Newbie alert. I just found the rec.boats NG and had a ball reading old
posts. If this topic has been hashed out, sorry...I could not find it.

I just bought a new sonar 'fish finder' and read the owners manual (not a
man thing to do, but the wife insisted). There was a supplement added to
the manual about the NMEA 2000 networks. I have an older boat...a 1997
Bayliner. It obviously doesn't have any NMEA 2000 components, except for
the new sonar. But in reading the supplement I see a lot of usefulness in
potential upgrades for the boat.

But I am a do it yerselfer. I don't want to buy a package that consists of
the wire(buss), sensors and display that all you do is hook it up and turn
it on. I am a techno junkie. Technology doesn't even have to serve a real
purpose...it can just be eye candy for me. Of course, if it does serve a
purpose it's an added bonus.

So I'm finding myself searching for some sort of NMEA 2000 systems that may
run from a laptop unit. Any way to connect the buss to laptop or a
Smartphone would be my preference. I have a Treo 700p with a bluetooth GPS
receiver that has Pathaway map manager and TomTom Navigator. I'd like to
add nautical mapping to it. I'd love to see an app that monitors any useful
sensors on the boat. I realize that the sonar for the 'fish finder' is
going to be bandwidth intense so the Treo won't be able to display much more
than maybe bottom depth...but wouln't that be sweet if I could connect the
buss to my Treo through bluetooth so the info is on my hip no matter where I
am on the boat. A laptop would be in the cockpit where a larger screen
makes it more useful.

Am I dreaming...or is this sort of technology available?

Nate