On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:46:22 -0800, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

I don't have a chartplotter (and an AIS), sadly. It's not in my budget until
2011 at least.

If you own a laptop computer you already have a chart plotter with AIS
capability. The software, Seaclear II, is basically free, as are the
electronic charts. Just add an inexpensive GPS with a data cable and
an inexpensive AIS receiver.