[gatotom]

speaking of electronics, the big players Furuno and Raymarine are all good stuff, tryed and true but Simrad is coming on like gangbusters in the market for one reason only but its a good one.

Simrad has a new radar technology called broadband, its not the radiation type but wave tech which now you can't fry an egg on your radome, in fact they say its 10 times safer than a cell phone plus it gives better resolution near your boat where you need it.

I just removed my old furuno radar unit for a simrad broadband and it is amazing the difference. My wife who could care less can now see the object on the screen before you had to interpret what you saw. Its very good 16 miles out but awesome at 6 miles in. With AIS, I already know where that 60' or larger boat is, know its speed, name, course.

On nice clear days you can boat by sight but when the weather turns foggy and or with pouring rain or you are in the night, radar and AIS is a must.