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.

I recommend Chart Table Linoleum. Available at drafting supply centers.

If your 'on the cheap' (like me) find a piece of regular linoleum and to
avoid the normal embossed pattern, turn it over and you will have a unglazed
mat surface.


--
My experience and opinion, FWIW

--
Steve
s/v Good Intentions


"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.

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.

Thanks Tom, I had not thought about leather. You just got credit for helping
design Rutu. :-)

I was planning to use vinyl drafting table cover but leather sounds a lot
more elegant. Just have to watch out for coffee stains. When you get into
low surface energy plastics like Teflon you start running into adhesive
problems and paper charts tend to float on the surface and slide off.
Leather is also less expensive than drafting table cover and a lot less than
thick Teflon sheet.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Tom Dacon" wrote in message
...
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:
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.

2mm thick self-adhesive Teflon sheeting.

Hi Dennis,

Do you happen to know of a source online for the Teflon sheeting like
you describe.

I've looked, but haven't found anything quite like that.

Thanks,

Mike.

beaufortnc wrote:
Hi Dennis,

Do you happen to know of a source online for the Teflon sheeting like
you describe.

I've looked, but haven't found anything quite like that.

Thanks,

Mike.

Regrettably, I no longer have a contact. We used it at the factory I managed
in the late nineties, but I am retired now and have lost all contacts. I
have a feeling that modern sailmakers may use it for reinforcement, perhaps
you should contact your local sail loft?

Dennis.

On 10 Oct 2005 21:15:28 -0700, "beaufortnc"
wrote:

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.

You can get self-healing cutting mat at hobby shops. Plastic model
builders use them all the time for cutting out parts on. Might work
for dividers?
Mark E. Williams