Upgrading electronics- one step at a time

[Martin S]

I have an old but very functional system, comprising Raymarine ST60, ST7000 autopilot and RL80C chart plotter mounted at the helm. Radio is an old Icom. I have bought a Standard Horizon DSC hand-held as a backup and for use in the dingy last year.
As I plan/have to! sail mainly single handed, I want to add an AIS transponder and later add a fixed DSC radio as an upgrade.
I have bought a Vester XB-8000 transponder plus splitter and plan to link this to an ipad in a waterproof housing mounted in the shelter of the windscreen so that I can shelter from weather and still view a screen. Teh Ipad with run Vesopers AIS app and Navionics.
This seemed a prctical way of makign a positive step/upgrade given the lack of compatability of the Raymarine chart plotter. With the XB-8000 having NMEA2000, I hope this to be future proof and that it can later be connected to a new VHF and new plotter.

This forum suggested Vesper to be a good choice, so I am hoping I am going in the right direction.
I welcome any ideas/comments. What have I missed?