Modern day reef boat wish list.

[FNQCairns]

Hi all my boats electronics are 6-7 year old I think, I have had the boat (rear CC 6m tinny) laid up for near 3 years would like to get it back on the water...only has a 90s model 2 stroke 90hp engine so that side of the electronics must stay 90s at least.

I am pretty good with the Marine radio and the am/fm/fuel meter/guages I guess but whats up these days with modern day Sounders and GPS?

Also where to purchase at decent prices if possible but not real important as I will find them myself sooner or later

Eyesight getting worse = bigger screens I think, prefer stand alone units but cannot be sure today.

Completely out of touch this last 4 years i guess, cannot remember what sounder and GPS I had fitted till I pull out the storage box...pretty hopeless lol!...so what is good and fine today? and even a little future proof?

Even the epbirp! so much to learn again.

Looking forward to any replies.

[Moffy]

Hi FNQ,

Not totally up on all the latest boat electronics - still waiting for the day the screen on my Garmin 172C dies......

To me one of the key factors i will be looking for when i upgrade - whether i end up with networked stand alone units or a combo -as a must have (to me) is that you can mark a spot from the sounder directly to the GPS (i.e if you cruising along and mark a decent bommie in the middle of nowhere - instead of tracking back to find it etc - you just scroll the cursor on the sounder over to it and send the exact mark to the GPS) - that will be one thing i will want.

I'd like a side scan sounder as well - given the inshore stuff i like doing - but as i prefer garmin GPS by far - i'm a bit stuck there budget wise....as the side scan unit for a sounder would eat a lot into my plotter budget) - but will see what happens when the time comes...

Moffy

[FNQCairns]

Hi thanks Moffy good to hear from you, yeah the side scan is good I dont know what depth it's suited to though..it's certainly an option...sounders do make a difference...lots of new tech around today and it's packaged so confusingly with so many slightly different models and screen sizes etc etc....the learning curve is really steep but getting there now. I think Garmin have a chirp like range too.

I looked at the Lowrance but the fact they geolock (I am buying in oz too) leaves me a little dry in the mouth but trying to get over it... I sort of think I might try the Raymarine a78..it's like the Dragonflies bigger brother...but for a while I was interested in the Lowrance 7 inch with all the bells n whistles and the furuno 587...still am in both actually ...gee it's hard.

Hope you have been braining them...did you ever end up buying that boat in storage?..memory is vague, so many years ago.

[Moffy]

Nah mate long story that one..... currently rebuilding a 5m centre console that Daintree Boy's dad built 20+ year ago. Sister ship to DaintreeBoy's current boat. Ready to paint and hopefully back on the water not too long after ( has been a five year exercise so far..........)

[FNQCairns]

Good luck with it Moffy, something extra special about a hands on refurbish.

[tunaticer]

I suppose two questions first of all FNQ, what depths are you working in and what price range would you be happy with?

[Blackened]

G´day

Have a good look at the Simrad NSS series, absolutely love mine and imo, the sounder picture on these is much better than the equivalent Lowrance product.

Most of the newer stuff is NMEA 2000 compatible, so you can plug your engines interface into it once or if you upgrade the
donk.

There´s so many gadgets now with them and add ons etc, have a good look before committing.

Trymax marine is a very good website with a great range and good deals.

Dave

[FNQCairns]

I suppose two questions first of all FNQ, what depths are you working in and what price range would you be happy with?

Hi Tunaticer, whatever amount reflects good real functional value for the size, depth might by anything at some time...it's not that far to hundreds of metre's of depth but where I most usually fish is 20 in closer to 80m out a bit wider.

Blackened thanks for the Trimax link and I will look into the Simrad..cheers