A Paper Chart That Can Handle Extremely Wet Conditions

Did you ever go to check on your boat and notice the sump pump wasn’t plugged in? A few inches of water covering the floor and the papers you left out were in an unrecognizable stack of mush?

Our chart books, the Maryland and Virginia Cruising Guides,are made with a special type of paper called “Wet Strength” allowing it to be fully functional, even when wet.

My sister and I were told of this special wet strength ability, but felt the need to test its splash and soak capabilities for ourselves.First we submerged just a few pages in water. It took a while just to absorb water.

Impressed with that, we set the entire chart book into a bucket of water with half the book sticking out. It got wet, but even after 72 hours, moisture never wicked up beyond the waterline, leaving the upper half dry. We also discovered that we can write on our chart paper with an ordinary ball point pen even when the pages are wet!

While attending boat shows, I began folding our old charts into little boats.  At each show I place one little paper boat into a shallow bowl of water. The rest I hand out as samples of our paper, encouraging people get their samples wet.

Last fall I put one of our chart paper boats into a little bottle filled with water. My own ship in a bottle.  It has now been in the water for 6 months and still, the ink doesn’t run and the paper doesn’t fall apart!

We’re always looking for ways to improve  our chart books with each printing. One of our most recent upgrades was to triple the thickness of the laminate on the cover, making them sturdier than ever, but don’t worry, each book still comes in our USA made protective vinyl sleeve.