Pelorus Nav User Guide

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Pelorus Nav User Guide ​

Pelorus Nav is a free, open-source chartplotter that runs in your browser and as an app on Android and iOS. It shows official NOAA vector charts with IHO S-52 symbology, works fully offline once you've downloaded chart regions, and handles the essentials of small-boat navigation: routes, waypoints, tracks, tides and currents, and man-overboard.

Pelorus Nav showing Boston Harbor

Where to get it ​

  • Web / PWA: pelorus-nav.com/app — works in any modern browser, and can be installed to your home screen for full-screen, offline use.
  • Android (beta): through the Play Store's closed testing — the maintainer adds testers, so sign up — or as the signed APK attached to each GitHub release.
  • iOS (beta): via TestFlight — sign up to join.

This guide ​

  • Getting Started — first launch, settings worth changing, and downloading charts for offline use.
  • Features — what Pelorus Nav does, at a glance, with links into the rest of the guide.
  • The Chart Display — chart modes, detail levels, layers, and the instrument display.
  • Your Own Charts — loading satellite and scanned charts you bring yourself.
  • Routes — creating, editing, and following routes.
  • Tracks — recording where you went, and reliving it in the Track Viewer.
  • Tides, Currents, Wind & Sun — predicted conditions on the chart, up to 48 hours ahead.
  • Traditional Plotting — DRs, fixes, bearing lines, and distance arcs for chartwork the old way.
  • Signal K — using the boat's own GPS and instruments through a Signal K server.

The guide covers the interesting parts, not every menu item — most of the app is meant to be discoverable by tapping around, and nothing you do in a panel or menu is destructive without confirmation.

Not for primary navigation

Pelorus Nav is a planning and situational-awareness aid. Always maintain a proper lookout and consult official publications. Charts can be out of date and GPS can fail — never rely on a single source of navigation information.

Help & support ​

  • Report a bug from inside the app: INFO → Report a Bug… sends your description along with the diagnostics needed to track the problem down.
  • Email pelorus-support@oberbrunner.com with questions, suggestions, or anything else.
  • Issues and feature requests are welcome on GitHub.
  • The privacy policy explains what little leaves your device, and when.

Not for primary navigation. Always maintain a proper lookout and use official charts.