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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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PC's and sailboats

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josh-hansen
1st Mate

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USA
50 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/26/2006 : 23:41:34

Okay this is going to make me sound like more of a computer geek than a sailor which I am not. It's just that I work for a company that makes them (computers, and geeks that is). I am researching using an extremely rugged XP machine (that I helped design) for all my sailing information. See picture.

The computer is really just a desktop PC running XP in a waterproof magnesium box. They sell for more than you can possibly imagine. Anyway, has anyone tried using a laptop or desktop PC connected to a USB/GPS antenna for navigation? How about depth/fish finding? Wind indicators?

If this work out I will have more pictures to share. As always thanks for the advise.

Josh Hansen

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2006 : 05:40:08

Drooooooool!

If you would like me to beta test one for a few months, I'll pay the postage!

Paul.

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djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2006 : 06:12:52

I'm with Paul. Send one over and I'll write a report in two years. LOL. Over at the Latituds and Attatudes (sp) forum, there was a lot of discussion about this issue. In that forum there are a number of sailors that live on their boats and have that set up. Very cool product. Cheers.

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existentialsailor
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1180 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2006 : 07:37:56

I like my systems separate so if there is a failure, I don't lose it all. I realize this is counter to industry trends, but working in medical electronics, I like redundancy. I would probably never consider a computer for that use on my boat.

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djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2006 : 07:57:46

Hi Rick, I looked into doing this but for the same $$$ I could have separate units. I liked that and the fact that the computer monitor is just too big for our C25. If I had a 51' Formosa, I'd consider it. Of course, if I had the Formosa, I could afford anything. Cheers.

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2006 : 10:53:49

Josh,<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">They sell for more than you can possibly imagine.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I work in the space business. As Hans Solo once said, "I don't know, I can imagine quite a bit."

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">In that forum there are a number of sailors that live on their boats and have that set up.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">You might also try the [url="http://www.cs-bb.com/forums/CSBB/index.cgi"]CSBB Forum[/url] for opinions from owners of larger sailboats.

-- Leon Sisson

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Heartbeat
Navigator

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USA
161 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2006 : 11:06:39

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of stepping about the newly launched Equation. (http://www.byc.com/mack06/boatdetail.cfm?ID=6) Wow, what a boat. Beautiful rigging, fantastic controls, unbelievable instruments, and a carbon fiber head - no kidding!

I did notice that the navigation system was a laptop. (Probably plugged into most of the instruments, the GPS, etc.) I asked and they mentioned that it also had programs for recommending courses and sail choices to run the polar downwind jibing points. Sounds like a great idea, and probably just a fraction of the cost of the carbon fiber head.

-Matt Q.

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johnsonp
Admiral

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USA
606 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2006 : 11:24:49

Top drawer.....
Minimum 802,rs-232,usbn and bluetooth.
I'm a certifide Beta testor....send me one
paulj C250 WK #719

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 08/03/2006 : 13:11:47

Josh,
I've got a friend who uses a Panasonic Toughbook (I think?) for navigation on his Polaris 43. I know he's got GPS hooked up via NMEA, and he's working on getting his other devices hooked up as well. If you've got specific questions I can relay them to him.

I played with a Cetac notebook for a while on my San Juan, but it didn't come to much, the laptop was a MIL-Spec "ruggedized" box, supposedly you could kick it down a flight of stairs while it was spun up with no damage. It only had a 2gb drive on it, and took forever to boot, so I eventually just set it on my bookshelf at work. Are you running regular XP on the machine, or one of the embedded variants like WEPOS? How do you make your pass throughs on case water tight? Can you tell I'm a computer geek?

David

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.