Nav station-sized chart book for Texas Gulf Coast?

[chetlenox]

Hello all,

I'm new to sailing (about a year now) and new to the forum. Having a great time taking ASA classes and chartering boats for the weekend out of Kemah as I learn. One thing that has me stumped is finding a good Nav-station sized chart book for the Texas Gulf Coast. I love the big NOAA maps for home review and planning, but would like something smaller (but still big enough to be useful) for Nav station use while on the boat. Most of the boats I charter have chart plotters... but I like to use paper maps as backup.

MapTech seems to offer ChartKit books that look perfect... but they don't have one that covers Texas. Anyone know of someone who does?

Thanks so much!

Chet

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by chetlenox

Hello all,

I'm new to sailing (about a year now) and new to the forum. Having a great time taking ASA classes and chartering boats for the weekend out of Kemah as I learn. One thing that has me stumped is finding a good Nav-station sized chart book for the Texas Gulf Coast. I love the big NOAA maps for home review and planning, but would like something smaller (but still big enough to be useful) for Nav station use while on the boat. Most of the boats I charter have chart plotters... but I like to use paper maps as backup.

MapTech seems to offer ChartKit books that look perfect... but they don't have one that covers Texas. Anyone know of someone who does?

Thanks so much!

Chet

Howdy Chet! Welcome aboard CF!

Official NOAA charts can be downloaded for free in a format that can be printed and then kept in a binder. These are pre-sized to 8 1/2” by 11” so you can use a standard computer printer. This size is handy for small boat navigators who don’t have a full size nav table or who like to have a chart in the cockpit.

Steadman’s Tip: Have some critical pages such as a harbor entrance laminated for use in a cockpit. Keep the other (paper) pages in a binder at your nav desk. This way if your electronics fail you at the critical time, you can easily have a handy (weatherproof) chart of the most dangerous section of your route.

Chart Locator
Chart Locator

In addition, you should look at the NOAA publication called “Coast Pilot” for the local area in which you will be boating.

Coast Pilot
https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/...lot/index.html

You can also find chart dealers, such as Paradise Cay Publications that print out the NOAA charts on paper and sell them via Amazon or their own websites. For example, if you search on Amazon you will find links to hundreds of NOAA charts that Paradise Cay sells on Amazon. These are printed on large format printers, so “full size” of the original charts.
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I hope this helps you enjoy your sailing.

Bon Voyage on CF and on the water too!

[chetlenox]

Hey Steadman!

Thanks for the friendly welcome and quick reply!

I have already tried out the "download and print" method for 8.5x11" NOAA charts, but it didn't quite work for me. The quality was too low and the size wasn't really big enough to properly plot on, probably because I was already used to the full-sized professionally printed NOAA charts (and maybe my run-of-the-mill desktop printer just doesn't cut it). I do like the idea of laminating the small sheets with blown up sections near harbor entrances and busy channel areas for use in the cockpit in a pinch... that's a great tip.

I have already gotten the Coast Pilot book for my area (#5), it's great and has loads of good info. But it's not useable for navigation.

I'm hoping for something that looks similar to the MapTech ChartKit books. Ring binder, large enough size to be useful, but still fits on a standard Nav Station table (MapTechs are 22x17"). Maybe such a thing doesn't exist for the Texas coast. Just thinking out loud, maybe I could download the PDFs for the Charts I want and have my "large but not too large" size printed at a local print shop and bind it myself? More work, but would probably do the trick if I can't find an off-the-shelf alternative.

Thanks again!

Chet