Now we can download NOAA charts for free and/or buy a DVD from a third
party who downloads them and organizes them all for $29 - 45, meaning we
can hook up a GPS antenna to our laptop and get a "chartplotter" with
all these charts for a reasonable investment. (And it looks like that's
what the new Garmin products are going to do, but that's another issue.)

The problem is that these laptops really aren't as waterproof and
shockproof as a real chartplotter.

Why doesn't someone come up with an adapter cord that connects a cheap
DVD players loaded with those charts to a C Map NT+/BlueChart/Navionics
chip adapter thingy so those of us with chartplotters that use these
antiquated systems can access all those charts without buying all of the
individual chips?

I would buy one...

Capt. Jeff