Free online charts

mike ritenour · Post by **mike ritenour** » Jan 21st, '10, 11:34

My sailing buddy, Monty sent me this link........

http://sailvector.com/

Enjoy!

Rit

tartansailor · Post by **tartansailor** » Jan 21st, '10, 18:35

It would be a cool to pull in to a strange harbor and down load to your gps map screen.
Thanks for sharing.

Dick

GLutzow · Post by **GLutzow** » Jan 21st, '10, 20:21

This is incredible.. especially because you can zoom down to minute detail

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Jan 21st, '10, 23:39

Mike,

Good one. This is a keeper.

O J

Dick Barthel · Post by **Dick Barthel** » Jan 22nd, '10, 16:53

The opening comprehensive index of charts and the quick access without doing anything special is terrific. Thanks old buddy.

Matt Cawthorne · Post by **Matt Cawthorne** » Jan 22nd, '10, 17:21

you have been able to download bsb format charts for free for several years. Maptek's Offshore Navigator lite has been available for free.

I installed a tiny computer on my boat with a small screen and have a low power chart plotter that my 12 year old gps plugs into and gives current position. It is really effective. My unit is configured with a small solid state disk drive. I did need to change the power supply to a wide range of input voltage suppply so that when the engine starts the unit does not shut down. Supposedly it only draws 8 watts. The monitor will add to that, but it is still quite a bit less than a laptop. I have it mounted in a cabinet so that it will not get flung around the cabin when the boat is in heavy seas.

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/px5000eg

Alan Holman · Post by **Alan Holman** » Jan 23rd, '10, 01:21

Far be it for me, a lowly Canadian, to get to involved in a discussion about charts for American waters, but, NOAA has a site where free downloads of their vectors charts are available. YOu can zoom in and out, and move easily across the charts. They're great and their the official charts for which ever region you select.

The site is found at:

http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/ ... iewer.html

mike ritenour · Post by **mike ritenour** » Jan 23rd, '10, 09:13

I think the whole pupose of this particular site is just the quick convenience of click and pop open.
No downloads needed, no software needed, for example, your sailing in on an airplane taxi to the harbour front and want to see a chart of the harbour in front of your hotel window.

Or better yet, your at the bar with some sailing buddies and you need the chart to explain where you went aground and walla, up it pops on your phone.

Rit

Dick Kobayashi · Post by **Dick Kobayashi** » Jan 23rd, '10, 11:18

Matt, Could you give a little more detail on your set up for those of us that are technically challenged. I like the concept but don't get exactly how it is put together.

Matt Cawthorne · Post by **Matt Cawthorne** » Jan 24th, '10, 21:49

You can do a trial to see if you like it. Just acquire and install the offshore navigator lite and install it on your laptop or desktop. Connect your GPS with either a com port cable or usb cable. The charts can be had from the site mentioned in a previous post. Within the software activate your gps. Viola!

The little computer on the web site is a fully capable desktop computer with the processing power of a 4 or 5 year old computer. It's advantages are that it is small and that it uses a tiny bit of power compared to a laptop or desktop. Of course you need a screen too. More on this when I get home, next week.

Matt

Matt Cawthorne · Post by **Matt Cawthorne** » Jan 26th, '10, 00:11

Offshore Navigator lite is not really free. My version came with a set of paper charts that I bought. I am unaware of how you can get it without buying the charts. I thought it was free since the chartbook advertised 'free companion CD', but in fact you can not get the software without buying the charts.

A few more thoughts while I am on the road. My choice for a fixed computer on the boat was that if the boat was rolling around, a laptop would eventually be damaged. Also the fixed unit is a low power computer. On the other hand, there are a large group of lower power laptops out right now called netbooks. They run XP and tend to be based on the Atom processor. They are probably cheaper than my installation since I had to buy the processor, the case, the power supply and the OS. Netbook computers have all of that with the possible exception of the wide input voltage range power supply. These computers would be easy to configure. Just load the software and connect the GPS.

