cat refit - Electronics and Install tips

[JimmyDarci]

Seeking advice replacing all electronics on 46 foot cat. Tons of research done online and at West Marine and the other big box store in the region. Employees offered limited help and no leads on install. Funny, I feel like I am about to drop $10-20k and not finding an eager salesperson to close the deal or even refer me. Any tips on where or how to buy an entire system, what brand would you recommend and any tips for either saving on a bulk purchase of electronics or pro-installers in New England that you could recommend? Boat remains a bit of a project but we have new solar and new generator wired to new 12v system. All other systems now up to date and I am currently thinking Garmin or Raymarine with 4g radar and forward sonar added to a plotter and transducer, AIS receiver/ transponder and epirb for extra safety. Also considered B&G but can’t find a forward facing sonar manufactured by B&G and do not want to increase complexity of system by blending brands. Just doing coastal trips for now. Some overnight cruising but no racing or fishing ...mostly day sails in Southern New England In waters we know well. Our last boat had limited electronics and I grew up using paper charts cruising on monohulls so I very much appreciate any suggestions you care to offer for a simple but comprehensive system for a sailing cat. Trying to navigate with 21st century tools. Any advice much appreciated.

[Snore]

Delivering boats, I get to use all three leading brands. Functionally, they all have the same core abilities. The choice of MFD and other instruments comes down to what menu you like.

In my opinion, Garmin and Ray have easier to navigate menus. Garmin integrates Active Captain to their data- I don’t think the latest Ray offers that. Unless you go “up line” Ray favors touch screens, using them in “sporty” conditions is tough. Having buttons makes selecting menu items or AIS targets easier in rough conditions.

Finally, despite your concerns of mixing manufacturers- buy a Vesper with Wi-Fi vs a Garmin or Ray AIS. While Ray and Garmin have Wi-Fi, only Vesper will allow you to connect third-party software running on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to your boat and get ALL the data. The advantages of having one manufacturer I are compatibility and updates. NMEA 2000 takes care of the compatibility issue very well. And the Vesper can update itself using your smartphone and their app.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by JimmyDarci

Seeking advice replacing all electronics on 46 foot cat. Tons of research done online and at West Marine and the other big box store in the region. Employees offered limited help and no leads on install. Funny, I feel like I am about to drop $10-20k and not finding an eager salesperson to close the deal or even refer me. Any tips on where or how to buy an entire system, what brand would you recommend and any tips for either saving on a bulk purchase of electronics or pro-installers in New England that you could recommend?

I can tell you I started by asking for recommendations for local electronics retailers/installers -- not big box stores, not WM, not Defender, etc.

Once my market survey (?) bubbled three names up to the top, and described to each of those what I wanted to do, and asked for their recommendations... sort of a "request for proposal" process. I talked with each, including discussion of pros/cons of various brands/models... eventually settled on one, and made some of my own mental modifications along the way too. The folks I settled on also had several working examples of various systems in their "show room" and I could get at least a little hands-on comparison too.

Individual component prices ended up not that much different from WM or other retail prices.

And then my outcome included their professional installation, too.

I could also have been "helper" on some of the installation, and that would have saved a bit of labor costs and given me more insight into the install... but I was still working at the time, couldn't take the time off, etc.

Anyway, that was 11 years ago -- relatively broad system including some intentional redundancies -- and our outcome from all that has been very good.

FWIW, we ended up with Furuno, and everything we have is still supported. That was heavily influenced by having an original Furuno radar and GPS Navigator (like a plotter, but without the chart display) onboard when we bought the boat... and also influenced by being able to run the same "software" (engine) -- MaxSea TimeZero -- on the ship's laptop.

-Chris