T&T: GPS/Chartplotter recommendation needed

[Stephen Offutt]

> Just bought a new/used boat and need to install a GPS/Chartplotter.  I
> intend to use the boat for the inland rivers and the Gulf of Mexico
> inter-coastal but want flexibility.  And, yes, I want a big colorful
> flashy
> screen...  
> How much should I expect to pay for turn key; installed?
> Any recommendations?  If you buy from West Marine will they install even
> if
> Edward S. Savela

A couple of years ago I set up my new to me boat with all new electronics.
I am a Garmin fan, have been for years.  I have had good luck with their
equipment and tech supprt.  I have had fureno and ray marine on other boats
- came with - and replaced them with Garmin.  They are reliable, very
competitively priced, and most user-friendly.  I last bought the 3220
all-in-one setup and do like everything about it.  It has - and I recommend
at least - a 10.25 inch display.  This is a good place to justify spending
money.  The Garmin systems have great readability in bright light.  Mine has
never washed out in the sun.  Very few PC systems can do that.

I do have one thing I would change.  This is my first all-in-one MFD
display.  I would get a system with a separate radar display.  I probably
have a prejudice because in the prehistoric days of my Navy youth I was a
radar operator and later on a sonar operator/technician.  I find the radar
overlay on the MFD to be difficult to read and/or distracting.  I think the
sonar depth and chart in one display to be fine.  I just want the radar in a
stand alone display.  That is best for foggy days/nights when you are trying
to pick out the channel markers.  I like the 4kw radar size.  The 2kw has
pleanty of range for a trawler but the 4kw also puts more energy on the
close-in smaller targets (those above mentioned channel markers) at closer
range - paints them better.  If you have dual helms then you might consider
how I saved money on setting them both up.  I recommend my solution at quite
a cost savings.  Garmin - and I imagine most brands - have a wiring/ mount
kit for a second station.  Buy that and have it installed at the upper helm.
Then keep the dispay(s) down below or up top and move them when you change
helms.  I keep the display at the lower helm out of the weather - no
enclosure on the fly-bridge - and away from thieves.  It saves the cost of a
second set of displays.

It is surprising, but you might expect to spend almost as much to install as
the purchase price of the electronics set.  I don't know where you are.  We
had the installation done in Orange Beach AL.  check out your installer
carefully.  The quality of work varies A LOT.

GET RADAR.  I strongly support Rich's position on this.  NO boat should
leave the dock without working radar.  The ICW and the Gulf can fog you in
without notice.  The friend who first taught me to run a boat (that was on
the ICW off North Padre Island) said the same to me, and in fact, made me
buy and install the radar before I bought anything else. "No motor, no
Radar, no go!"

Stephen Offutt
M/Y Dutch Master, Heritage East 40
stephen at ourdutchmaster.com