Matt

mike ritenour · Post by **mike ritenour** » Jan 26th, '10, 07:09

I've been using various notebooks onboard LaVida for a very long time.
I simply put the laptop on a section of the anti-skid rubber shelf material.
In addition I rigged up a small, large grid, net bag that accepts my laptop for heavy weather. The neck of the bag is secured to a hook on my nav station. Its never moved, even in the roughest seas and is safely out of the weather.
The major upside to an onboard laptop, IMHO, is the ease of taking it ashore for all sorts of reasons from repair to visiting a wifi.
Plus I like the fact that it can be powered by my 12v system.
Rit

The Patriot · Post by **The Patriot** » Jan 26th, '10, 08:33

mike ritenour wrote:I've been using various notebooks onboard LaVida for a very long time ...

A while back I fitted a Ram laptop table (from Captain Jack's) on my CD28. The setup includes a strap that uses clips fitted to the computer, although other arrangements are possible. It has served very well and is in fact quite strong (I mean VERY). It can also swing out for viewing from the cockpit. In the background are 2 GPS units, a radar, an "old-and-soon-to-be-obsolete-I-fear" Sitex LORAN C, and a small rack for piloting tools. The ice box counter top doubles as chart table for ChartKits using a custom ChartKit board and protractor. Conventional paper charts are often folded to fit this board.

<img width=700 src="http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare/jpg ... _mount.jpg">

Ralph H · Post by **Ralph H** » Jan 26th, '10, 20:34

On Liberty, I'm using an Asus netbook running XP and a bluetooth GPS (~$50. on sale from Delorme). This makes for very convenient nav station use and I can take the netbook to the cockpit when needed. Both units are low energy users. I'm running SeaClear and continue to appreciate it's features (like AIS connectivity) and that it was free and uses the NOAA raster charts. Now I just need a bluetooth AIS receiver!

Ralph in Kinsale Va.

Matt Cawthorne · Post by **Matt Cawthorne** » Feb 3rd, '10, 17:47

So the basic setup is just a computer with some software and my handheld GPS plugged into the com port. My choice was for a compact, nailed down, out of the way, low power machine with a DVD player. Here is my implementation.

I bought a TE-D288 case (7 X 6.5 x 2 inches)

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/te_d288

Stuck in a PX500EG processor/main board with 1 gig of memory

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/px5000eg

Installed a laptop DVD drive and a solid state laptop disk drive (32 GB)

I found a 12 volt monitor and hooked it up to a bracket over the nav station

http://store.mp3car.com/Lilliput_7_VGA_ ... on-001.htm

The keyboard is one of those roll up rubber versions. Hard to type on but waterproof and compact when not in use.

I loaded all of the software (windows xp and Offshore Navigator lite) and tested it at home. Everything worked fine.

It worked fine on the boat as well, except when the engine was running. When the voltage crept above 13 volts the power supply that came with the case forced the system to shut down. I then bought a wide input range power supply that fit in the box and installed it. http://store.mp3car.com/M3_ATX_125_Watt ... wr-029.htm The power supply is far more capable (125 watts) than my little unit needs, but that is the way it goes. Also, it did not fit in the case exactly so I had to tie-wrap it to the inside of the case in a position that fit and use a cable to hook it to the board.

Now everything works great, even when starting the engine or when the engine is running. I can pre-plan routes and download them to the handheld gps for use in the cockpit. When I want to see what is on the screen I can poke my head down through the companion way and see the screen. If I want to actually zoom in or out or change charts I have to go down to the nav station. That is a down side, but on the up side I can watch movies, view pdfs of cruising guides, use spreadsheets etc. A laptop can do all of these but are hungrier for power, but most navigation units can not.

There is a similar, new pc called a fit-pc2i that looks like it will do the job nicely, has a processor that is more than 3 times faster and would cost less. The power consumption is supposed to be very low as well. As mentioned earlier, there are a number of netbook pc's that come with xp installed already and would involve a great deal less fiddling, but you would have to make certain that your GPS can attach correctly (if it needs a com port)

Matt

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