The below picture is of an inexpensive (100$) GPS hooked up to an inexpensive (200$) laptop that is equipped with free GPS mapping software from www.sping.com What you get, for 250 dollars. is an electronic map with your boat appearing on the display as a little circle or flashing dot. All of your travels are also plotted on the display, and the right hand side has a status window containing all the usual GPS information. The laptop does not have to be a Pentium 4 supercomputer. Any laptop will work, because they all have the (required) serial input port as a standard item.

The maps themselves can be downloaded from a goverment site listed in www.sping.com

The Sea-Clear software is excellent but does take a little learning (especially the map calibration) But it ain't bad, since I did it!

WOW that is way cool!!! I have a magellan 315 and i can get a cheap laptop, i have already downloaded the softeware but what cable are you using to connect the two????? If this works like it looks it will be great to have on the boat, mapping sites and spots where i catch fish, see ya soon ,fishy.......

I have been running a computer on my boat for a couple of years and there is a little more to it then just setting them on the boat and turning them on. I run Nobletech, and have been very pleased with it. I don't know a lot about this other software but it looks very similar. Major problems with a laptop on a boat are power, water, and a stable yet flexible platform for them to ride.

Without having my laptop plugged in to 110 the software drains the cpu battery very quickly (~ 2 hours). The computer is constantly updating and thinking so it takes a lot of juice. You either need an inverter or a 12 volt adapter to plug into the cpu. Either will cost around $100. When I am fishing with the laptop running, my batteries have a tough time keeping up as well.

Plugging the GPS into the computer can also be tricky. Not all laptops have a USB port, but if yours does I have been told that is the best route to follow.

Laptops designed for dry use do not fair that well on boats. They get wet and beat up. You can buy trays that are designed for laptops on boats that help to cushion the blows. The are around $150, but worth it. A laptop designed for marine application is rather pricey but can handle the abuse much better.

I have also found the system to be tempremental, most likely to my error. I have confidence in the software, but not necessarily in the hardware so I would advise not to run this as your sole means of navigation, but rather something to play with when the fishing is slow. They make a great stereo and solitare always helps pass the time.

I have been running a Lowrance handheld and Mac laptop for about five years now, and I agree with Drifter's post fully.

I had been running the Mac off of a 12VDC to 110VAC inverter + the regular laptop AC charger/tranformer until my inverter smoked last year, I think due to moisture in the boat. I plan on getting a 12VDC to 24VDC converter this year (the laptop runs on 24VDC directly), but like Drifter said, these are not cheap, the one I need costs about $60.

I've been running two different types of software, the first one I started using years ago was GPSy, it was great in that you could scan in any map and then pick a datum and three points and calibrate it. I used this one with scans I did myself of everything from NOAA charts to Fish'N'Maps... it has a shareware version and can be found at www.gpsy.com
The second one that I'm now using is called MaxSea, and it reads the normal SoftChart BSB format NOAA charts on CDROM... it's pretty good, but it's a port from the PC version, and is not that intuitive at all, and a little cumbersome to use.

As far as mounting the Mac in the boat, I took a heavy-duty RAM mount and fabricated a flat aluminum platform that the laptop sits on... a little industrial Velcro and a strap just in case, and it stays there just fine so far... and the RAM mount absorbs some of the bumps and bangs... but those mounts aren't cheap, either.

At the time I started doing this, there were no commercially available cables made to go between your laptop and your handheld GPS (hell, 12 channel GPS was a new thing then!) So bought a cable from Lowrance that had their special plug at one end and raw cables at the other, and I got the pinouts for the Mac serial port from the GPSy web site and soldered myself a cable... it's been working ever since.
A word of warning... those of you with newer laptops, you might need to run a USB to plain 'ol serial port converter, as I'm not sure there are any GPS units yet that speak USB directly... but I haven't checked recently and this type of stuff changes daily, so who knows...

Now WHAT I WANT TO KNOW is... does anyone know of any PC-style (BSB or whatever) charts for the Westport to La Push offshore area that are as detailed as the Navionics or C-MAP charts of the area? I've got the Softchart CD for this area, but south of Cape Alava, once you get off the coast, it's only a 1:100,000 chart... not that detailed.
I know comparing Navionics to BSB is apples to oranges (raster charts vs. vector charts), but I'd love find out where to get some detailed charts for this area that I can use on my Mac or PC laptop... otherwise, I'm going to have to upgrade to a Lowrance X-19 or something like that...

Thanks!
-N.

The Nobletech software I have covers the waters of the entire world. I went all out and got the full package. Clarity is great. I run a Furuno DGPS and a Si-Tex PC Radar. I can split screen or interface my radar with the charts and GPS. Also have the 3D vector charts. Pretty neat toy.

To fishy: Magellan makes a laptop interface cable that connects to the serial port of your computer (the "serial" port is the 9 pin connector that all PC's have. If you do not know what that is, look on the back of your computer for the port that has 9 pins in it)

I will post a picture of it later on.

My general purpose laptop has so far done a good job of riding out the waves. The instantaneous G-loads are not that great in a boat, and the biggest danger (I believe) is that it might slide off it's mount and end up on the floor.

With respect to power, most laptops require about 20 volts at a power load of about 75-100 watts. A solution here is a power inverter which converts 12 volts DC to 100 VAC. 300 watt units can be purchased for about 35 dollars at Wal_Mart.

I also have tide predicting freeware on my laptop and that is kind of handy.

Digital camera buffs can also process their pictures on-board via the PCMCIA slot or USB port.

lots of good information, i thought that i would use it just to learn how the darn thing works. Have had it for some time and have never taken the time to sit down and really learn it. have a 17 ftr runabout and don't really get away from port or my home waters all that much but am getting that two-foot-itis and have been looking at some bigger boats lately and will have to learn all about the navigation type stuff. so you see i am just a newby at this type of thing, but i know alot about computers so should be able to figure it out. all great advice, thanks so much, Fishy

i just got a magellan meridain gps and came across this thread, i cant figure out for the life of me how to get the charts so i can load them in to seaclear. do i have to buy the charts? all i can find are bsb and such for sale, no free downloads anywhere. is it possible to get them for free? i only need the sound the straits. thanks for any input.

Go to www.sping.com and look for the link to the government furnished charts. I downloaded a bunch of them, including Puget Sound. Post again if problems.

OK you guys have me hooked! I've gotta have this... I have a Garmin 12 gps that is my primary source of navigation. What would I need to get started? Start with the laptop... I read I need a usb port, but what about ram, and processor speed? how much hard drive used? What would you get if you were starting over? also, why go this route over one of those fixed mounted gps mapping units? I have tons more questions, but I dont want to burn anyone out here!

Its like fishing star trek style!

I just put one together my self for around 70$.
I got a free laptop it is an OLD 133 omnibook 800ct it only has 16 MB of ram and 1 gig of H/D space. I was able to load an old version of Nobeltc and all the Maptech digitial charts for the puget sound on the Gig of space. I wont go into were the software came from.

I went to walmart bought a 300 watt inverter that plugs into your lighter for 40$. (you can take this in the car or what ever)
Then I bought me a Alumimun suitcase and outfitted it all into the suitcase so if there is any water near by I just close the lid and walla instant water proof 30$ for the case.


Elk run.
As far as software goes I would use OziExplorer . With that engine you can scan ANY chart and it will calibrate it for you . If it is a big chart you can take it down to kinkos ans the can scan it for you.