Yacht PC

Javelin

Javelin

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Joined
3 Sep 2010
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Location
Southwold
www.southwoldboatyard.co.uk
I'm considering buying a Digital yacht pc.
The idea is for it to provide all the usual pc stuff like internet, email, iplayer etc in port but then to allow
chartplotter, ais, wind, depth info at the chart table, whilst relaying speed, wind, depth in the cockpit via a clipper repeater or similar
and in addition wifi chart/ais info to a android tablet or using an additional monitor under the sprayhood in a suitable waterproof enclosure which I can make.

Apart from vhf all my current gear is very old B&G Hornet and is past its best.
However wind and depth data is reasonably reliable.

I'm thinking of around £1500 as a budget.

Does the panel think this is viable?
What are the pit falls?
 
Have a look at the HP Pavilion Mini. I keep the boat dry, almost to a fault, and decided to go this route. It runs on 19v DC so it will run off a bus installed for the LED TV.

It's man enough to carry all sorts of music and videos, supports two screens and should be fast.

Tony.
 
That sort of arrangement is rather old hat. Unless you are going out in serious weather when arguably the Digital is more stable, you can achieve most of what you want with a cheap laptop. Not sure about transfer of data to a tablet though. No doubt others will be along to describe their setups from which you will probably conclude there is no best way.
 
All depends on whether you want a monitor screen which is readable in outside in daylight.

Those monitors are extremely expensive - and the prices charged for them from the likes of Ray Marine, Furuno are in line with the generaly prices for those things.

Your average tablet screen is of course invisible in a bit of decent sunshine.

Otherwise I would tend to go for a basic PC and consider it a consumable. Keep it religously backed up as I am sure your hard drive won't last long in a marine environment - however those things are so cheap now it is probably not worth spending huge amounts by getting something really rugged.

If you try going for a "rugged" PC, it you will probably end up exceeding the cost of a chart plotter system.
 
Hornet 4 uses a language that is particular to itself. It is possible to buy a converter to NMEA 0183 and I think 2000 at a cost of around £100 but not sure if this is sensible. No spares are available for Hornet 4, as I found out last year.
 
The model I am looking at comes with ais and gps sensors built in - both of which I'd have to buy anyway.
The 12w of power used seemed to me to be attractive along with the solid state drive.

I've used my Nexus in the cockpit for the last couple of years and so I'm well aware of the visibility issues in sunlight which is almost as bad at the brightness control needed when using on a night passage.
In practice though the tablet resided much of the time propped up on the chart table plugged into a charger, which could be seen with a glance through the companionway.
Not ideal but my budget really can't stretch to a plotter outside as well as another down below.

So I might have to find another £500 for new wind/depth/speed sensors as well :(
 
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To confuse the situation I've been offered a whole bunch of gear we're swapping out of a boat for new stuff.
Would I just be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

Raymarine;
RL80c
RL70
150g AST course computer
RN300
ST60001+
ST60 wind
ST60+ tri data
ST60 multi

All appears in good nick as was working ok when we removed it

Should I go for it or forget it, just seems to be quite tempting.
 
Javelin said:
To confuse the situation I've been offered a whole bunch of gear we're swapping out of a boat for new stuff.
Click to expand...

The ST60 stuff is more or less current (there are newer versions, but I believe the st60s are still made and sold new for people who don't want all the bells and whistles). Definitely worth having if you're getting them cheap. The other stuff is older generation; may still meet your needs but not such an obviously good deal.

Pete
 
My ST60s from 2000 are still working, or at least, were last week, so they should be fine. I only changed my RL70 inc radar because it was a bit old hat and wouldn't take AIS.
 
