Yes, it is a great option for the cost conscious. The NOAA website has all of their charts available in vector and raster formats. They also have links to free and paid software for viewing the charts. You'll need to provide a GPS input. There are lots of options (long term and short) but the quickest and easiest is to buy a usb gps dongle.
A laptop is very power hungry. The chargers usually draw 90w or ~7.5 amps. It's worse if you have to use an inverter. 12v chargers can often be found on amazon or ebay for pretty cheap, $10. Most laptops are also not in any way waterproof. PM me if you need more info. Josh Muckley S/V Sea Hawk 1989 C&C 37+ Solomons, MD On Sep 8, 2015 5:05 PM, "Danny Haughey via CnC-List" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > Hi Guys, > > The boat I'm in the process of buying does not currently have > chartplotter. Instead of rushing into the purchase of a new one for the > delivery home I was thinking to use a windows tablet with an external GPS > antennae/dongle and charts loaded from someplace to be determined. I think > I'd get a cheap handheld garmin as well. GPS store has one for $169. > > I have windows tablet with the specs of a laptop. i5 processor and 4gb > ram and I have an older android tablet with decent specs for it age. > > Is this a viable option to at least get the boat home and try and find a > good deal on a plotter over the off season? > > It would also be a carry on and use and alleviate the need to install > anything before the trip. > > Any and all advice is always appreciated! > > Danny > Still headed toward a closing > Massachusetts > > _______________________________________________ > > Email address: > CnC-List@cnc-list.com > To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go to the > bottom of page at: > http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com > > >
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