So.......work's been quiet and with my extra time at home the little woman has had no hesitation in voicing her opinion that I should be doing something constructive.......like housework. Like all good husband's, I developed a case of selective deafness and disappeared to the shed to see if I could find a cure. No luck with that (thank god. Sorry Darling
) but I have managed to get my teeth into a little project that has been slowly coming together.
Some time ago when shopping for a gaming PC for the young bloke at a ex government computer joint I came across a micro tower that as luck would have it, fits neatly into the shelf above the Seafarer's cabin side pockets. A trip to Jaycar sorted out an inverter (another trip sorted out a replacement and a cooling fan. Hate that) and a few rounds with Ebay produced a Track ball, waterproof keyboard, 10 inch monitor, plug to suit the engine diagnostics, GPS module and other required bits and bobs.
Long story short - ended up with something that looks like this.
Boat PC.jpgDashboard.jpg
That produces screens like these
039.jpg 038.jpg Engine snapshots 006.jpg
The chart images are geo referenced google images that 1770 regulars will most likely recognize that I can now use as charts in conjunction with GPS when in the area (without an internet connection) and the engine diagnostics are exactly that.
I would not at all recommend that anyone utilize this sort of set up as there primary means of GPS navigation in a small boat - none of the hardware is water resistant in any way and unless you are tech savvy it is just a nightmare but it does present features that I could simply not find by using any other plotting medium and the engine monitoring is really just for giggles but it won't hurt to have it. It took an inordinate amount of late nights to locate all the required software to generate the chart images at the scales I wanted but when I finally get around to spending time up that way, hopefully I won't hit anything
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Originally Posted by gofishin
