Skip Gundlach wrote:

The NOAA charts come in what appears to be a couple of formats -
a .bsb which seems to be an index of the parts for a chart, and others
(.kap) which have from one to many parts.


Skip,

You might take a look at OziExplorer, a shareware mapping program that
has a very wide audience:

www.oziexplorer.com

It will display your bsb charts. I have used it with the Maptech bsbs
with good results. With a gps hooked up to your computer, it makes a
good moving map system. Quite a bit less expensive (less that 100 USD)
than the big commercial packages. It is oriented to a general audience
and not specifically to nautical use. There is also an API package
freely available if you are inclined to roll your own utilities.

I am a registered user of Ozi. There is an active Ozi forum on yahoogroups.


HTH

Vic