new electronics set up help please.

[erikserras]

hello all
i just bought a 1970 45c with no electronics so im starting fresh.
cost is a concern as is basic instal. boat currently in the water and not planning to pull it till next fall. its powered by updated 8v71ti
ease of use also important as im not very experienced with electronics. im thinking i need. depth finder. radar and charts and gps.
any recomendations are greatly appreciated

[SeaEric]

Garmin.

[Pascal]

Garmin indeed for ease of use.

You can get by till haul out using a shoot thru hull xducer.

What you need really depends on how you use the boat. Here in sofl for instance, you may not need a radar for just day trips.

[Briankinley2004]

Another vote for Garmin as is easy to set up and use. They also seem to support older stuff for longer with the availability of cables, etc. In fact I have never bought new electronics. I always get the 3-4 year old "outdated" stuff for half the cost of new ones from those who must have the latest greatest.

[erikserras]

thank you all for the advice.

[Freestyle]

I had similar needs and cost profile a year ago. Scott Bidwick from the forum steered me to Garmin and did the install for new plotter and auto pilot. The difference between my older stuff and the new is incredible. The increase in the number of sensors in the autopilot means it works with the stabilizers rather than a tug of war. The all in cost was exactly as planned even with travel for the install. The simplicity of Garmin has greatly expanded who can stand watch and when. We are just enjoying the boat a whole lot more.

My only caution is Garmin does not have a thru hull transducer that works on a 1986 Hatteras motor yacht hull.

Bruce

Freestyle
1986 62 CPMY (54MY with ext)
Tampa

[Phasma2128]

Garmin 8616xsv definitely

[Chasemmc]

Can you share what your budget was for the tampa project?

[zigzag930]

My $.02 on electronics, having owned most brands over the years.

Garmin is probably the most popular and I have Garmin on board my 58, along with Furuno.

Personally, if I was to do it all over - I think I go back to Raymarine Axiom. In my opinion, that is the best on the market right now. New features and updates are provided every few months and can be done wirelessly. This is NOT the old Raymarine which was garbage. The new Axiom is Unix based and very flexible in design. All MFD's should be designed this way as opposed to proprietary OS. On my Whaler, I had this system installed for a few years before we sold the boat and I was very impressed.

Now on to Garmin. I hate their open array radars and can tell you that Garmin does not stand behind them if there is any water intrusion. Well if it was properly designed, how would there be water intrusion in an open array unless the boat was underwater? Anyway, I feel there chart plotters and sonar are good and they are easy to install/use. Support is not so great at Garmin and I feel I know more than most of the "experts" I've talked to when I call for support.

I have a Garmin 18HD (dome) on board, but have never been impressed - so I added a second radar which is a Furuno 12Kw 96mile open array. 1st, let me tell you that as far as I'm concerned Furuno support is 2nd to none. The unit I installed was not new - but they didn't care and helped me work out every little detail. The MFD, however is not as simple to operate as the Garmin - but loaded with features. I still feel Furuno radars are the best out there. I think the Raymarine radars are also very good. Never had a problem with mine, but it was a dome.

I have a Garmin GSD24 sounder module on board. It works pretty well, but again - I think my older Furuno sounder was much more accurate and detailed.

Both my Garmin and Furuno are connected to the N2K backbone along with my ICOM VHF (with AIS). All the information from these units are connected to the boats computer and also transmitted wirelessly via a NEMA to wireless bridge.

Hope this helps....

PS, I can't comment on autopilots as the only one I've had was the current ComNav system which is connected to the Garmin/Furuno and Boat computer via a three way switch. ComNav may not be up to date with features, but as far as steering the boat - it works great.

[rsmith]

Garmin 1242 or 1243xsv is the best bang for the buck. Built in sonar 1k and with a 1k thru hull will get good readings down to 1000’ the plotters are so good you don’t need radar for navigation only collision advoidance in low visibility and night. You don’t need an auto pilot. Personally I think this over dependence on autopilot pilots is the root cause of a lot of accidents and time at the wheel gives you a better sense of handling the boat and how it reacts in seaways. Everything is plug and play today intsall is easy for anyone with basic skills

hello all
i just bought a 1970 45c with no electronics so im starting fresh.
cost is a concern as is basic instal. boat currently in the water and not planning to pull it till next fall. its powered by updated 8v71ti
ease of use also important as im not very experienced with electronics. im thinking i need. depth finder. radar and charts and gps.
any recomendations are greatly appreciated