Laptop instead of charplotter & al.

[roline]

Saltwater and electronics just don't mix. Electronic devices that survive have a lot of design consideration for being water resistant/ proof. If a laptop could be made with solid state drives, membrane keyboard, hermeticaly sealed, it would stand a chance of replacing the chartplotter.
I did experience a complete electrical failure on a charter boat, we sailed by charts, compass and the stars(we cheated, I had a handheld gps tucked away for a second opinion) It gave us appreciation for our heritige.

[modul8]

I had visions of adapting my netbook to the sailing environment. Perhaps it could be possible to do if the right enclosure were constructed. I am plenty happy with the reliability of my netbook, although it runs linux, not windows.
That being said, on a round the world trip, i'd want bulletproof and redundant. check ebay and you will find older chartplotters by the dozen for under 300 bucks. who cares if they're black and white, as long as they give you the info you need when you need it.
As many others have already said, there is no substitute for paper maps. they don't require you to have power. all you really need besides that is your lat & long., so a chartplotter is not even that necessary, as long as your charts are up to date. there are many threads on sailnet singing the praises of radar for collision avoidance. and NEVER go bluewater sailing without an epirb.
you can't afford NOT to have one. it's a good investment.

[JPGaillard]

Guys, this is awesome. Thank you very much for the unanimous feedback.

Idea scrapped. I will try to see if I can get an electronic chart plotter in my budget, but it is likely I will go for old-fashioned paper charts instead. I learned the old school way with compass and sextant anyway.

Plus these electronic charts are confusing: you never know how many you need to buy to get the right level of detail. Navionics claims the XL9+ is sufficient detail like their classic series but I doubt that - for $250 get the whole East Coast in super detail or same for the whole of Europe??? sounds wrong.

Incidentally, I was wondering if you guys had recommendations on where is best to get large number of second hand paper charts. Here in the UK where I am right now the Admirality sells them at outrageous prices...

Furthermore, storage. By the time I have bought most of the charts I need, I'll have a pile 1 foot high if not more. how do you guys store that? my nav table can't accomodate that and I think tubes may damage the charts a bit... I am on a Passport 40 by myself for a solo circum so I have room, but I want to be optimized nevertheless... Current plan I have is to add a large shelf above my pullman berth at the bow and store the charts there above.


Jp

Keep-Searching.net
" a life of adventures "

[celenoglu]

I am using a laptop nearly for all my needs. The windows system crashed more than twice a week. This is not on the boat. It takes approximately 3 days to install the system, drivers, programs, data. One could say that it only takes a few hours. That is true. But you can never find that a few hours to spare for thr machine. A laptop is a good toy, but should be kept as a toy, not something to rely on.

Paper charts are my favorite selection. At least they do need electricity.

[Joesaila]

I would get a chartplotter and integrated steering system. There are some great deals [ebay?]

I have read of circumnavigators trading charts at arrival destinations. Easier said than done, but doable.

Have fun, come back and best wishes

[gumbeau]

If you are reasonably proficient using a computer then using a laptop as a chart plotter is a doable plan.

Chances are you are going to bringing a laptop with you anyway. No reason you can't make it a secondary navigation source.

It won't need to be on 24/7. And it doesn't have to be visible from the helm to be useful.

Since you have the skill (I'm assuming) to navigate without electronic aids I would suggest DR using plotting charts with celestial and hand held GPS for position checks on whatever schedule you decide to keep when offshore and a good pilotage plan close to hazards. As you approach navigation hazards/landfall having the laptop chart plotter running down below will give you peace of mind and it makes a great telltale below decks.

And the laptop can be used for all sorts of other stuff. SSB weather, entertainment, communications via the internet when in port, etc etc.

With Sea Clear and a USB GPS antenna you have a very inexpensive secondary nav suite.

And if you want a display at the helm for landfall/manuevering in restricted waters most laptops have video out that you could hook a cheap secondhand flat screen to and velcro it to the companionway. Laptop stays dry and you get a full color moving map.

I wouldn't discard the laptop chart plotter idea unless you absolutely will not be traveling with a laptop.

The USB GPS antenna can serve many different types of devices. I have one from Delorme that can go USB to a computer or bluetooth to a cell phone (or any other blue tooth device) It makes a great backup device for all sorts of unexpected situations.


I'll post a link to another thread shortly

(This is my first post so I'm not allowed to post a link...sorry)

[gumbeau]

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-m...rtplotter.html

Some ideas in that thread you might consider.

Don't get trapped into thinking the only way is the way some big company decides.

My personal feeling is that you could get a much more useful system designing and creating something yourself.

[christmasisland]

Lower priced charts here:

Bellingham Chart Printers

[captmikem]

I have taken a laptop with me to sea for over twenty years. First ones were little screen Toshibas. I have had a few crash, but they crash ashore as well. When we were first developing Maptech we only had large monitors for displaying our charts. I used put them in plastic garbage cans and duct tape and have a monitor cord run below. We made housings for them and ran them off a desktop with a UPS on it plugged into a heart inverter. What an amazing thing that was, having your position on a chart in the cockpit. But you find if you are not careful you spend more time looking a the display and lesstime fixing your position visually. I just looked on Ebay, you can buy a refurbished dell 600 laptop for 200 bucks. Make a good back up stowed in a plastic bag. Pretty cheap insurance. You can buy a garmin USB GPS for around 75 bucks. I put my charts on a Passport usb powered external drive, and have a second one as a backup. They are very small and handy. (they are about 54 bucks at costco or online at e-cost). Strip the junk off the computer and only use it for navigation and sailmail and there is not too much problem using xp. And unless it is a calm sunny day near shore I don’t put my computer in the cockpit. I never take my paper charts to the cockpit either, lost a harbor chart doing that years ago put me in a bad position.
People are used to looking at a screen nowadays for their exact position when near shore or entering a harbor. We never used to have that ability, we would go below, try and memorize the entrance, come out and fix what was in our minds with what we saw, light characteristics etc. I admit it is a great plus having it displayed in the cockpit when you are making an entrance, but off shore it is only a novelty.
In the end, it is whatever you are comfortable with. Don’t forget to spend some time learning good old pilotage.