Most of that is either straightforward, or personal taste. As far as basic
safety equipment, I would just got to West
Marine and buy what you need, such as flares, horn, placards, blah blah blah, or order it from Defender.com and save a few bucks. The yard may allow you to use their port supply account at West
Marine which would save you substantial $$$.
I have a West Marine Compact 310
RIB and really like it. I believe it's a rebadged
Zodiac, and it's main advantage is that the transom folds flat so the stowed bag is about 6" thick. Great for stowing on your
cabin top. As far as outboards go, I'm in the small two stroke camp...lighter, cheaper, and better
reliability, but you'll have to buy used. If you're going to use it primarily as
anchor to
dock service, get @ 4hp. If you're going to
cruise and use it for exploring/swimming/diving etc. then go for 8-10 hp.
Regarding
radar, the question you should ask yourself is if you really need it before your whole suite of
electronics is due for an upgrade and/or before you need to pull the stick for other servicing, if you're going to mount it on the stick.
For PFDs, I really like Mustang inflatables. Whatever you get, make sure you get crotch straps for them as no
PFD does you much good if it's slide off over your
head when you went over the side. You can get a bag of the orange standard foam PFDs, but they take up a huge amount of space.
Binoculars, I have a pair of Nikon Ocean Pro with the
compass and think they are a great value. Not
quite as clear and bright as the Steiners I had, but at less than half the
price I can live with it, lol.