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Plan and review routes

BoatKit calculates routes from chart data, vessel dimensions, and the safety settings configured for the vessel. It can prefer a modest detour through more open water without turning that preference into a hard restriction.

warning

Route planning is an aid, not a substitute for official charts, notices to mariners, current conditions, local knowledge, or the judgment of the person responsible for navigation. Review every proposed route before using it.

Configure route safety settings​

Open Settings > Routes > Safety Margins and review:

  • Add'l Width Margin: required lateral clearance beyond the configured vessel beam.
  • Add'l Depth Margin: required under-keel clearance beyond the configured vessel draft.
  • Open-water preference: a variable cost assigned to otherwise-valid route segments near their required lateral clearance from shore or charted hazards. The cost falls as available room increases.

The width and depth margins are hard route requirements. The open-water preference is not: it helps a more open route win only when the extra distance is worthwhile.

The default open-water preference is 20%. Near the configured lateral limit, a segment within about 20 ft (6 m) of that limit costs roughly 20% extra. The same setting falls to about 10% at 100 ft (30 m) of extra clearance and about 5% at 300 ft (90 m). The taper continues through wider water, so BoatKit does not treat a single offshore distance as a cliff.

Increase the percentage if you want BoatKit to accept larger detours for open water. Reduce it if routes are avoiding useful coastal passages. Set it to 0% to choose by distance once the required width and depth margins are satisfied.

Calculate and review a route​

  1. Confirm that the vessel beam, draft, and air draft are accurate under Settings > Vessel Info.
  2. Add the route's start, destination, and any intermediate waypoints on the chart.
  3. Calculate the route and wait for refinement to finish.
  4. Inspect the complete route at a useful chart scale, including every narrow passage, shoreline approach, depth contour, bridge, and endpoint connection.
  5. If BoatKit offers alternatives, compare their distance and any clearance warnings before selecting one.
  6. Recalculate after changing a safety margin or the open-water preference.

The setting is vessel-wide and remains available while the vessel is offline. Route calculation uses the on-device routing data already available to BoatKit.

Tune the open-water preference​

Change the percentage in small steps and recalculate the same representative routes:

  • Start at 20% for a modest bias toward open water.
  • Try a higher value when a small detour would avoid running close to shore or squeezing through an unnecessary narrow passage.
  • Try a lower value when BoatKit takes a substantial detour around a passage that you have independently reviewed and consider appropriate.
  • Use 0% when you want no soft open-water bias.

Changing this preference never makes a route eligible if it fails the configured width, depth, air-draft, closure-zone, or other hard safety checks.