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Subject: TWL: Re: Marine Electronics
From: Dick Nielsen (dick_nielsen@XXX.XXX)
Date: Tue Sep 03 2002 - 21:15:43 EDT
On our Bayliner 38' we rigged a Garmin 45 with mounting brackets, external
antenna leads and power/data cables at both the Fly bridge and the lower
helm two years ago. The power/data cables are spliced and mated to the
standard data cable (9 pin serial) that came with the Nobletec VNS package
which was then set up to input to a Dell laptop at the lower helm. The
antenna leads were spiced with a coaxial "T" connector and we just use a
terminator cap on whichever antenna lead is not connected. It all works
fine. In practice, we found that we were always using the Garmin on the fly
bridge and the laptop below with routes and waypoints plotted on the VNS
below and then uploaded to the Garmin. This gave us usable nav data at both
helms, but we did a lot of running up and down anyway to look at the
charting on the VNS below to verify exact position.
Prior to our trip north this summer (Seattle to Prince Rupert in stages), my
partners wanted to try the Laptop on the Fly Bridge, so we just bought a 15'
9 pin serial extension cable and ran it out the side window and up to the
bridge. I was concerned about possible data dropout because of the length,
(Garmin data down the wiring pipe to the lower helm and back up through the
window,) but it worked fine. We power the laptop from the DC cigarette
lighter on the bridge with a Targas universal auto adaptor. The only
problems we encountered were 1) trying to find a good place to set the
laptop near the helm (there really isn't one but we made do), and 2) the
visibility issue with the laptop screen. We solved the visibility problem
by making a hood/sunshade to fit over and around the screen. We made a
prototype out of cardboard on th fly. That worked okay and we ended up
using it the entire trip.
Since we have an enclosed bridge, we only have to disconnect the laptop and
take it below when we shutdown for the night, but it wouldn't be a problem
to do that enroute as long as you are careful and don't fumble the handoff.
It's just a matter of disconnecting the serial data lead and the power cable
from the laptop and reconnecting it to the ones at the lower helm.
Dick Nielsen
Keebird 38'
Seattle
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kerry and Jane Alexander" <alexander@XXX.XXX>
To: <trawler-world-list@XXX.XXX>
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 6:18 AM
Subject: TWL: Marine Electronics
>We like the idea of using a
> PC with navigation software. (We have looked at Nobeltec.) With an up and
> down helm, how much trouble is it moving a laptop computer from one to the
> other should sudden bad weather appear? The bridge, where we mostly drive
> out boat, has only a bimini.
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