Admiralty have been through a few iterations of their Small Craft chart offering for leisure sailors. Having started with individual folded charts (much like the single charts from Imray), they moved into ready-made folio packs (like Imray chart packs) and they have now come back to individual charts, but organised into folios.
Admiralty Small Craft History
Why the change?
Well it's well known that Admiralty see their future in electronic charts. There have been a number of attempts to stop paper chart production but the dates have been put back - last we heard it will be 2030 but who knows!
What about now?
Lovers of paper charts, fear not! The latest move from Admiralty is a shift to print-on-demand. This may well be the saviour of the paper chart as it is logistically much simpler. Gone are the days of mass-printing new editions which were sent to distributors who needed a small army to keep them up-to-date until they were sold. Now Admiralty agents can print directly from the latest file version as long as there's a stock of watermarked Admiralty paper and enough ink in the printer!
How does this affect Small Craft Charts?
Small Craft (Leisure) Charts are print on demand now too. This has some pros and cons...
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Only order the charts you need | Not quite as easy as just buying a set for a whole area |
| Mix and match from different folios | Needs a bit more thought when selecting charts |
| Always up-to-date at the time of printing | No plastic wallet any more - they come rolled in a cardboard tube |
| Very generous stepped discounts - see below | The paper they're printed on is a bit bigger than the actual chart so you may need to trim the edges if space is tight |
| Supporting document available online with tidal information and chart notes | This information used to be on the inside cover of the folio! |
Admiralty Small Craft Folios (click to see the range)
The Discounts
Admiralty's old Small Craft Folio packs were priced around £54 for anywhere from 10-25 charts. The new print on demand charts were set at £16.20 which seems like a massive price hike, but Admiralty are well aware that customers would flee to alternatives if they needed to pay £16.20 each for a lot of charts. So they introduced a stepped discount system:
| Charts |
Discount
|
Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1-4 |
None
|
£16.20 each |
| 5-9 |
35%
|
£10.53 each |
| 10-14 |
65%
|
£5.67 each |
| 15+ |
75%
|
£4.05 each |
We did the maths...
Thankfully we didn't quite look like this
When our customers get in touch for advice, we often find ourselves recommending buying more charts, and not for the reason you think. Yes, we're a business and we want to make money, but not at the expense of providing the best value and customer service.
So, we've done the maths for you. Here's how much it costs to buy up to 30 charts. We've highlighted the quantities where you actually save money by buying more charts.
| Number of Charts | Price per Chart (£) | Total Cost (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16.20 | 16.20 |
| 2 | 16.20 | 32.40 |
| 3 | 16.20 | 48.60 |
| 4 | 16.20 | 64.80 |
| 5 | 10.53 | 52.65 |
| 6 | 10.53 | 63.18 |
| 7 | 10.53 | 73.71 |
| 8 | 10.53 | 84.24 |
| 9 | 10.53 | 94.77 |
| 10 | 5.67 | 56.70 |
| 11 | 5.67 | 62.37 |
| 12 | 5.67 | 68.04 |
| 13 | 5.67 | 73.71 |
| 14 | 5.67 | 79.38 |
| 15 | 4.05 | 60.75 |
| 16 | 4.05 | 64.80 |
| 17 | 4.05 | 68.85 |
| 18 | 4.05 | 72.90 |
| 19 | 4.05 | 76.95 |
| 20 | 4.05 | 81.00 |
| 30 | 4.05 | 121.50 |
