Im sure heaps of people out there must be carrying their laptops on board
when they are cruising for navigation/internet.... what is the general
consensus on life? Do they suffer a lot from corosion? is anybody opening
up their laptop and sparying the circuitboards with anything?

I have two notebooks that id like to carry permanently on a thunderbird 26,
mainly for navigation use, so they'll be on most of the time and id like
them to last at least a couple of years if possible.... I had the idea of
separating the screen and the motherboard/HDD, encasing most of it in a
waterproof container, nolting the screen to a bulkhead and using an external
keyboard.... a bit over the top?

Is anyone shockproofing their laptop, or just sitting them on a table?

Thanks all
Shaun

On Sun, 24 Dec 2006 14:19:58 +0000, Shaun Van Poecke wrote:

Is anyone shockproofing their laptop, or just sitting them on a table?

It's been done for you already. Search for Itronix or "Panasonic
Toughbook" on ebay. Many bargains available.

mr.b wrote:
On Sun, 24 Dec 2006 14:19:58 +0000, Shaun Van Poecke wrote:

Is anyone shockproofing their laptop, or just sitting them on a table?

It's been done for you already. Search for Itronix or "Panasonic
Toughbook" on ebay. Many bargains available.

Toughbooks are pretty popular among firefighters and in the military,
but I still had issues pretty fast with mine when I was living on my
boat. It didn't seem to hold up any better than a Toshiba that I had,
but it could be that I had a lemon.

Good thread!

Sailor Brian wrote:
Toughbooks are pretty popular among firefighters and in the military,
but I still had issues pretty fast with mine when I was living on my
boat. It didn't seem to hold up any better than a Toshiba that I had,
but it could be that I had a lemon.

Hi:

Lemon? What happened? How long before it went to fruity?

Bob

Bob wrote:
Sailor Brian wrote:
Toughbooks are pretty popular among firefighters and in the military,
but I still had issues pretty fast with mine when I was living on my
boat. It didn't seem to hold up any better than a Toshiba that I had,
but it could be that I had a lemon.

Hi:

Lemon? What happened? How long before it went to fruity?

Bob

I could have said I had an apple. :-P

"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote
Is anyone shockproofing their laptop, or just sitting them on a table?

Modifying a conventional notebook might be possible, but probably not be
very effective or economical. There are notebooks available, like the
Panasonic "Toughbooks" for example, that are built for harsh environments.
The buzz-word for rough duty notebooks, btw, is "rugged" as in:
http://www.google.com/search?q=rugged%20notebook

Our laptop never left the nav station, but suffered corrosion of the
various contacts on the outside anyway (network, modem, etc.).

"Dan Best" wrote in message
...
Our laptop never left the nav station, but suffered corrosion of the
various contacts on the outside anyway (network, modem, etc.).

did you ever consider spraying them with some of the various sparys
availbale, contact cleaner most probably, or maybe inox?

"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in
:

Im sure heaps of people out there must be carrying their laptops on
board when they are cruising for navigation/internet.... what is the
general consensus on life?

They work fine until someone drops them on the dock, drives over them in
the marina parking lot (seen that), drops them down the companionway
ladder (that really does 'em in), etc.

Do they suffer a lot from corosion?
No, the keyboards are rubber switches and work fine IF YOU KEEP THEM OUT
OF THE SPRAY, of course.

is
anybody opening up their laptop and sparying the circuitboards with
anything?

Keep your fingers out of it. Static electricity does in computers, like
spraying air across things....not good.


I have two notebooks that id like to carry permanently on a
thunderbird 26, mainly for navigation use, so they'll be on most of
the time and id like them to last at least a couple of years if
possible.... I had the idea of separating the screen and the
motherboard/HDD, encasing most of it in a waterproof container,
nolting the screen to a bulkhead and using an external keyboard.... a
bit over the top?

A bit over the top...agreed. Lionheart's sits atop the chart table until
it's time to use the Yeoman to plot the next point on the paper chart
under the computer. I usually lay it open on its side so it doesn't fall
over if we're on a port tack.


Is anyone shockproofing their laptop, or just sitting them on a table?


At sea, we leave it open against the chart table with a mini bungee cord
around the bottom of the screen hooked around two little hooks screwed
unceremoniously into the fine mahogany wood of Amel's chart table. The
hooks stop it in one direction. The bungee stops it in the others. If
it tries to fall over backwards because the top is leaning back so we can
see it down the hatch from the helmsman's seat, it can't because it's
already leaning against the panel behind it. They only fall over
backwards. A laptop and its hard drive are made for shock, up to a
point. That point is a lot more shock than your boat pounding in the
waves as long as it can't jump off onto the deck.

Notebook is a Dell Latitude aboard. Cap'n Geoffrey's rich boss bought
him a new one after he backed over the old one at a golf course...(c;
Those Hummer H3s really can crush a plastic laptop FLAT!

We've used a Sony Vaio on a Bristol Channel Cutter for two trips from the
Chesapeake to the Bahamas with no problems at all. No special precautions
other than making sure it was not exposed to rain and spray and was kept
where unlikely to be flung onto the cabin sole. Seemed to handle the normal
range of offshore and semi-tropical humidity just fine, so the extra expense
of a "Toughbook" may be overkill.
Scott
"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in
:

Im sure heaps of people out there must be carrying their laptops on
board when they are cruising for navigation/internet.... what is the
general consensus on life?
snip