For those of you with boats big enough that running wires and cables
can be difficult, here is a possible interesting solution which can
take your NMEA 183 data from a chart plotter, GPS, AIS receiver, etc.,
and transmit it over a wireless network to a PC, laptop, etc.:

http://www.amazon.com/DIGITAL-DYT-ZDIGWLN10-ZDIGWLN10-Converts-Compatible/dp/B00JUZ71EY

I haven't tried this yet but it looks intriguing for some future
projects that I have in mind.