[Paddlewise] Waterproof Map Paper

I gave National Geographic's waterproof map paper the kayak test last 
weekend. I printed an overview and a detail map of the area I was going to 
on my Epson Stylus Photo 750 using National Geographic's TOPO! program, and 
carried the maps under bungee cords on the foredeck of my kayak, where they 
were almost constantly wet with fresh water under sunny skies. When 
printing, I selected "Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper" in the Epson driver.

The maps held up pretty well through 16 hours of paddling. Though the paper 
can be printed on either side, don't be tempted to print on both sides, 
because there is some image print-through. There is also some image 
transfer, though only of the black ink, resulting in ghost images of each 
map appearing on the one under it. There is also some bleeding of the black 
ink, but not enough to make the text unreadable (This problem with the 
black ink might not occur with other printers or if less ink is used.) The 
other colors appear quite sharp and stable, though possibly slightly faded. 
The paper also absorbs fly spots, however.

One concern I had was abrasion resistance. I tried to remove some ink by 
scratching the surface of a wet map with my fingernail, with no obvious 
result but a shinier surface where I scratched.

Conclusion: If you can ignore the problem with the black ink, this paper 
works great. Even with the bleeding, the map is still highly usable after 
two days. One way to minimize the black ink bleed problem might be to 
select "360 dpi Ink Jet Paper" in the Epson driver, though this also could 
affect the other colors. Unfortunately, the paper comes with no instruction 
sheet of recommended settings.

Chuck Holst



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