Joe wrote:

Well, I put up a post requesting a trade for charts and got an amazing
response, so I thought I'd try again. This time for nav software. I am
looking for...

SeaClear II (freeware) meets your wants and is worth a try. Get it he
http://www.sping.com/seaclear/

SeaClear may be oriented towards the slightly more advanced computer
users because you have to understand some things on your system (file
locations, paths, etc.). And some aspects of using SeaClear may be a
little obtuse to people that don't understand things like paths,
directories and sub-directories, filename extensions, etc.

It has a companion program (mapcal.exe) that is used to calibrate and
build your chart library (I'm using MapTech BSB charts).

There are some things that may seem a little arcane in use but I managed
to find my way around or through them. It comes with a manual on a
*.pdf file that answered my questions.

I have not actually gone to sea and used SeaClear yet but have done
quite a bite of route planning and building with it. I built quite a
bunch of well known routes with it and uploaded those my Magellan 330M.
The 330M travels with me as a backup when I do occasional boat
deliveries.

You have to also download and setup G7toWin as SeaClear II uses that to
communicate with your GPS. That is also freeware and can be downloaded
he http://www.gpsinformation.org/ronh/

I also have the GPS Utility program (http://www.gpsu.co.uk/) and use
that for downloading uploading from the 330M and also for editing
waypoints, waypoint comments, and routes on the 330M.

I was on the verge of spending $200-$300 for a chart plotter software to
run on a laptop when I found SeaClear. Now I'm very happy with using
that on a balance of how well it works and the money saved.

If anyone knows of a newsgroup or forum where SeaClear users may gather,
tell me about it.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jacker at midmaine dot com