Apart from your own peace of mind, if you’re involved in any incident that involves authorities and/or your insurance one issue that will not go well with you is if you are navigating with out of date charts. If you get in the habit of checking the publisher’s update page every month it’s not such an onerous task. Temporary changes - like the lights on a buoy not working - e.g that are broadcast on Navtex, I mark in pencil by the Navaid with a note of the source and date.