Navigation Charts

[Jason173]

I want to get a chart for Moreton Bay and the Broadwater area. I'm based in Brisbane, so can anyone recommend where to get these and how much you should expect to pay? Do some charts have more detail than others or are they all the same ???

[Jeremy]

Jason,

most marine and chandlery outlets stock charts. Also boat books in Albert St if you are in the city. There used to be a good chart of Moreton bay which covered both the Northern and Southern bay, but it is no longer available.

So I think you will need seperate charts for the Northern and Southern bay now. The Beacon to Beacon directory is good for Jumpinpin and the Gold Coast broadwater, but it is not waterproof.

Laminated chart should cost around $20-$25.

Cheers,
Jeremy

[subzero]

Their are 2 types of charts on offer around this neck of the woods.
Admiralty charts, which NORMALLy have more up to date info on them, are NORMALLY not laminated (But you can get them laminated but are pricy to get done as a 1 off type thing) and in my opinion are a bit harder to read, everything seems in reverse to look at and their is hardly any colour. If you were to purchase 1 from Boat Books in the city near the Myers Centre, you can pay to have it updated with all the latest beacons and bouys changes.
The other charts are the Maritime Safety Queensland charts, (The old Qld Tpt). Not NORMALLY up to date, very easy to read with appropriate colouring apart from my pet hate when they changed the magnetic compass roses from red to black the same colour as true, are fairly cheap, are NORMALLY laminated and are readilly accessable to buy.
Brownies Coastwatch, also owned by the MSQ now, very good book, very useful and covers a wide area of Qld basicly from Gladstone down including dams etc, the biggest problem is that their is very limited lat and long co-ordinates mainly on special features such as division of chanels and major landmarks etc.. if you need someone to come and help you, or if you yourself get lost and have a gps you can figure out where you are very easily with a chart... if you know several features around you can take recipricol bearings with a compass back to yourself and fix your possition using a cocked hat with no GPS at all....
At the end of the day, wether you get a chart or the book they are all valuable AID's to navigation but can never be totaly relied upon, before the chart is even printed it is out of date with movement of channels, sandbars, depths etc particually in or near high tidal flow areas etc beacon movements etc... when charts are updated it doesnt mean that all or any section of the underwater terrain has been re-surveyed, just that it has been updated to a degree normally with beacons and bouys and areas of known change... but at least it gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect.... I carry both the chart and Brownies, they each have their uses, wouldnt leave home without em....
Hope this helps and I havent mudied the waters even more
Cheers Lloyd