As shot as possible....
New boat being built overseas. My choice, after much study and discussion was to go with
Raymarine G series
equipment or the new
Furuno NavNet 3D. Following are the issues:
I love what both
Furuno and
Raymarine offer. I think I would be happy with both. The only problem I can see with Raymarine currently is that they do not offer a digital radome yet. I have spoken with sever contacts at Raymarine. There is a possibility that it will be "shown" at either Ft. Lauder in October, 08 or
Miami in Feb, 09. If it's Ft. Lauderdale, it should be available for general
delivery 1st Q in 09. If
Miami, 2nd Q 09. Either way it will be next year.
Because of the cost savings of having most of the
electronics installed at the yard in
China, I have decided to go with Raymarine. There is an authorized Raymarine shop in the city. The cost savings based on labor rates is very high. If there was a FURUNO shop near, I would haved leaned to
NavNet 3D.
Because of the lack of the digital radome not being available, I would have to install all E series
equipment. My idea is the following:
Install all G series equipment and attach a 48" 4kw open array on a post at the stern of the
boat (62ft). Later, when the radome is available, install it on the
mast which will have been pre-wired and pedistal ready. I plan on having a
wind power
generator on the
boat and when the open array is removed I will use the same post to intall the
wind system.
I see the total cost difference after reselling the open array even with a 75% loss to be a total of 3K. The cost to go with FURUNO installed at Ft. Lauderdale would be much, much more. Also, I like the E series equipment but don't wont to go with a 3 to 4 year old system.
Any problems with this thought process?