When I built my own chart table, I started out with the linoleum-like
material that is used on drafting tables. It would be ideal except that it
expands and shrinks in dimensions with heat. So if the sun is shining in the
doghouse window onto the chart table the material expands and wrinkles. What
I ended up with was leather. I went to a leather store - Tandy's - and
bought a large enough piece of skin to cover the chart table. I turned it
over and used a regular old woodworking plane, honed sharp, to shave it to a
consistent thickness, and then placed it in a shallow recess on the chart
table, surrounded by a teak frame. Contact cement holds it down. Works
great.

HTH,
Tom Dacon

"beaufortnc" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi all,

What is the common wisdom on solving the problem of -

when navigating, my dividers - which are damn sharp - will poke through
2 or 3 layers of charts and poke into the surface of the nav station
table.

I'd love to put something down to stop this, but what is the best
thing?

any ideas would be appreciated so I don't have to reinvent the wheel
here.

Thanks,

Mike.