laptop on a yacht

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Miker

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I'm thinking of getting a 17" laptop and was wondering about their suitability on a small yacht when it is pitching around and slamming.

If they are rugged enough I would welcome advice on suitable software. My cruising area is NW UK and perhaps Ireland. Forgive my ignorance, but can the software be fed local waypoints etc such as channel buoys? Also, are regular updates which match the UKHO online service downloadable?
 
I use a lapop with sea pro which is great, you can feed it waypoints etc. However after a couple of trips I ditched the laptop screen and screwed a monior to the chart table and screwed the body of the laptop into the base of the chartable as it was getting thrown around too much. Point is you have to secure the laptop someway, mine is a ratty old thing that was worth buttons but it feeds the second hand 15" tft screen and didn't object when I literally cut off its screen, its well fast enough to handle seapro and I use a new laptop for usual compuer things, but I can stow that one in a locker when at sea.
 
Hi Mike,

I use a 17in Toshiba on Rogue with SOB plotting software and C-Map charts - it does everything any plotter can do, inc. waypoints. I sit it on the cockpit table on some of that none slip rubbery stuff, and strap it down with thin rope if it gets a bit rough. So far so good. On Rogue, it can be seen from the wheel. I also have a Lowrance plotter at the wheel, with the not so good Nauticpath charts.

If I was doing it now, I would buy a Standard Horizon plotter with C-Map charts, and mount it at the wheel. I would probably kit the laptop out as a backup, but it wouldnt be the priority.
 
Laptops work well as plotters, but IMHO, have 3 drawbacks:-
1) Physically quite delicate.
2) Very vulnerable to water ingress, even wet hands.
3) Use quite a lot of battery power compared with a plotter if kept running constantly.
They offer a lot of screen area, mine is an old 14" Toshiba and it's plenty, although viewability in sunlight is not great My advice is to get the cheapest one you can find, plotting software requires little processing power. If it has a serial input port for the GPS, so much the better. Ruggedised laptops offer advantages, but are pricey.
 
How rugged do you need? my ratty old acer has suvived being thrown accross the wheelhouse several times, dropped off the chart table and down the companionway, having its screen hacked off with a saw and scissors, screwed into the chart table with 1 1/2" screws, finally dunked in several litres of oil when my bridge compass failed. All this from 10yr old machine that was worth ooh 30 quid. And I can still play solitaire when I'm bored.

I would pick up a cheap laptop and link it into a handheld gps. I use a GPS72 for this, my main garmin chart plotter is now a backup and rarely used as the seapro and a 15" monitor and mouse is much more intuitive and easier to use, Ive also a small cheap waterproof keyboard on the chart table for inputting waypoints, passage plans etc.
 
I made up a bracket to house ours just forward of the chart table, as it meant opening out the laptop to 180° I couldn't use the keyboard or trackpad - not really a problem as it meant I bought a waterproof flexikeyboard and a mouse - which are throw away items and keep the laptop safe - it also meant i could clear the chart table for proper charts /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I have a 12 inch or so second hand IBM thinkpad which can be fastened down to the chart table top. reasonably rugged which is more than can be said for most of the cheepo new lappies.

having said which I almost never use it and use paper charts instead, cos the lappy isnt where you need it - on deck
 
You can see some onboard PCs and displays at Sea Whisper. There will be more displays on show at LIBS
 
My old Toshiba Tectra is now about seven years old and has a rough life. Its main problem is that if water gets into the screen hinge the scree goes blank and the computer won't boot up. Just prop in front of a fan heater for half an hour and off you go again.

There was a recent thread on a similar topic which concluded that a refurbished IBM Thinkpad off e-bay for 200squid was the best bet for a boat. That would be my choice if old Toshiba doesn't dry out next time!
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. On reflection, I think that a cheapo 15.4" would be more manageable, and easier to sell to my wife. I assume that 15.4" is big enough for the job. The other use would be as a portable photo album - at present I spend a fortune on paper and ink - and which is the reason that I am attracted to a laptop rather than a plotter.
I hadn't thought of possible ingress of water. I assume that I could place a waterproof cover over the keyboard and just use a mouse for assessing the software.
 
I have an old toshiba laptop with 14 inch screen running windows 2000! Works really well. Tough as old boots. Was about 100 pounds from ebay 4 years ago.
I did look at the new netbooks with 10 inch high res screens in currys for about 300 pounds. I am tempted.
A friend has a first 257 and he runs a dell with a 12 inch screen on Xp which works fine. He made a hinged table on the cabin bulkhead next to the mast support. He also uses it for playing dvds and TV uggh.
 
We use a Siemens laptop when away on the boat, we only use it for weather forecasts, checking emails etc.

It seems pretty rugged, however, the screen is quite dark and the battery life isn't great. I wouldn't rely on it for navigation. I can see the screen in the cabin but outside it is awful.

We usually leave it on the main table when underway as my son can go down and play games or do college work. It has never budged from there even in big sea but it has rubber feet on it that grip the table very well.
 
I've just googled SeaPro and my breath was taken away by the cost of SeaPro Standard. The cost of Lite seems more reasonble but I am wondering whether some of the missing features are vital.The GPS upload/download waypoints and the NMEA 183 instruments interface seem useful, unless it can be accompished in another way. Also, how does one get on without a chart corrections facility?
Thinking about it again, for my sailing in the Irish Sea, it all now seems a bit of an overkill.
 
Me again! I've looked at SOB which seems cheap enough but there is the cost of CMap charts and the updates. £78 from Force4 seems OK but what about the update costs? I assume that it does not come for free.
 
Have you looked at Ozi Explorer ?

Shareware version is OK - You can use it with scans of your existing (paper) charts.

I think several on here use Sea Clear which is 'free'.

May be worth searching [1] for previous discussions on nav software.

Andy

[1] Forum search is [--word removed--]. I have best results using the Altavista advanced search and putting www.ybw.com/forums/showflat in the search by URL box (already done if you click the link).
 
For those of you who use a seperate screen and disable the laptop screen, how do you power the second screen. Is it via the laptop power supply, a direct link to the batteries or via an inverter?
 
Via Laptop power supply - not usually - this is set up to run the laptop....
Direct link to batteries - if you can find a 12v screen then possibly - although a 12v-12v dc converter may smooth out the voltage as you will get variations when the engine is running or other devices pulling a load.
via an Inverter - quite likely

rather dependant on the monitor you manage to source really! Some take mains straight in whilst others have an external powerpack.... of the external powerpacks quite a number are at 19v ....
 
I use a very light and dinky sony viao with Offshore Navigator from Maptech Marine. (Now replaced by Chart Navigator.)

That software can do all you ask. About £150 with the entire UK and Ireland Charts. You can update the whole chart set at any time for £75 ish. If you want to apply notice to mariners updates you'd have top draw them on the chart.

I manage well with this package, but I haven't compared, and it may be that several years of familiarity makes it easy.

I keep the laptop in a custom made clamp at the front of the saloon with a trackball mouse - even slightly wet hands don't work on a touchpad. I carry a spare computer and in fact spares of almost every part of the system.

I have a maplin in car charger which cuts out wastage of power in an inverter, and I have defined a very lean power usage profile - switch off DVD drive, spin down disk, dim screen - on what is already a very power efficient machine.
Never found it hard to have enough amps for it.

Lightweight machines ar not such a problem as you might think. The screen has so little weight that it doesn't flap around when pitching - hinges are often broken this way - make your clamp support the screen if it is heavy.

However, if you fell against my machine it would be curtains for it.
 
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