"peter" wrote in message
...
I have a dual helm trawler, 40', and plan to add electronic charting with
a
good GPS with an external arial. I want to view this on a lap top
independent of input wiring so I can go to either helm whenever so .......
I
want to install a Local Area Network (all new to me but sounds
reasonable).

Has anyone tried to do this? Sounds so practical. I have yet to buy
anything yet so any advice would be a help! Guess I need a GPS, laptop
with plotting software and LAN module, and the where-with-all to get the
data out to the LAN from the GPS.

You could install the GPS and other instruments you wish to connect, inside
the boat and connect them to a Bluetooth enabled NMEA multiplexer. You can
then put your Bluetooth enabled laptop or ruggedized tabled PC or whatever
(even a PDA could do it) anywhere on the boat and receive all your
instruments over the BT connection. The advantage of using Bluetooth is it's
moderate power consumption.

See www.shipmodul.com for more info.
Meindert (owner of ShipModul)