06-23-2018, 10:17 PM
Joe,
I love this kind of question and the statements you made. Road map?! Wow! Now THERE'S and adventurer!!!
Lunar method would be the end of my cel nav work and it's certain it would burn me out. On the other hand, in the book, "Carry on, Mr. Bowditch" the entire crew of one of the ships he was on could do Lunars, he taught them.
I maintain that the mathy types have wrecked so much of astro-navigation methods making it confusing and more "why" instead of "how".
For me the simplest celestial navigation kit would be;
- Sextant (Astra III-B)
- Chronometer- Columbia watch
- Grundig Yacht Boy SW radio to get time signals when chronometer is in doubt.
- The Nautical Almanac (for the years of the voyage) with associated documents (corrections & increments, Altitude Correction Table)
- USNO Navigational Star Chart
- Pub.No. 249 Vol 1 and Vol. 2....maybe Vol. 3 also
- Casio calculator
Plotting;
- Small plotting table (a simple 24" square board) I always plot with the board this way and no navigation station
- A red colored head lamp or stationary light
- HUGE pile of white erasers
- Mechanical pencils and lead- .07mm
- Sun, Star & Planet sight reduction forms in a notebook (from this site)
- UPS sheets
- parallel rules
- dividers
- Scotch tape
For an absolute minimum?
- Sextant- Astra III-B
- Chronometer as listed above
- TABLE 4- GHA and Declination of the Sun for the Years 2001 to 2036
- TABLE 4- Long Term GHA Aries
- 2018 Navigational Stars SHA & Dec (for years beyond 2018 the SHA and declination don't change very much)
- Altitude Corrections for the Sun, Moon, Stars and planets
- Increments & Corrections (yellow pages)
- USNO Navigational Star Chart
- Casio calculator (several spares) in which case I wouldn't need Pub. No. 249 at all.
Plotting tools- same as above
Now, when do we set sail?
Roland
I love this kind of question and the statements you made. Road map?! Wow! Now THERE'S and adventurer!!!
Lunar method would be the end of my cel nav work and it's certain it would burn me out. On the other hand, in the book, "Carry on, Mr. Bowditch" the entire crew of one of the ships he was on could do Lunars, he taught them.
I maintain that the mathy types have wrecked so much of astro-navigation methods making it confusing and more "why" instead of "how".
For me the simplest celestial navigation kit would be;
- Sextant (Astra III-B)
- Chronometer- Columbia watch
- Grundig Yacht Boy SW radio to get time signals when chronometer is in doubt.
- The Nautical Almanac (for the years of the voyage) with associated documents (corrections & increments, Altitude Correction Table)
- USNO Navigational Star Chart
- Pub.No. 249 Vol 1 and Vol. 2....maybe Vol. 3 also
- Casio calculator
Plotting;
- Small plotting table (a simple 24" square board) I always plot with the board this way and no navigation station
- A red colored head lamp or stationary light
- HUGE pile of white erasers
- Mechanical pencils and lead- .07mm
- Sun, Star & Planet sight reduction forms in a notebook (from this site)
- UPS sheets
- parallel rules
- dividers
- Scotch tape
For an absolute minimum?
- Sextant- Astra III-B
- Chronometer as listed above
- TABLE 4- GHA and Declination of the Sun for the Years 2001 to 2036
- TABLE 4- Long Term GHA Aries
- 2018 Navigational Stars SHA & Dec (for years beyond 2018 the SHA and declination don't change very much)
- Altitude Corrections for the Sun, Moon, Stars and planets
- Increments & Corrections (yellow pages)
- USNO Navigational Star Chart
- Casio calculator (several spares) in which case I wouldn't need Pub. No. 249 at all.
Plotting tools- same as above
Now, when do we set sail?
Roland