Upgrading the electronics on Inti in Australia

[inti]

Hi, we have the boat we need,a proven 11.6m cruiser, old and not worth huge money but the electronics are in need of upgrade. Do we spend big dollars and buy state of the art chartplotter eg simrad, or just use cheap netbook/cmap, second hand chartplotter etc? We are planning long term cruising, following the australian west and north coast, then further afield as our experience grows. Is AIS worth it? Experienced cruisers, please help, any advice appreciated.

[bewitched]

I'm sure you'll have lots of opinions....here's mine with a budget setup and in some vague order of priority..

Depth sounder
Some form of charts....... paper, chartplotter, pc or phone based. The medium doesn't really matter.
GPS
AIS transponder....yes, this really is worth it. A vhf radio/ AIS transponder combo is a nice little unit to have on board.

After that I think that we get into nice to have territory...radar, boat instruments etc.

[Boracay]

I did el cheapo electronics for Boracay, mostly through Defender out of the US.

My buys included radio, Raymarine Bidata (log was a mistake) and radar.

The Standard Horizon 300i came from West Marine as did the c-map wide area chip (the radar displays on the chartplotter).

Haven't gone for AIS yet, but seriously considered a Watchmate 850 (very useful if sailing at night up the east coast.

[xymotic]

I think it depends a little on where you plan to be. AIS is very nice, far more useful on a daily basis than many give it credit for.

Radar is very, very good, especially if you are in an un-known area, sail in the ocean at night... sound like a cruiser?

The simrad stuff just makes it all easier to use. You can DIY it cheaper, but you know, the nice stuff is... "nice"

[inti]

Thanks all, appreciate the info!