Low res chart for Mobile Bay

[tbodine88]

I am trying to chart a course through Mobile Bay.
I have down loaded the charts for Alabama from Noaa,
But this is what I get east of Mon Luis Island



How do I get OpenCPN to load a higher res chart?

I think there is one since I can see it in waterway guide.

[Be Free]

The easiest way is to zoom in. You can also pick a specific chart from the icons at the bottom of the window.

[tbodine88]

I tried that, but it got no better. I hope when I am there to have better charts either through OpenCPN or something else.


I will be getting a tablet for the boat, hoping I figure this out before then. I wont be there before July 2023


Thanks for the advice.

[tamicatana]

The ICW is clearly marked. What are you charting?

[tbodine88]

Originally Posted by tamicatana

The ICW is clearly marked. What are you charting?

next years trip.



The channel is clearly marked in Clear water Florida's ICW.


I have been aground in the center of the channel there,I didn't look closely a the chart or tide table.


The channel is clearly marked in Galveston Bay. I like to sail outside the channel to avoid the ships coming in at 10 knots. But I have been a ground just outside the channel.



I'd like to have a good route in my GPS before I get there. the new boat draws more than the old boat did.

[Mickeyrouse]

We crossed Mobile Bay twice east -west, Fairhope- Dauphin in this past spring, drawing 4’6”. We found plenty of water everywhere, but keep west of Point Clear, which has a light about a mile off shore. The area marked as a spoil bank outside the channel up to Mobile is pretty much non-existent. The only way we could tell we were in the spoil bank area was by watching the chart plotter. We found 12 ft. plus in all areas of the spoil bank area. In Bon Secours, just stay in the channel. Ship and barge traffic is pretty light compared to what we see in Galveston Bay and the ICW Corpus to Orange and points east. If you haven’t been in that section of the ICW, get ready for the heaviest barge traffic in the western hemisphere. Keep your VHF handy and arrange passing or overtaking with each tow. If you have AIS, so much the better- you want them to know you’re there and trying to communicate with them. Identifying them by vessel name really cuts down on the “who is this calling- who am I talking to- which tug are you” factor.

[Mickeyrouse]

By the way, we have been happily using Navionis on my iPad.

[requiem]

What charts are currently loaded?* You can then refer to https://charts.noaa.gov/InteractiveCatalog/nrnc.shtml to see if you're missing a more detailed chart.

Note that much of the survey data can be rather dated, so if the water gets skinny I suggest taking a glance at Navionics to compare, or adding a suitable margin of error.

*Check either by hovering over the buttons at the bottom, or by right-clicking and selecting object query. It should be something like "US5AL14M". If using object query, scroll to the bottom and look for the "Additional files attached to: XXXXXXXX" line.

[bcn]

Originally Posted by tbodine88

I tried that, but it got no better. I hope when I am there to have better charts either through OpenCPN or something else.


I will be getting a tablet for the boat, hoping I figure this out before then. I wont be there before July 2023


Thanks for the advice.

First: quilting is enabled? From the screen shot we would guess, that yes.
Second: with quilted charts use the the zoom detail slider to configure the content that shows up at a given zoom for quilted charts with (very) different scales.
Options|Display|Advanced or simply the "D"-key short cut.
Change the setting, zoom in and out and observe the differences.

Just try out what fits best for you and the chart set in place. Due to different philosophies of cartographers, there is no magic setting that suits all.