Laptops on board and bouncy-bouncy

[stefan_r]

I have a laptop for charting software and it is strapped down so it can't move - is this good enough??? Should it be 'shock protected' sitting on a foam mat or something otherwise it is going to be jarred quite heavily at 30kts in rough seas....

Dunno if the hard drive jigging about damages it (the power settings say switch off HDD after 3 mins but dunno if this means it shuts down and the spindle doesn't move at all - even when the application is running)

mailto: stefan@athito.com

 

[Mike_02]

I would not recomend it at all. The heads in the drive will ounce all over the place and could cause a lot of damage. Also if you have any dry or weak solder joints inside they will get worse and you will end up replacing the lot.

Why do you think that equipment which is meant for the job has no moving parts.
Just remember ..very small moving parts being jarred around...not a good mix at all...!

 

[c_j]

AT Soton boat show last year I saw a laptop holder which was designed to cut out shocks and vibration. It looked pretty good and I wish I had bought one as I always have the laptop on board and have recently started using it as a navigation aid.

Any one seen this product advertised anywhere?

CJ
chris@stone.uk.com

www.stone.uk.com

 

[wheneverIcan]

I would suggest mounting it on a few cm's deep foam to adsorb any shocks you may get. Just look out for air vents underneath and obviously don't obstruct them. One of the most likely damages you may get is the screen flopping around so it may be an idea to restrict its movement in some way if you need to see the image at all times.

Simon

 

[Robin2]

My guess is that if it can't bounce on the table it will be well enough protected. By and large a boat is not going to suffer a high G bounce when it goes over waves. Also the frequency is very low. These things feel bad to people because we have squishy bits inside us. But, compared to even a short fall onto a hard surface a boat should offer a fairly comfortable existence.

A soft padded support for the laptop will just change the nature of the loads it is subjected to.

Engine vibrations might cause more trouble than the movement of the boat and padding might be useful if you think that is a problem.

But ....

.... don't waste time sending me the bill if I am wrong

 

[andyball]

A friend from Iceland reckons most fishing boat skippers there use laptops....& have done for years,without problems (at least none for him & his friends).

Obviously this is a sample of one: but he thought the idea of a separate chartplotter quite strange, unless it needed to be waterproof.

 

[Guest]

Stefan I've used a laptop to Navigate for last 2 years, I normally sits on the chart table by the inner helm
when we're inside or when I'm helming outside (Broom with aft deck helm) its on the sideboard so I can
see it from the helm. Never had any probs with vibs or indeed with it falling off even in F5-6 off Beachy Head
I run it from the 1500w inverter

"The Med is calling me"

 

[ccscott49]

Had my laptop onboard for three years, no padding, sits on a little podium on the chart table not had any problems with it. Was going to fit some egg box type foam, but couldn't find any, so never bothered!

 

[Nigelhg]

we have also uesd one onboard for past 2 seasons and have had no problems yet. It would be a good idea to shockmount it with sorbathane or foam but we havent bothered and it still works fine. My brother was in a new fishing boat in fraserborough recently and they had 3 pcs built in ...surely fishing boats wouldnt be using them if they werent reliable. BTW i thought that all laptops were designed to take a certain amount of movement.