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NZ chart quality


corostu

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I believe they are either ceasing or already ceased printing them in the US. Think I read that on Panbo.

Old salts are curling their toes on that sure but gps seems cheap and reliable. I've got 4 on board!

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You could try downloading the free high res tiff files of NZ charts from the LINZ website and getting a wide format printer to put them on whatever type of paper you like. Not sure what the price would be but couldn't be too far off the extortionate prices that most chandlers charge for those crappy quality paper ones anyway?!

 

When I visited Hotprintz in Whangarei a few years ago they were printing NZ charts onto some kind of plasticky/vinyl type 'paper' so that they wouldn't go soggy or mouldy. I remember thinking it was a pretty good idea, and not too expensive either.

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An A4 size printer will do this also. You will need one that has waterproof ink but it will print the chart in sections that can be glued together. I use this feature on cad drawings and its really very accurate. Best to use spray on contact glue or the clear craft glues. PVA is not good as it puckers the paper. You will need a sharp knife and a good straigt edge to cut a couple of edges off. And a lot of ink! :D

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Navionics charts on a tablet with GPS works for me, did a weeks sailing, without bumping into anything :-)

Likewise! ... but as a professional electronic map geek... I want _paper_ backups.

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Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no problem with *_delivering_* the charts electronically (e.g. print-on-demand, which is the route the US is taking)... especially if it makes them cheaper... but I've seen enough different failure modes (quite unrelated to salt water) to make me highly uneasy about eliminating the paper/mylar/laminate completely. At least (ignoring mould!) you can throw a chart in a tube, come back to it in a year's time and still be able to read it without worrying about charging it, or replacing the battery.

 

Having said that - you could mount the counter argument that with enough redundancy, a working electronic system with the bugs properly ironed out would be a far nicer thing to be grappling with in a true emergency than unwieldy, wet charts.

 

But a related issue - since the GPS-connected chartplotter/iPad etc has become nearly ubiquitous I have the feeling we're going to lose the art of map reading; i.e. the basic ability to identify physical landmarks from the chart.

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Well I guess you are right because as we get more confident in accuracy of the e charts we probably won't need that type of seamanship as much as we do with paper charts. Its really a totally different way of navigating and I can see the great old ways disappearing quickly. I know old sailers that admit just using the garmin 8" chartplotter having put away the old implements and these are really conservative types. They still have the sextant and the paper charts aboard but admit they don't even use the paper for keeping a track.

I gave a set of charts i'd downloaded and got going in Seaclear2 to a couple who sailed here from Australia,(they had no NZ charts at all!) told them to be very careful as i had indexed them myself but they later told me they had used them for anchoring at night in the Bay Of Islands!

We take sights because they were absolutely necessary but are they now?

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Did not LINZ recently finish re charting in digital mode the most important areas around NZ? I'm in awe of Captain Cook and all the great Navigators that charted NZ but surely the newer versions would be more accurate.

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Some time ago, 4 ot 5 years, whilst in TransPacific Marine, buying a chart, I discussed this paper issue.

 

The outcome was that when you buy from them (vs a chandlery) the chart is Corrected to the latest NtoMs.

 

I was then planning to add in the common race courses around the gulf, bearings & distances both ways and also the range limits for lights and any natural cross bearings, (islands with cliff faces etc.)

 

Then to get the chart laminated. Latest corrections & my racing stuff :!: :wink:

 

Nice & strong chart now and only use a chinagraph pencil and/or white board temporary markers.

 

Only problem was anybody using dividers piercing the plastic = water leaking in.

 

Often in yachts (like submarines) you don't kneed to know where you are exactly, more to know where you are KNOT :!: :!: about to hit that rock and reef; 2 or 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 miles away from the next mark.

 

Setting a course as per text books is fine for motor boats, but in a racing yacht, your course often changes (tacks & gybes) when seeking the best localised wind for that instance of time.

 

Cruisers don't worry that much about performance, more comfort based decisions e.g. we will tack after lunch etc.

 

Then chart plotters with ZOOM and pretty colours with routes, waypoints, alarms, XTE, VMG, VMC, VMW, CTS, COG, SOG, ETA, etc made life so much easier and updated immediately & constantly.

 

But a bucket of sea water can still make most electronics freeze,

even warm tropical water :thumbdown:

:crazy: :eh:

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I guess it depends on how bumpy the water is.. :D

 

 

This is mere a function of the number, quantity and frequency of chart folds you make for your current location.

 

:think: :think: :think:

An un-used flat chart seldom has any bumps as it will never see the world from the cockpit.

 

 

I rest my case.

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