BoatBanter.com - Reccomendations

Fred Miller wrote:
Putting together a recommendation for an electronics package for a new 35
Express fisherman to be used for occasional cruising and salmon fishing on
the great Lakes. Owner wants the best that money can buy that doesn't give
him functions he doesn't needs.

Needs: Radar, Chart Plotter, Fishfinder, Autopilot, VHF and Hailer/Foghorn.
Prefers single brand for esthetic considerations/

Doesn't need: radar overlay, AIS.

TIA in advance.

Fred

Fred,

I'm not sure a great lakes boat needs the best that money can buy, it's
just not quite the same as a November run 100 miles off to the canyons
and beyond. But let's look at it anyway. All of the manufacturers tend
to excell in one product or another, but not at everything. So if you
want the single brand approach, it's a compromise for the sake of looks
alone, so your not getting the best that money can buy, but common
parts from the same supplier tend to interface easier. For radar's and
fish finders, Furuno tend to make the best units, for VHF's and SSB's
the brand is ICOM (you can get a hailer/foghorn built into their better
VHF's), for chart plotters, probably Northstar, for autopilot's,
Robertson. And if your going to get a radar, get the overlay, it's
worth every penney when conditions are really bad and your not sure
exactly what your looking at. Under those conditions, the captian can
use all the help he can get. If money isn't a problem go for the better
units but I myself stay away from "all in one" types of units. I like
single function units whenever I can get it. The reason is very simple,
if one unit fails, send it in for repair. But on a multiple function
unit, you loose all those functions when the unit is gone, or fails. On
the single function unit, you loose only that function.

Think about it, your out in bad weather, or at night, with poor
visability, and that combination VHF, chart plotter, fish finder
suddenly dies. If you loose all those functions at the wrong time (and
that's when it happens), you could be screwed. The loss of any one of
those single functions alone isn't a disaster, but all of them, at the
same time, if your good, you can figure out what to do. But if your not
that experianced, you've never navigated in poor weather, or at night,
maybe you're not familure with that nasty inlet your about to run, who
really needs that.

Additionally, if someone comes out with a new function that you just
can't live without, you only replace that unit, not everything. It does
take up more space, and can look cluttered if not laid out properly,
but we're more concerned with function than looks here. Their may be
times that equipment might just save your life or someone elses, so
worry more about functionality than anything else.

Been there, done that, learned a thing or two along the way.

Good luck with that boat.

John