How to Protect Your Laptop Computer from Harm While Sailing, Kayaking or Rowing Ashore

My friend Adam's laptop quit working a couple of months after he moved aboard his sailboat. I learned from his mistake, and figured out methods for protecting mine. Here I explain my techniques for keeping my laptop safe while sailing or rowing ashore.

Protecting Your Laptop While Sailing

While sailing, there are several different issues that could hurt your laptop. Salt water could harm it. Moisture in the air could harm it. The laptop is also in danger when you're underway, because it is likely to get repeatedly banged, bumped, and knocked onto the floor. A new danger presents itself every time you tack, every time your boat heels, and every time you encounter a squall (or worse.)

There are four steps I'd recommend taking to protect your laptop from these things.

1) Place the laptop inside some sort of padded, waterproof container. I chose a Pelican Hardback 1080 case for this purpose; it fits my Samsung laptop nicely.
2) Then put it inside a drybag. I have a Gill drybag that I use; I imagine that any functional drybag would work for this purpose.
3) Then put the drybag in the most protected spot you can find aboard your boat. Ideally, it will be a spot that is in no danger of getting splashed, dripped on or knocked around, but do the best you can if no such spot exists on your boat.
4) Keep the data on your laptop backed up at all times. The marine environment is harsh; even if you protect the laptop well, there are no guarantees. Important: Do not store the backups on your boat. Mail them to your home port periodically, or use an external backup system.

Protecting Your Laptop While Rowing, Kayaking or Motoring in Your Dinghy

When I'm going to take my laptop ashore, I repeat the first two steps listed above. Then I clip a life vest onto the drybag so that the bag will float and I can retrieve it easily if we take a spill.

This method has been thorougly tested; my laptop has survived falling out of the dinghy and being completely immersed in salt water --no problems whatsoever, since it was bagged, boxed and "floatied."

Protecting Your Laptop While in Port

Even while you're in port, there is still cause for concern; many components inside your laptop could be made of metal. Metal aboard a boat has a strange way of corroding even when it doesn't seem like it has come into contact with any salt water. For that reason, I would recommend keeping your laptop inside its drybox at all times when not in use.

I'd also recommend being picky about where and when you use your laptop. Obviously, it's not smart to sit up in your cockpit with the laptop on when you're underway; but using your laptop in the cockpit could also be dangerous in moist conditions when you're in port.

One other thing I'd like to mention: Beware of trying to use solar energy to power your laptop unless you know what you're doing. My husband fried one of my USB ports while attempting to power my laptop using a small solar device that was supposedly designed for cell phones and laptops. We're big fans of solar energy, but that is one case where I would recommend skipping the solar power and charging the laptop batteries as per the manufacturer's instructions. When you're in port, remember to take advantage of the shore power and recharge your laptop batteries.

Happy sailing!