I work on the boat about half of the time, working at my computer. Sometimes at a dock, sometimes on the hook, sometimes smashing through big waves. Over time, I’ve built up a lot of tech I rely on to make this work.
First, and most obvious, is Starlink. I wish there was competition for global, fast, cost-effective satellite internet, but there’s not. My Starlink works almost all the time, moving or stationary, in California, Mexico, and far offshore. The only time it’s unreliable is going downwind in large waves, presumably because the boat tends to yaw side to side a bit on that heading. Upwind in big waves is fine, so it seems like the bouncing up and down is OK as long as you are not going left and right.
My FAVORITE gadget that allows me to work in the cockpit even on really sunny days is my xReal Air Augmented Reality glasses. I get a huge screen projected in front of my face that is totally visible in bright sunlight — unlike my laptop. And I can look THROUGH the image of the screen to see around me, too. It works great. The xReal is plugged into my laptop, which is either on my lap or on the table in the cockpit.
When I’m below deck, I can use my laptop but I also have a bigger screen mounted on the wall. I use a 32-inch Samsung “Smart Monitor”, which allows me to connect my laptop wirelessly to the monitor to extend my laptop screen, or I can even use a few apps like a word processor that are built in to the monitor. When working below decks I also use a wireless keyboard to either connect directly to the Smart Monitor or to my laptop. I’ve used lots of them and I like the Logitech K400 Plus because it has a built in track pad so I don’t have to keep track of a mouse and it’s reasonably quiet when I’m on the phone and typing fast.
And you might wonder what is the best way to mount that monitor? I tried a BUNCH of different mounts on my last boat and finally ended up with this beauty: The Erogotron LX.
This thing lets me move the monitor all over the place but it is super strong and it allows me to fold it exactly how I want it to get it out of the way. I put a bungee around it when we are in the waves. I liked it so much that it was one of the selling points when a sold my last boat to a couple of aspiring digital nomads. And then it was one of my first purchases to add to my new boat.
And finally, a real problem with working from the boat is background noise when I’m on the phone or on Zoom. The waves, the wind, the girlfriend 🙂
After quite a bit of experimentation, I landed on using a Plantronics Voyager bluetooth headset about 15 years ago and I have never found another that works so well since then. The great thing about these is that you can ta.lk during a heavy wind and the people on the other end don’t hear the wind. It’s like magic. I used to use it when I lived in San Francisco – before I lived aboard – when I wanted to pretend I was in my office when I was really on my boat. It’s that good.
Full reviews of all of these are available on our Tech For Digital Nomads Product Roundup