Question to the collective.

A buddy of mine is in the the process of replacing most of the
instruments on his sail boat (depth, speed apparent wind). It's a
pretty simple installation with no repeaters, just instruments located
in the cockpit bulkhead.

The question came up what would be the benefit in having the
instruments communicate with each other using Sea talk or NMEA?

I am well aware of the benefits of having the GPS talk to the
Autopilot but any reasons for having the rest of the instruments
communicate with each other, escape me.

Many thanks in advance for enlightening me.


Matt