Commercial Chartplotter or OpenCPN

Here ya go Trek!
www.ieci.com.au/products/product_list.asp?Class=21&BaseCat1=309&Title=Sunlight-Readable-Monitors&gclid=CjwKCAiAo4OQBhBBEiwA5KWu_2n9l7cVpTs3T8m5vX9pjRifldjp3-cGozGlGN1B5DPJbctacbr2-RoCJHkQAvD_BwE

I don't know the distributor I've linked to, but I do know the manufacturer. Good outfit, their screens work and do what they say on the box.
A normal monitor/screen is about 350 nits, anything from 800nits and above is sunlight readable.,

I've got a 19" 12VDC 800 nits screen I had left over from a test bench in the workshop, it works a treat.
I've never used OPenCPN so sorry mate, nothing to add here.

I used OpenCPN on a cheap netbook for multiple cruises all over Bass Strait and it was excellent.

Hi Trek;

I always use it in "north up" mode, like I'm looking at a real chart. You can switch it to "course up" mode which might give you what you want.

OpenCPN is a free download, so you can get it and practice at home. Charts are another matter, but some searching might allow you to get them as per some previous threads here and elsewhere. If you get stuck, pm me.

Cheers, Graeme

Thanks all, I'll give OpenCPN a try.

Hi Trek, I found the installation instructions on this episode of Dangar Marine helpful when setting up OpenCPN on my laptop:

If you are using CM93 files check your settings under charts. My mate was complaining about lack of detail and was considering going Navionics but when it was shown what he should have it was the same as any admiralty chart.

Has anyone looked into the AUSenc from the AHO ? Windows 98 will run it so an old laptop should cut it. Or are the cost prohibitive ? Subscription & permits ?

I will put another vote in for Open CPN. We have used it since 2014 for trips up the coast and down to Tassie. Great stuff. I love how it integrates with AIS (Love AIS on night sails).
It has a vibrant community that continually updates the software package. You can integrate radar, AIS, an open source autopilot called PyPilot and a lot more. I run it from a computer that sits on my bridgedeck cabin table. It is easily viewable from the cockpit. That being said, I am not really sure that it is vital that you can see your large screen form the cockpit. I try to navigate further "ahead" than in real time, so going inside and checking the laptop is fine with me. But I remember back in the day when I would have been excited just to be able to draw a certain position on the chart.
We also have Navionics too, but integrating the AIS was a cinch with OpenCPN and it looks great with the big screen.
I like the detail of Navionics charts but I am an old humbug when it comes to any chart. When it comes down to less than 100 metres I do not like to rely on any chart. Navionics has been involved in at least one case of a yacht hitting a reef because the users left no leeway for the chart to be wrong. So high resolution is nice, but I am very very wary of any chart that gets down to high resolution. For my piece of mind, I really should have my head out of the boat and be surveying the channel in the dinghy if it gets that tight.
But in reality - both are fabulous and awfully cheap - I remember cruising back in the 90s when sailors bought GPS for over $3000 in 1992 dollars. We really have it good now.
cheers
Phil

IIRC, the Aus Hydrographics Office are moving to all electronic charts (Aus ENC) and moving away from paper. These were floated at one point a few years ago to be issued free to recreational boaters, but I dont think it got legs.
A quick check shows it is subscription service now, It's only $23 for Brisbane Port and approaches but it's an annual subscription.
The entire Aus coast is available for $800.
I remember CYCA did a session where they invited AHO to talk to yachties. They did a comparison to I think it was Navionics, it was pretty sobering how different the accuracy was between the two.

My Adrena nav software wasn't compatible with the S-63 encryption and authentication so I couldn't use it, but I remember OpenCPN did support it, so there is a tick in the green column right there.
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The problem with all this stuff is that you no longer get to jump down below into the cabin, lean over the snoring navigator with just the correct tilt to let the water stream off your plastic Line 7 wet weather gear onto their face, and then say "where are we and where should we go?"

Okay, we may be safer now, but there's not just the same level of mystery and sadism there used to be when I were a lad.

The consensus seems that OpenCPN is great for display and usage, but Navioics Charts are better?

So find a way for OpenCPN to use Navionics Charts? Or can it already?

Wow that's an eye opener.