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.

"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

"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!

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

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

"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in message
...
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




You don't want to be opening up your laptop and spraying CBs. The system
will overheat. Buy a laptop that's designed for the marine environment
(rugged) or not use it as a primary device should the one you have fail due
to corrosion. I've known people to go for a long time with a regular one
without any problems. Probably one big problem is damage due to it not being
secured when the boat is in a seaway.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On Dec 24, 4:19 am, "Shaun Van Poecke"
wrote:
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've kept a Sony Vaio on a shelf by my nav station for five years with
no problems. As a computer geek I'm often called in to consult on sick
computers in the cruising fleet and my, totally unscientific survey,
suggests that there isn't much difference in the MTBF for sea going
laptops and land going ones. Obviously, people try to keep them as dry
and cool as they can, but I don't think you should obsess about it, I
certainly would not open it up and spray it with anything.

-- Tom.

Most laptops are not sealed nor weather proof, meaning they are designed
for use only in areas of reasonable humidity and will not be subjected
to salt air or water. Don't tell the manufacturer that it failed after
three months of sitting under your bimini. They may refuse to honor the
warranty.

That said, I've queried hundreds of folks I've met cruising who bring
their laptops aboard, almost all have had reasonable performance,
providing they are kept dry, out of spray, wind, sun, etc., but you must
realize that this is not the intended environment for these devices. Do
not expect to get the rated lifetimes out of the devices.

There are a few areas that tend to fail, I include what I hope is useful
information but would like to point out that this is just my opinion,
others may have more useful or more correct conclusions:

LCD Screens: These tend to be very, very sensitive to heat and direct
sunlight. Placing them in cool, dry places will greatly improve their
life. Overheating them will cause the screens to darken.

Electrical Connections: I've found that most hardware within a computer
usually will work for the predicted life of the device, but that what
tends to fail are the connections. Coating them with Dielectric Grease
will help prevent this from occurring.

Disk Drives: The MTBF (mean time between failures) for most disk drives
is about 3.5 years. Disk drives are amazingly rugged devices, given
what they do, but this is still a relatively quick failure rate. I'd
recommend having at least one or more external drives on which you back
up the system, and at least one "still in the box" internal drive and
the complete instruction set for replacing it. If you are really clever
you will get everything you want working perfectly, back up to an
external drive, remove the existing internal disk drive and put it in a
vacuum sealed back with desiccant, and then install another internal
disk drive and reinstall from the external drive. This way when it does
finally fail you have the original with all the data ready to go.

Batteries: As most everyone knows, batteries have a "life" and it will
be shortened by running them down and recharging. If possible, keep the
laptop connected to a power supply so that it's internal battery is
constantly charged. I like to have two laptop batteries, which I
periodically switch, making sure they both stay fully charged.

PCB: The printed circuit boards of laptops are not coated with anything
to prevent oxidation. If you are really comfortable working with
electronics, then you might also want to consider adding a conformal
coating to the boards. This is a kind of paint that you apply to the
boards that creates a waterproof barrier but is non-conductive. It is
used in most military electronics, or other applications intended for
harsh environments. NOTE: I've used it on standard desktops and other
marine appliances BUT I've not tried this with laptops, so I'm
speculating that the results will be similar.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Robb



Shaun Van Poecke wrote:
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

"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in news:i0wjh.12636
:

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



I also like to put in a plug for a great little idea I came up with to
save your laptops from overheating...WITHOUT giving "them" $100 for a
stupid "cooler" in the process......

The idiots that package laptops have a flaw. Their desks must have an
open flyscreen surface. Look on the bottom of most laptops, 1mm from the
desk it sits on when running, and you'll find the MAIN FAN INTAKE
specifically designed to make sure it never gets enough cooling air and
the air that it does get is the same as putting a vacuum cleaner to
whatever it is sitting on and blowing it into the guts of it. As you can
see, this is totally idiotic. IF you sit this laptop on ANYTHING made of
something soft, like a car seat, the surface of anything a human likes to
sit on, a bed, YOUR LAP, etc., the fan intake is COMPLETELY sealed by
what its sitting on to ensure it will overheat. Chip makers know how
stupid these designers are, so they put temperature sensors inside the
chips to shut them down when, not if, this happens.

I have a better idea and it works great.....for a LOT less than $100.

Go to any electrical department of your favorite MEN'S store (Home Depot,
Lowes, etc.) and look for the Wiremold section. Measure your fan intake
on the bottom of the laptop before you go. My fan is 1.5" intake so I
bought a 1 3/4" wide strip of Wiremold, the stick-on surface wire conduit
you can easily cut that comes in two pieces, the base and the clip-on
cover. Mine is about 3/4" thick when put together. One stick will do 30
laptops.

Cut a piece off the long stick that is the same width as your laptop,
from side to side. My fan is in the left back corner on my Gateway and
the heat pours out the left side where the damned fan INTAKE should have
been...if you hold the laptop off the surface it sits on. Ok, now, pop
apart the base and cover of your laptop-wide piece and sit the cover
aside until the end of the installation. Lay the base across the upside
down laptop and mark the fan intake for cutting a hole in the base so the
fan can suck air from INSIDE the assembled Wiremold. While you're
measuring, make sure the Wiremold also won't be covering up any other
important cooling holes (mine doesn't) across the width of the laptop.
If there are other holes, cut holes in the base so they can breathe, too,
when it's running on the bed. Cut out the holes including the fan
intake.

Now, pull off the protective plastic from the super sticky double-sided
tape the Wiremold came with and carefully position the base across the
width of the laptop bottom and stick it down hard. Once the base is in
place, snap on the cover to finish the creation of the "cooling duct
work".

The fan now has, no matter what it is sitting on, an intake duct with two
intakes, one port, one starboard, that sucks sideways, not all the
dust/dirt off the desktop and car seat. The ductwork also raises the
back of my laptop so the keyboard has a nice little tilt to it for easier
typing than laying flat. I no longer have to prop it up with
"something" every time I sit it on a car seat or watch a movie in bed.
Cooling is much improved and warm, instead of hot, air comes out the
cooling outlet, especially when it's working hard to decode HDTV from my
Hauppauge HDTV to USB receiver plugin.