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Sandy Daugherty

Truely marinized boat computer

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I'm tinkering with the design for a boat computer that could carry a 36 month warranty in a marine environment. The key features are a stainless steel or anodized aluminum case with the motherboard immersed in a dielectric fluid for cooling, shock protection, and corrosion prevention. All mechanical peripherals attach via USB, SATA or Firewire, allowing for simple plug and play replacement.
Should this system be able to run Vista or Windows 7? What is a reasonable price point?

12 Replies

  • There have been marine ruggedised laptops on the market for some years now. I've seen ones demonstrated by being dropped on concrete from 20ft, had a truck driven over them, you can stand on the LCD screen and it recovers, totally water, shock and vibration proof. No moving parts all solid state, no holes, tablet format with either touch screen keyboards, or rollup plastic keyboards. Impressive. One single ultra sealed USB port, but recommend wifi for external HD use. Military specs.

  • I've seen them and used one or two. Some are as much as $5000! This is a much lower cost, lower power draw, compact box about half the size of you old Roy Rogers Lunchbox. If it doesn't have to run Vista, it could be $500 +/- $50.

  • Copied and pasted from Nauticomp website:www.nauticomp.com

    The Nina line of marinized computer systems from Nauticomp are proven in the ocean environment. These fully powered mini systems have been selected and software tested to meet all your on-board computing requirements. Fully featured with the most current enhancements (Dual Desktop), all internal components are treated with a VCI-III coating to protect circuitry from harsh marine conditions. A black rugged powder coated case is ventilated to allow cooling for the PC. The casing acts as a shock absorber and the small chassis footprint is versatile in mounting either horizontally or vertically.

    Nauticomp Inc. is your first tier level of support for computer service. Operating systems can come preloaded with navigation and weather software all tested in house prior to installation.

  • While nauticomp delivers more than a computer in the Nina product, it is still a second generation system, with all the important conectors and mechanical parts exposed to corrosion. You can't coat drives and standard PC connectors. A three year warranty that covers those parts is going to get some exercise!

  • You can try one of Locomarine marine computers www.locomarine.com . They comes with two year warranty and some kind of chemical coating.

    berinjo

  • Sandy,

    How about this then if you are looking for "marine" connectors:

    IEI Sailor 12 --- http://www.bwi.com/configure/918309

    That's got an Atom N270 with GSE chipset, so count on low tens in Watts. It's available with a 1000 Nits screen, if you want. All connectors are M12 IP67 connectors (i.e. the same as NMEA 2000).

  • Sandy,

    How about this then if you are looking for "marine" connectors:

    IEI Sailor 12 --- http://www.bwi.com/configure/918309

    That's got an Atom N270 with GSE chipset, so count on low tens in Watts. It's available with a 1000 Nits screen, if you want. All connectors are M12 IP67 connectors (i.e. the same as NMEA 2000).

  • I have installed and used a Nauticomp computer, and I have to say that the tech support before during and after the sale were second to none. The computer appears to be bulletproof. We shall see how long it lasts!

  • While not a "marinized" computer, I have been using a MacMini (both offshore and coastal) for over 4 years with no ill effects. I have opened it a number of times and observed no indication of corrosion.
    I recently replaced it with a new Unibody MacMini, which out of the box is even more suited for the marine environment by virtue of it's design (solid piece of aluminum, air flow path, semi-potted logic board, very low current consumption). I installed a 350g SSD and modified it to run on 12Volts. So far, I'm loving it, it's fast, uses about 30% less power than the old one and while slightly bigger, is still small.

  • Bob, how did you modify the unibody Mini for 12V? I have two Minis onboard running from the AC power supplies. I was thinking of using one of the Carnetix PSUs for backup (in case of inverter failure) or efficiency purpose. That wouldn't be possible with a Unibody -- I thought. So I'm curious what mods you did.

  • Tried to put up a post earlier this week, not sure why it's not here...

    Anyway, info regarding the mod (very simple, BTW) is here:

    http://mikegyver.biz/gyverisms/files/category-diy-mac-mini-2010.html

  • Elios Marine Systems at www.eliosmarine.com offers a new line of 6th generation fully marinized computer systems starting at $1699. These are shock isolated, have advanced digital DC power supplies and support worldwide navigation as well as workstation, high definition TV and NEMA 2000 capability. It is refreshing to see a marine computer that takes full advantage of new technology while providing long life in a design that should last the life of a boat.