A few thoughts about a dedicated mini-pc on the boat.
Firstly, Digital Yacht are definitely hugely expensive.
I had my computer-savvy nephew build me an equivalent mini-pc for about a quarter of the price using parts bought from a site catering to the truck and bus industry, now seven years ago. It worked to my great satisfaction and I ran Seapro on it, easily the best navigation program I have seen. I used the pc for all communications and to back up my pictures. Two drawbacks: it was installed down at the chart table and the screen used a lot of power (it was a regular 17" monitor though)
Having since changed boats, I migrated the pc to the new boat, but I find I hardly ever use it any more. The new boat has a Raymarine C120 plotter which can be used at the chart table, but which can be installed in the cockpit under the sprayhood. This Is such an improvement that it outweighs the drawbacks. The Raymarine's navigation program is much less sophisticated than Seapro, it is less user-friendly, but it is simply more convenient and perfectly viewable in daylight. I had hoped to be able to use the plotter as a repeater for the pc and seapro, but the plotter is too dumb to achieve this. The result is I may even not bother to re-install the pc after the winter. The Ipad has taken over all the communications and internet functions from the pc, so now I just have to find a solution for the pictures, which may be as simple as an extra SD-card for another 1000 full Raw pictures.
 
michaelchapman said:
I would tend to go for a basic PC and consider it a consumable. Keep it religously backed up as I am sure your hard drive won't last long in a marine environment - however those things are so cheap now it is probably not worth spending huge amounts by getting something really rugged.

If you try going for a "rugged" PC, it you will probably end up exceeding the cost of a chart plotter system.
Click to expand...

Used to have 17" laptop but used too much power and the Pavilion didn't like heat either, main board packed up. Now use an old Asus Eee, replaced the hard drive with solid state and updated to W7, fast enough to stream video and does all the usual jobs, using less than half the power. Found using computer as chart plotter a pain, much prefer a dedicated plotter up top where it can be seen.
 
If you know someone who is computer savvy, then maybe you can ask that person. If he can build mini pc for your boat. However, if you don't know someone who know how to build mini pc. Maybe, digital yacht is nice option though there products are expensive.
 
Jabs said:
It runs on 19v DC so it will run off a bus installed for the LED TV.
Click to expand...

I'm intruiged by this 19v DC bus ..... can you explain please? Is it something clever or just a 12v to 19v car charger for a laptop.

At present my laptop runs from a car charger but I find it quite demanding on the batteries.

thanks

JR
 
There as many opinions on this as there are participants here!

I have several sources of power on board:

a) 240v AC from shore power.

b) 240v AC 3,000w from an inverter, switches automatically to the shore power system.

c) 12v boat system which floats from maybe 10.5v to 14.4 when motoring. This is used for all boat systems which are happy with a 'wild' voltage, such as pumps, lights, instruments, LED's (12-30v type) etc.

d) Stabilised 12v DC bus. This provides a stable 12v source and is used for router, wifi hub, wifi booster, 4G hotspot, and anything else that won't take the supply mentioned in (c) above.

e) 19.5v DC bus. This provides a stable supply to drive LED TV, Computer, and anything else that happens to be 19.5v DC.

(d) and (e) are fed from buck boost power supplies and rated at about ten amps, if I remember correctly.

The reason for the system is that the quiescent current is virtually zero and it is very efficient, electrically.

I wanted to be able to use a domestic TV and wifi gear, router, etc.
I even use a domestic hub in place of the Raymarine switch.

Hope that is clear.

Tony.
 
Tranona's comment left me wishing (and not for the first time) that there was such a thing as a Like button on these forums. I think he's nailed it, and to prove him right, here's some more baffling options that I believe to be good choices, and you may or may not do...

1) have a look at "car pc's" - built to small form factor and 12v

2) raspberry Pi's are all but disposable - fab little things with negligee current drain
 
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My main navigation computer is a Panasonic Tough book, bought on ebay, running XP ; I power it via a Maplin multi volt gadget.

To save juice, I have the power setting to 'do nothing' when I close the lid. This means the screen shuts down, but it keeps the plot running. I use open cpn to handle the charts and AIS data.

I also use it for wefax and SailMail. As it's got a big hard drive it get used as a back up for photos. It never gets connected to the internet.
 
Jabs said:
(d) and (e) are fed from buck boost power supplies and rated at about ten amps.
Click to expand...

Aha so it's the buck boost power supply that is the key?

Tony, can you remember where you sourced the buck boost power supplies? The ones I've found so only have about 2 amps output where as for a laptop I need about 4 amps & 60 watts

thanks

jr
 
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