The GPS and radar on my 1995 Sea Ray 370 were on the boat when we bought it 5 yrs ago and possbly much longer than that!! We keep the boat on the St Lawrence and travel with it a fair amount. The River has a high degree of difficulties when it comes to safe navigation, and we have been increasing the length of our trips annually. Last year going to Montreal from our home port on Wellesley Island. This year into the New Year Canal System where we ran out of the range of maybe the chip in our GPS? And relayed on good old fashion charts to finish the trip!! The screen on our GPS is very small and hard to see. I am looking for advice on the best bang for the buck on a new unit. We don’t really fish all that much, but at the same time bottom contour could possibly save a lot of heartache?? I’ve never really used our Radar (the screen seems really dark)and I wonder if it may be on its way out. Is it worth looking into a complet package?? Thanks in advance for any advice!
Electronics Refit
- Thread starter Don Behn
- Start date
Stee6043
Well-Known Member
What is your budget?
You could get chartplotting for sub $1000 or you could spend $30+k on new MFD's, radar, sonar, backup cameras, etc and so on.
If you're trying to stay under $5k, for example, you're options may be a bit limited. And you won't get a new radar. Open it up to $10k and you're probably going to have some really decent options.
You could get chartplotting for sub $1000 or you could spend $30+k on new MFD's, radar, sonar, backup cameras, etc and so on.
If you're trying to stay under $5k, for example, you're options may be a bit limited. And you won't get a new radar. Open it up to $10k and you're probably going to have some really decent options.
- Jun 5, 2016
- 5,571
- Boat Info
- 410 Sundancer
2001
12" Axiom and 9" Axiom+ MFD
- Engines
- Cat 3126 V-Drives
Look at 1 generation old models. I just purchased a Raymarine a128 refurbished on eBay for $1k. Won’t do Doppler radar, so I’m going to upgrade later to an Axiom as these get a little mileage on them
yobub
Well-Known Member
I agree with @Stee6043, if you could clarify your needs a little but we.could offer better advice. If all you want is a GPS / Chartplotter with US and Canada maps, that's pretty easy. Add sonar, no problem, just a little more money. Add Radar, even more money. Do you use AIS? Do you want satellite weather? Do you want to control your stereo from your display? How about a video feed from a camera in the engine room or other location?
All are possible, many are possible with "midrange" systems.
All are possible, many are possible with "midrange" systems.
I appreciate your candid questions!! There in lays the problem and the reason for the post. As we began traveling more, the seriousness of our lack of electronics became more evident. Growing up and mainly waterskiing the lakes of the Adirondacks, the need for GPS and the rest of it didn’t really come up!! But as we start really exploring and traveling and seeing areas we’ve never seen routinely I have come to realize the inadequacy of our system.
To address stee6043 I don’t have 30k to spend! A realistic number for my budget would probably fall in the5-7k. As I was saying earlier looking for the most bang for the buck, an idea of what’s “a nice thing to have” verses “ you really can’t do without this” and then an idea of what make and model have been found to be the most bang for the buck!!!
Thanks I will look at this great idea!!!!
bracketracer
Active Member
- Aug 23, 2016
- 560
- Boat Info
- 2001 380DA
Fully updated Raymarine MFDs, Quantum radar, full LED lighting conversion, and lots more.
- Engines
- Twin 454 Horizons
I've got a bit of experience with this on my 01. Everything was original, except for a C80 retrofitted years ago center dash.
Before:
So, took the plunge to modernize everything. Did it in a couple of steps. Upgraded to Raymarine Quantum radar, custom radar mount, eS78, eS97 screens, 60 degree transducer, and replacement dash panel. This was under $6k, and completely modernized the boat. This year, I found another eS78 on a great sale, replaced the autopilot head, and replaced the dash panel. Under $2k for this. Did I "need" another screen or updated autopilot? Probably not, but the look is crazy clean, and it's nice to set up a screen dead ahead of me with whatever I think is important at the time, and have the other 2 on the periphery. So, now everything is networked. VHF with AIS to the screens, Fusion stereo to the screens, and hopefully this winter, I'm going to update the status monitor with something that also monitors fuel flow data.
After:
Before:
So, took the plunge to modernize everything. Did it in a couple of steps. Upgraded to Raymarine Quantum radar, custom radar mount, eS78, eS97 screens, 60 degree transducer, and replacement dash panel. This was under $6k, and completely modernized the boat. This year, I found another eS78 on a great sale, replaced the autopilot head, and replaced the dash panel. Under $2k for this. Did I "need" another screen or updated autopilot? Probably not, but the look is crazy clean, and it's nice to set up a screen dead ahead of me with whatever I think is important at the time, and have the other 2 on the periphery. So, now everything is networked. VHF with AIS to the screens, Fusion stereo to the screens, and hopefully this winter, I'm going to update the status monitor with something that also monitors fuel flow data.
After:
Craig
Well-Known Member
- Feb 8, 2007
- 1,044
- Boat Info
- Boatless
- Engines
- Boatless
Looks great!I've got a bit of experience with this on my 01. Everything was original, except for a C80 retrofitted years ago center dash.
Before:
So, took the plunge to modernize everything. Did it in a couple of steps. Upgraded to Raymarine Quantum radar, custom radar mount, eS78, eS97 screens, 60 degree transducer, and replacement dash panel. This was under $6k, and completely modernized the boat. This year, I found another eS78 on a great sale, replaced the autopilot head, and replaced the dash panel. Under $2k for this. Did I "need" another screen or updated autopilot? Probably not, but the look is crazy clean, and it's nice to set up a screen dead ahead of me with whatever I think is important at the time, and have the other 2 on the periphery. So, now everything is networked. VHF with AIS to the screens, Fusion stereo to the screens, and hopefully this winter, I'm going to update the status monitor with something that also monitors fuel flow data.
After:
Do you have a navionics chart for each screen? Do you use one source for your gps or each one independent? Nmea 2000 network I take it?
bracketracer
Active Member
- Aug 23, 2016
- 560
- Boat Info
- 2001 380DA
Fully updated Raymarine MFDs, Quantum radar, full LED lighting conversion, and lots more.
- Engines
- Twin 454 Horizons
Screens are all networked together, but still on 183 using converters. So only one card in the master screen, which is the 7 on the lower left.
Team PCBeach
Active Member
- Oct 12, 2010
- 183
- Boat Info
- 360 Sundancer 2003, SIMRAD 3G Radar, Raymarine Autopilot
- Engines
- Twin 8.1L Horizon
Highly recommend a 3G or 4G radar and an MFD that goes with it. We have a Simrad 3G we are moving from our previous boat to our new to us 2003 360 Sundancer. These 3G and 4G radars are amazing for close in coverage. We find ourselves coming in after sunset on many trips and the ability to see every marker is great. We have even noticed that when going really slow when in a no wake zone, the radar will pick up birds that are in the water as they float past the boat. Unfortunately we can't count the number of times we have come up on someone out at night in a small john boat with no lights. This setup would be well within your target budget depending on installer costs in your area.
