sailboat pc?

**gameboy** · 06-19-2006, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by Teknoledgi

Won't a sail boat of 25-30 foot have an auxiliary engine, or small generator.

no not always, i was looking at some this past weekend, and only a few had engines capable of charging batteries(most had 9hp pull start motors)

**S11D336B** · 06-25-2006, 03:04 AM

My advice. Use a combination of a wind generator and solar panel with a deep cycle battery. That way if it's not sunny you still have power via wind. That is if you really want a computer. There are several other ways you could get GPS and sound with out the price. you could use and ipod and just buy a GPS. Ipods are rated for around 14 hours of play time. you could still use a deep cycle battery to power your marine GPS / charge your ipod. You could even power a small amp to some speakers. Say 100w total. There are a lot of possibilities.

The main problems I see with a car computer on a sailboat:

1. I think you will find that wind / solar power devices that put out enough power to power a small computer are really expensive.
2. Corrosion problems
3. Power, if the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining, your battery isn't going to last much longer than a couple hours.
4. No GPS software application I know of has relevant marine map data.

Mainly though the cost. I mean if you have the money, go for it.

If it were me, I'd get a deep cycle battery, a small wind generator, an ipod, 2 marine speakers, 100w marine amp, low end marine GPS. You could even build a wind generator from a brushed dc motor and large fan for relatively cheap. Or for the price of an ipod buy a marine headunit with mp3 capability.

Ok, this is really turning into rambling. The point I think. . . Is that there are a lot of options and a car pc might not be the best for your application. your really going to have to compare cost, pos and cons, and preference.

**tj!2k4** · 06-25-2006, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by S11D336B

4. No GPS software application I know of has relevant marine map data.

Could you elaborate on this?

There are specific marine navigational software packages such as Fugawi, The Capn, P-Sea, and many more.

**S11D336B** · 06-25-2006, 05:06 PM

Oh sorry, I must have been mistaken. But what I meant by relevent map data. . . I meant markers on the gps such as intercoastal markers, depths, marina data, etc. I suppose though that you only need to be able to specify way points though. . But if software packages exist then you won't have a problem with that

. Sorry about that.

**zerokarma** · 06-27-2006, 10:58 AM

If you are looking for something a little more rugged for use on a boat maybe consider one of these units at: http://www.stealthcomputer.com/littlepc.htm,
I think they have marine friendly options as well.

**Peoples** · 06-27-2006, 11:01 AM

....how is this more rugged?

**Escalade182** · 06-27-2006, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by gameboy

no not always, i was looking at some this past weekend, and only a few had engines capable of charging batteries(most had 9hp pull start motors)

lol it would be either 8 or 9.9

**Miraz** · 11-10-2006, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by S11D336B

Oh sorry, I must have been mistaken. But what I meant by relevent map data. . . I meant markers on the gps such as intercoastal markers, depths, marina data, etc. I suppose though that you only need to be able to specify way points though. . But if software packages exist then you won't have a problem with that

. Sorry about that.

Err - the opposite is true, there are some very capabale software packages out there specifically designed for this kind of thing.

I regularly sail on a boat which is equipped with a PC that is linked into the B&G instrument databus, drives an on-deck repeater screen for the helmsman - downloads wind and tide data and even tells you which sails to use based on past performance information that it has captured over time.