Free NOAA Charts

[kahpho]

Thought I'd post this link for those that might not know about it.  http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/BookletChart.html

NOAA charts can be downloaded in pdf format and printed onto 8 1/2 X 11 pages to make a booklet. Or just print the pages you want for a smaller area of interest. Not all NOAA charts are available this way but many are. Charts are listed by number but you can look elsewhere on the same site to find those if you aren't sure what you want.

I've ordered some waterproof laser printer paper from Rite in The Rain http://www.riteintherain.com/ and plan to print some charts that I wouldn't otherwise purchase but would like to have.

Well there you go. Perfect for winter armchair cruising and planning. Go nuts.

mel

[Bob23]

Thanks, Mel.
   I'll certainly make use of that. If I can get something free from the government, I'll take it! After all, I paid for it! I've been using NOAA's online chart features for some time but this looks better.
Thank you!
bob23

[capt_nemo]

kahp ho,

Thanks for the web address, posted it to my Favorites!

capt_nemo

[ahmch]

Thanks mate
You just saved me $27.
I will make use of these some time next week.
Very Cool to just peruse the charts. 

[MKBLK]

Great site. Already made a chart book of the Delaware River from Philadelphia to Trenton. Much easier than rolling out a full-size chart in my CP16!

Marty K.

[kahpho]

ya Marty, just what I was thinking too.

I like the full size charts for the big picture they give but there just isn't enough room on my little boat for easy use. These seem like they would be easier to handle on the boat and could be marked up or otherwise not so protected because of cost. Heck, I can just print more! The one possible downside is the page boundaries might be in inopportune places. Oh well, the price was right.

"You just saved me $27." [ahmch]

LOL! Maybe I should have championed a finders fee system (ala Bob23) for my cruising kitty! LOL!!    he might not like the competition though 

Seriously, glad you folks are finding this useful.

mel

[Bob23]

It's free enterprise here, Mel. Feel free to go with your finders fee idea. But if a couple of my uncles (Danny and Guido) show up at your door, don't say you weren't warned!
Bob23
   Thanks for the chart info. I'll be playing with this over this coming week. After Hurricane Sandy here in NJ, the Coast Guard is warning about channels that might have filled in and debris in the Bay. In short, our charts are of somewhat limited use. So maybe they'll issue updates on the site which means we'll be downloading actual up to date charts.
   Can't wait to sail this spring and find out how the bottom has changed.

[Gerry]

Thanks.  This is what's great about Com-Pac Owners Assoc. (sailers helping sailers).

[HideAway]

The charts are not waterproof of course but we put them in sleeves and include them in our cruise binder.  They are really handy for quick reference coming into an anchorage or port.  You can blow them up for detail.  Matt

[Ted]

This is giving me ideas:

http://www.waterproofpaper.com/inkjet-paper.shtml

[jimdoesmo]

thanks for the info works well see ya jimdoesmo

[skip1930]

When I was in high school the family did the Chicago to New Orleans portion of this loop and back. Stopped in Vickburg and secured a hotel room with a TV to watch Neal Armstrong jump around on the moon. We did this in one of our houseboats. Years later mom and dad did the trip again in the Grand Banks, one way, to his dock at Boca Raton.

skip.

Our friend in Sturgeon Bay, Markus and Judy Ritter took a loop trip. Here is their story.  Contact us   MarkusRitter@hotmail.com

We lived aboard Sankaty, a Mariner 36 sloop for nine months, while doing America's Great Loop . South from Wisconsin to Key West via the Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Mobile Rivers before the start of the new Millenium.  

Then in 2000 we went north from Key West via the Intercoastal Water Way (ICW) to Chesapeake Bay, then to the Hudson River to Lake Champlain, visited Montreal, entered the Saint Lawrence Seaway and then the Trent-Severn Canal to Lake Huron.

We used navigation software and found it to be outright dangerous particularly when batteries were replaced in the GPS that feeds the position information to the IBM Thinkpad.  The navigation software goes into a dead reckoning mode, but does not appear unusual on the screen.  Several times the GPS ON indicator turned green when batteries were changed, but the software stayed in dead reckoning and would not come out till the Thinkpad was rebooted from cold.  The moral of this is do not depend on just one method of getting a position.

Sankaty was in Menominee, MI for the summer of 01.   During the summer of 02 she was on a  mooring in Sturgeon Bay where we bought a retirement home a block from the bay and five blocks from the mooring field.  In the winter she is across the channel at the Quarterdeck Marina.

We looked at Pearson 35, Pearson 365, Morgan 34 with centerboard, Morgan 38, Tartan 33 fractional rig with scheel draft, Tartan 37 with centerboard, Allied Princess Ketch, and a center cockpit Gulfstar 42 before we settled in on the Mariner 36 from New Hampshire.  The Mariner 36 insides are a lot like the Tartan 37 insides, but more economical and she only needs a 51' bridge clearance. A nice plus on the rivers and the panhandle of Florida.

Click on the following:

1.  Chapters of our trip.

2.  Additional photos on Multiply.com

3.  Technical pages  & original sales brochure tor Mariner 36.

4.  Related links.

5.  Summer of 01 and 02 adventures

6.  Summer of 03 adventures  

7.  Summer of 04 adventures

8.  Summer of 05 five week Canadian trip  a 10M power point presentation

9.  Grounding in Canada near the end of the French Island Chain

10.  Water Heater Connections make a big difference

11.  Related Door County Sailing Links

12.  Mariner Yachts Owners Group

13.  Other Mariner 36 blogs

[DougN]

Thanks for the heads up Mel.This is perfect.