I just received my new chart today. Since I started this thread, I thought I would give a mini review of my thoughts on it. This is labeled "Duncan Press Incorporated Fourth Edition Navigation Chart and Fishing Map of LAKE WINNIPESAUKEE, NH"
The scale is 1.6 inches to one mile. In checking with my own ruler, the scale on the chart looks closer to be about 1 mile is 1 7/16 inches (just shy of 1.5 inches per mile), or about 1 inch per kilometer. So maybe their printer's scale was off a little? My first reaction is that it's too bad it wasn't 1 inch to 1 mile, but that may be too small to view and navigate easily, and I can't remember the last time I needed to figure out the distance between two points on the lake. But if it's important to some, there is a scale on the chart to make it easy for you.
First, of course I checked my 'home port' to see if there was anything notable or new.
It looks fine!
But, I did notice a few buoys showing their location as being ON LAND (see the entry to Smith Cove, between where it says "Varney Point" and "Gilford Town Dock")! I know the buoys are not really on land there!
Upon review, I know that area is very narrow, and there would be no reason to miss these buoys, and no matter what, you always go by the buoys, not by what a chart is telling you. My guess is that this was probably due to the size of the buoys used on the chart and due to the scale being used, there wasn't enough room for the buoys to be in the water. Also, I think there is a red lateral buoy missing, but the orange 'no wake' buoy is in its place (on second look at this, they do have lighted buoy #55 located there, and their fine print states that the color of the lighted buoy shows a companion cardinal spar buoy. But this lighted buoy is also on land per this chart).
So I decided to check the 'fine print', for boaters this may be important, their first disclaimer on the chart:
Quote:
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This chart is not intended for navigation; rather it is for orientation and reference
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Hmm.... but it's title has "Navigation Chart" clearly stated.
Ok, I can understand that and accept the limitations. Plus, I would never rely on only ONE chart, I do use more than one, and I always follow the markers, not the chart.
Here's another interesting point made on the chart in Red print:
Quote:
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Use Extreme Caution! This is a DANGEROUS lake.
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Yes, I agree!
My Summary, I'm glad I got this updated chart. It was printed on a foldable, water-resistant looking paper. There is nothing on the back of the chart, so I may consider getting a second one and mounting it on wall in my office.
There are other nice things about the chart, some fishing notes (where different species can be found). I'm not big into fishing so I don't know if this is valid info, but it maybe a start for some one that wants a clue as where to start.
I DO definitely like the yellow areas that clearly demark the 'no wake zones'. To me this is easy to see and won't be missed when cruising around the lake. Previously you had to look closely at a chart so as not to miss the no-wake zones. And if you missed a buoy, it could mean a ticket by the MP!
I DO like the rocks and shoals areas highlighted in an 'orange' looking pattern. Let me check.... yes The Witches are marked with this pattern!
The 'no rafting' areas are also marked on the chart, using a symbol that first to me looked like a pair of red SCUBA tanks, but on second look, it's an image of two boats together with a red circle with a slash through it.
There are seven different insets expanding on areas of the lake that are cluttered with buoys and would be hard to see on the regular scale of the chart.
There also is a nice listing of the numbered buoys, including their lat/long as well as a map index to help you to locate it. This can be helpful for a number of reasons, especially if you don't know all of them, if you get lost, or hear someone on the radio talking about a particular lighted buoy.
I also DO like the fact that the NH Marine Patrol's dispatch telephone number is clearly printed and highlighted on the chart.
One thing I'm not personally fond of? The 'buoy numbers', not the lighted buoys, but all the others! On this chart, many (but not all) of the other buoys on the chart are numbered. According to their website, these numbers coincide with waypoint numbers in someone's personal way points for each buoy. Well that is fine, but it's useless to the rest of us as we don't have these waypoints loaded into the GPS on board our boats. Now if they offered a listing of these waypoints, either online, or with something that we could load into our various different brands and models of GPS, then it would be useful information. Or, if each of the MP boat's GPS had these waypoints loaded into them, then it maybe helpful to know the buoy number, but I think these numbers simply add some clutter to the chart, and could cause some confusion during a radio call for help. Do you know where " Buoy #736" is? Could you find it on your chart in a hurry? Even with this chart in my hand, I don't think I could easily find this buoy!
But on the other hand, I suppose it does tell you which buoys were checked by GPS and which ones may not have been. But this may be a bad assumption.
Oh, and my favorite feature of the chart? It's good to see that they didn't try to change or hide the name of my favorite rock on the lake! Yes, light number 46 is still shown as "Nipple Rock"!
I've been trying to tell everyone that comes for a ride by Nipple Rock about the "Legend of Nipple Rock". Hopefully one day, everyone will know about it. But few will believe me if I can't point out on a official chart that it's name is truely "Nipple Rock".
I did a quick compare to the list of newest lake updates that was posted in
another thread to see if this chart has these corrections already applied, and it appears that they have been made, but I haven't checked each and every one in detail, so please check these yourself.
Here's a link to the chart right off the home page of the Duncan Press website:
http://www.duncanpressinc.com/map_im...inni2014-7.jpg
Sorry that the following looks so big here (on my monitor the scale is almost 1 mile per 2 inches), this is referenced directly from their website, so if it is no longer displayed, they changed their website:
