Laptop GPS System

[Frank Christman]

I am thinking of buying a GPS system without the chart plotter and then buying a Laptop to act as my chart plotter. Anyone else had experience with this and any advice?

 

[danknoxsf]

I think it is a good idea.

There are plenty of good reasons for doing this including actually making a network on your boat so that you can view information in more than one location.One of the downsides however is power consumption. Running a computer or a group of computers on a boat can take significantly more power than a stand alone unit.--Dan

 

[jmcclain]

Good Idea! But there are drawbacks!

Laptops with drives can be power gobblers. Then there is the water resistence issue. For most sailors it is hard to keep a laptop handly on the cockpit due to exposure to moisture. Also, some laptops are hard to iew in bright sunlight.A good compromise is an inexpensive chartplotter at the helm connected via seatalk or NMEA to a laptop at your chart table below. Plan your routes below then upload your waypoints to the helm. Color is great but a B&W plotter is more than adequate. Don't spend a lot. You don't have to. Interface your laptop directly to your GPS antenna and you, in fact, have a bckup down below.Jon

 

[Frank]

Thanks for the help

Thank you guys for the good Ideas. That is exactly what I want to do. Have my charts and maps on my laptop so I can lay out my routes, waypoints and study the charts for any possible issues that could arise. When you say NEMA you mean a hard line from the laptop to the fix chart plotter? Can you see the chart plotter that is mounted up at the wheel during the day light hours? Over is it best to mount it down below. A boat I charted had it below and I had to keep going below to view how we were doing on the lay line.

 

[Tom]

Chartplotter

You want to have the chartplotter at the helm so you can keep an eye on your course and have the laptop at the nav station in the cabin. I got the Raychart 435. Not that expensive and can view even in bright conditions. I had a port installed on my new boat this spring at the nav station for the laptop but I haven't bought the laptop yet. Any suggestions anyone on the laptop to buy. I understand that you have to buy some chart software that is pretty extensive so you probably couldn't get away with the cheapest laptops out there. I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on the laptop because I am concerned about moisture. I would like to it to be able to handle the charting software plus be able to use it to check on email and the weather.Thanks,Tom