aHA!

[Amgine]

So, got off the dock as planned if a little late for the tidal currents, motored at hull speed to the Second Narrows and actually had current with me, but was fighting it at First Narrows as well as the predicted long slog to windward to get out of English Bay (I motored with the main up and drawing.) Which is when I realized I hadn't started the computer ... and the  boat bits come in.

The computer had been a touch flaky the night before - refusing to sleep after I'd laid out my waypoints and route, so I did a shutdown. Now it wouldn't power on. Well, I've done this particular stretch - Deep Cove to Steveston Harbour - a couple of times, and it just meant I wouldn't be able to try the short cut the fishermen take across a section of Robert's Bank.

I've been using the laptop as a chartplotter/route planning tool, and it figures large in my summer cruise plans. This was completely unexpected, and I didn't have all of my paper charts aboard, only the chart packs of the Gulf Islands and Desolation Sound plus a half-dozen harbor plans and such. So I had a medium-to-large scale chart, but not one with the close in details I wanted. I got in to the harbour without issues, dropped the hook where I'd planned the night before.

This morning I plugged in the computer ashore, and it started right up. But the battery reads 0% charged. Then I pick it up to move the cords and cables around, and it sleeps itself. Hit the power button and it comes back up, and the battery reads 80% charged. Normally I'd say the battery - heavily used for the past 3 years including the bumps and bruises of sailing - but the randomness of the sleep problem have me concerned. I certainly cannot trust it as is, and I'm not sure a new battery will resolve all the problems.

But I've packed up all the local charts I own to bring down to the boat.

[Lone Palm]

Have you checked the battery contacts inside the machine? Sounds like there might be a bit of corrosion, making for unreliable connections.

Or perhaps it's just the sailing gremlins reminding you not to totally rely on technology  :D

[Lynx]

Check battery contacts

scan for spy ware, virus and malware and other bugs in computer.

If nothing found look for a good deal on a good battery. After 3 years you should  do this anyway and carry a spair charged batery on board.

[Amgine]

::nod:: Yep, pretty much what I figured too. It's still intermittent, can't consistently cause it to happen. I tried to clean up the contacts, but on the battery they're nigh impossible to get at. The computer works fine so long as it's plugged into the inverter; I just can't afford the drain on the house banks.

I figure I've got a bit more than a circumnavigation worth of miles in planes/boats/automobiles on this battery, so it's not like it is undeserving of a new battery. Payday's acomin'!

Yesterday I spent 6.5 hours beating up through the channels of Howe Sound, making almost 22 miles to go 8.5 miles, and the computer/software/gps hookup gave me a fine track showing every mistake I made and just how poorly both I and the autopilot maintain a course. I think I'm addicted to this electronics aboard the little boat thing.

[s/v Copacetic]

I agree with the others. Clean the contacts on the battery and in the computer, preferably with electrical contact cleaner (available at your nearest Radio Shack) or in a pinch, scrub them with a pencil eraser.

And buy a new battery and keep the old one as a spare.