Bill said:
Lorex makes a number of outdoor grade cameras. A slip neighbor uses one
with Skype. We can all 'call' it and see the webcam. It has an
infinite focus setup and has decent visibility for about 10 meters.
That is, you can see a reasonable amount of the scene. No pan, zoom,
tilt, but for the purpose it's not needed.
But what are you talking about using the camera for?
Depending on the plotter you have, you may already have the facility to
display a video signal. If so, then a submersible CCTV camera (to
survive on the bow or at deck level) would work for you. However for
watch-keeping, the field of view of a normal camera is totally
inadequate and the resolution is limited so even with a fish-eye lens
although you can see a wide sector, you wont be able spot a ship soon
enough to avoid embarrassment let alone spotting debris or pot markers.
If you are looking for something suitable for conning through shoals,
reefs and coral 'bommies' to look down from the masthead or spreaders a
length or so in front of the bow, its more hopefull, but you'll want a
motorized filter head on it with selectable infrared and variable
polarisation lenses, which you are not likely to find in a weatherproof
compact dome mount unit. I dont know of anyone who's actually set one
up for this, but conning the boat from the crosstrees has a long history
in that sort of waters. You'll need to learn to use it with an
experienced lookout up the mast backing you up.
If your plotter can't do video, well smallish 12V bulkhead mount LCD
displays are fairly cheap. It could double up for entertainment use.