Its nice if you can store them flat,but its a luxury not many of us can
afford. If you have a full size chart table on your vessel its not too hard
to build a full size storage space underneath and hinge the table top so you
can lift it up to find charts. Storing them this way actually takes less
space than storing them rolled up in my opinion, but you do need to take
care. you want a good seal around the bottom of the table to prevent water
from getting in, and you need to take care when looking through your charts
not to rip them. This system can take a bit longer to find the chart you
need, especially if you have a lot of charts. There are lots of ways of
organising them to make life easier though

You can sort the charts out into blocks of continents (if your lucky to have
that many charts! then sort them by chart number. Its pretty easy to keep
things in order this way, and you can always keep the two or three charts
you are currently using on the top then put them back later. You can put a
bit of tape on the side of the chart with a number on it to help find them
(some books are indexed this way).

Old charts can still be used so long as they are accurate. Keeping them up
to date with all the notices to mariners can be a full time occupation in
itself if you have a lot of charts, but its rewarding work. You can
download the notices to mariners digitally now, or if you have time, you can
go to your local maritime office and sit there in luxury with a cup of
coffee and update your charts there.

Shaun

How do you all keep your charts? How old a chart would you consider
using when visiting a relatively unfmiliar... or completely
unfamiliar... area?

-signed- Injun Ear (formerly known as Eagle Eye)