Updated March 2026 with current pricing.
Admiralty Small Craft Charts are print-on-demand nautical charts covering UK and Ireland coastal waters. They are sold individually, with significant bulk discounts that can bring the price down from £17.80 to as little as £4.45 per chart. Understanding how the pricing works before you order can make a real difference to what you spend.
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?
It's no secret that Admiralty see their future in electronic charts. The UKHO's long-term intention is to withdraw from paper chart production, though they have formally pushed back that deadline once, and subsequent updates have removed any specific target date entirely. The current position is that paper charts will remain available until at least 2030, with elements of the portfolio being withdrawn on a case-by-case basis in the meantime. For leisure sailors, it's reasonable to think small craft charts could stick around a while longer yet. They serve a market that isn't covered by ECDIS, where demand for paper remains strong.
What about now?
Lovers of paper charts, fear not! Admiralty moved to print-on-demand a few years ago, and it may well be the saviour of the paper chart. It's logistically much simpler than the old system. 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 charts are print-on-demand too. If you haven't bought Admiralty leisure charts for a while, the system has changed quite a bit. Here's the short version.
| 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 is a bit bigger than the chart itself, with a white border around the edges. You may want to trim it if space on the chart table is tight |
| Supporting document available online with tidal information and chart notes | This information used to be on the inside cover of the folio! |
A note on buying charts: We organise charts into folio bundles on our website because it makes browsing easier, but you absolutely don't need to buy a whole folio. Each chart is sold individually. Pick only the ones you need, from any combination of folios, and you'll still get the volume discounts. We know clicking through dozens of charts can be a pain, so if you'd prefer, just drop us a message with the chart numbers you're after and we'll sort the rest.
Admiralty small craft folios (click to see the range)
The discounts
Admiralty's old small craft folio packs were priced around £54 at the time for anywhere from 10 to 25 charts. The new print-on-demand charts have a base price of £17.80 each, which seems like a massive price hike. But Admiralty are well aware that customers would flee to alternatives if they needed to pay full price for a lot of charts. So they introduced a stepped discount system:
| Charts | Discount | Price per chart |
|---|---|---|
| 1–4 | None | £17.80 |
| 5–9 | 35% | £11.57 |
| 10–14 | 65% | £6.23 |
| 15+ | 75% | £4.45 |
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.
The stepped discounts create some genuinely surprising crossover points. The most dramatic is at the 9-to-10 boundary: nine charts at the 35% tier costs £104.13 in total. Add a tenth and the whole order reprices at 65% discount, bringing the total down to £62.30. That's a saving of over £40 by buying one more chart. A similar crossover happens at 14 to 15, where the total drops from £87.22 to £66.75. And five charts (£57.85) actually cost less than four (£71.20). If you're anywhere near one of those thresholds, it's worth counting up before you check out.
We've done the maths for you. Here's how much it costs to buy up to 30 charts. The rows highlighted in red are quantities where you'd spend less by rounding up to the next discount tier.
| Number of charts | Price per chart (£) | Total cost (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17.80 | 17.80 |
| 2 | 17.80 | 35.60 |
| 3 | 17.80 | 53.40 |
| 4 | 17.80 | 71.20 |
| 5 | 11.57 | 57.85 |
| 6 | 11.57 | 69.42 |
| 7 | 11.57 | 80.99 |
| 8 | 11.57 | 92.56 |
| 9 | 11.57 | 104.13 |
| 10 | 6.23 | 62.30 |
| 11 | 6.23 | 68.53 |
| 12 | 6.23 | 74.76 |
| 13 | 6.23 | 80.99 |
| 14 | 6.23 | 87.22 |
| 15 | 4.45 | 66.75 |
| 16 | 4.45 | 71.20 |
| 17 | 4.45 | 75.65 |
| 18 | 4.45 | 80.10 |
| 19 | 4.45 | 84.55 |
| 20 | 4.45 | 89.00 |
| 30 | 4.45 | 133.50 |
Frequently asked questions
How much do Admiralty Small Craft Charts cost?
£17.80 each if you're buying 1 to 4. From 5 charts the price drops: £11.57 each for 5–9, £6.23 each for 10–14, and £4.45 each for 15 or more. Discounts apply across all folio areas in a single order.
Can I buy individual charts rather than a complete folio?
Yes. Every chart is sold individually and the volume discounts apply to the total number of charts in your order, regardless of which folio areas they come from. You can mix charts from different regions in the same order.
Are the charts up to date when I receive them?
Yes. Because they're print-on-demand, every chart arrives with all permanent corrections already applied. Weekly Notices to Mariners are published online for free, so you can check for any safety-critical changes after purchase.
How are the charts delivered?
Rolled in a cardboard tube. They are no longer supplied with folio wallets. The paper is slightly larger than the A2 printed chart area, so you may want to trim it to fit a wallet or folder.
Are Admiralty Small Craft Charts water resistant?
No. If water resistance matters to you, Imray single charts are printed on Pretex coated paper and fold to A4 in a plastic wallet. We cover the differences between the two in our Admiralty vs Imray charts guide.
Will Admiralty stop producing paper charts?
The UKHO has committed to keeping paper charts available until at least 2030, and more recent updates have removed any specific end date. Elements of the portfolio may be withdrawn on a case-by-case basis in the meantime, but for leisure sailors, and small craft charts in particular, paper is very much still in production.
Browse the full range of Admiralty Small Craft Charts at SailorShop.co.uk, organised by folio area. If you'd rather send us a list of chart numbers or if you'd like us to show you what's available for your area of interest, we'll take it from there.
