So, having charts is a pretty needful thing on the list.
As it happens, I need to get some charts and boy howdy are charts E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E these days. Well, actually, make that in a sorta/kinda way.
Electronic charts for our chart plotter (a Hummingbird 785) seemed fairly reasonable when we chose the plotter as full Caribbean, South, and Central America (both Pacific and Atlantic sides) only cost us a couple of hundred dollars. Great bang for the buck!
Now I need to add Europe, The Med, Madeira, Canaries, and Cape Verde islands and a quick look at what electronic charts are available for the Hummingbird is a serious eye-opener...
At $305 an area, my minimal chart outlay for my plotter is at least $1200+... OUCH. Then, of course, there are also paper charts for backup and for areas where more detail might be needful. Paper chart coverage is even more expensive than electronic and that includes copied 2/3 scale portfolios by folks like Bellingham Chart Printers...
Being cheap, I'm actively looking for used paper charts, Navionic Gold cartridges, as well as exploring alternative and less expensive coverage using our tablets rather than our chart plotter...
You'd think, living in 2013, this sort of thing would be easier.
