If you are a gadget geek like me – and let's face it, you probably are – re-equipping your boat with new electronics as something akin to party time.

So the prospect of bringing a computer aboard can be exciting, a gateway to enhanced navigation, communication and entertainment capabilities that would have cost thousands of dollars just a few years ago. It can also be intimidating, with a bevy of choices to make and no clear path to follow for solutions.

ARGONAUT COMPUTERSArgonaut's Avalon mini computer. Many marine machines are petite, built for a boat's small spaces. 

Yet buying a computer for your boat need not be any more difficult than buying one for your home or business. It merely requires a modest investment of time and perhaps a less modest investment of money.

The first choice you are apt to face is whether to buy a "marinized" computer or a standard, landlubber unit from one of the big manufacturers like Dell, HP or Gateway. Both have advantages and are worthy of investigation. 

OFF THE SHELF

If you have a stately pilothouse trawler and you take weekend cruises on quiet waters, you might be able to get away with a laptop or desktop from a big–box store. The primary advantage is cost: they can be dramatically cheaper than a purpose–built marine computer. There's also a familiarity factor – most of us have done this before and know the drill.

But that choice is not without risk. What happens to your electronic charting system if your nephew knocks the machine off the chart table, or you drop it yourself while traveling between house and boat? Another constraint on a standard laptop is the screen. Most are not designed for use in bright sunlight, and may require a special shade.

But there is no debating that the cost of standard computers is lower – and one could argue that it may be efficient to simply replace a laptop every few years, taking advantage of the latest technology, rather than spending substantially more for a dedicated marine system.

MARINIZATION DEFINED

So what do you get with a "marinized" PC? The truth is that there are no universal specification standards for marinization, and so the term means different things to different companies.

AMBIENTNAVAmbientNav marine displays and computer installed on a Grady-White 360. Modern marine computers are capable of doing heavy duty navigation work.

But there are some things you can expect. Most marine computer manufacturers use some form of solid connection – usually solder or glue – to secure wiring and components. Circuit boards are often coated with silicone or some other non–conducting material to protect them from corrosion, which is probably the biggest contributor to early death among marine electronics. And hard drives and optical drives are usually shock–mounted to combat everything from the normal vibrations of the engines to the shock of landing in the trough of a large wave.

Many units are also far smaller than their land-based counterparts, and have connections placed strategically with a marine installation in mind. 

Most marinized computers also run on 12–volt DC power, with power supplies that can adjust to the varying DC voltage that is common on boats. Some of these computers can be powered by either DC or AC systems. Many are also designed to handle the extreme thermal environment of a boat cabin, using fans, passive cooling tubes or heat–sink components to draw heat away from the processor and circuit boards.

There are many vendors of marinized PCs. Some companies, such as VEI Systems and Big Bay Technologies, grew up providing high–end systems to the megayacht industry, with some commercial and military business too. Others came from the community of passagemaking sailors, and were focused on inexpensive, low–power units that could do yeoman's duty at a nav station without draining the batteries. Some of these latter suppliers use basic processors and chipsets intended for mobile computing because of their inherently lower power requirements (and lower heat generation), while others swear by full–powered Pentium chips to handle the requirements of a fully networked system.

What you need will largely depend on what you intend to do. If you're going to install your system on a sailboat with a limited electrical budget and a snug nav station with limited air flow, a mobile chipset might be a good idea. If you have the juice and the space for cooling, go with a full–blown Pentium Core Duo or higher.

Similarly important is the video processing capability. Today's vector charts are rich with detail, layers and colors and most experts agree that you need to have at least 128MB of available video memory in order to ensure the machine will re–draw the screen reasonably quick. As with most things in the computer world, more memory would be even better. Ask your vendor specifically about this and let them know the type of navigation software you plan to use. (If you need help choosing, read Mad Mariner's multi–part series on electronic charting software.)