Here is my el cheapo wooden laptop tray, with some foam under the laptop to smooth its ride, and a CB radio on the lower shelf. NiMH battery charger is to the left front of the laptop; Garmin GPS is mounted on dash cover and connected to laptop via a serial cable. The laptop map tracks your position and direction as you drive. It's very easy to zoom in and out on the map, unlike on the GPS. This setup is really useful at night, when the GPS screen is nearly invisible. I use this setup a lot on forest service roads, where it is easy to get lost because of unmarked roads, etc. When I get to my hiking trail, I just pull the GPS out of its mount and carry it with me in a cellphone pouch. The laptop is powered from a Xantrex Powerpack 400 Plus, which sits on the floor under the tray.

The tray leaves no room for a passenger in the right front seat.
Disclaimer: if you stare at the laptop while driving, you're gonna die.

http://www.elementownersclub.com/uploads/files/eoc1small.jpg

[quote:6cbb3e6e81=" "] Disclaimer: if you stare at the laptop while driving, you're gonna die.[/quote:6cbb3e6e81]


F all the legalese... we need disclaimers like this!! :D

Disclaimers ARE insulting, aren't they? But...this IS America, isn't it, and there are impressionable minds out there. Here, let me make the wording more palatable: if you stare at the laptop while driving, you're gonna die HORRIBLY :twisted: .

Hmmmmm. Now if I can just convince my wife that riding in the back seat is, indeed, safer....

Take a look at www.northbyrover.com, recently recommended by booggerg in the offroading forum. He's got a laptop tray that may allow use of the front seat. I don't know where he got it; it looks like a commercial item. Also, police departments use laptop trays that may allow use of the front seat. I suspect that any laptop tray is going to seriously crowd a front-seat passenger in the E. The perfect solution is an in-dash GPS, but they are not for cheapskates like me.

I built mine out of wood because I didn't want to spend a lot of money, and I didn't want to drill holes in the dash. And I needed somewhere to put the CB. Besides, it was fun to design and build.

Good find, Motie! This link has some more info: http://www.jottodesk.com/default.asp


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