Electronics

Just on VHF. Local brand GME makes full and slave units for lower helm and FB, you need one aerial, and they incorporate an intercom. Someone over your way may do something similar.

Insequent said:

Pretty unrealistic to expect N2K to be able to handle the amperage draw of radars & sounders. Many transmit in kW. An analogy would be trying to supply water to a whole neighborhood with just one garden hose - good luck with that.

Click to expand...

Transmission and power requirements are not the same. Per the specs, the Garmin GSD 24 sounder uses 40 W max. The GMR 24 xHD Radome uses 30 W typically and 48 W max. Combined they would be under the 8 AMPS which is what the mini NMEA 2000 cable is rated at. I cite these devices because they are the ones we were considering for our boat. Also keep in mind you could add more than one NMEA 2000 power connection but on a separate backbone. The NMEA 2000 issue with sounders and radars are data rates needed, not power. The data rates needed wouldn't overwhelm WiFi.

Both power and data rates do make NMEA 2000 a less than optimal solution for todays electronics. I suspect the marine electronic firms are following the same model TV makers use. They add a few new features every year to keep us spending our dollars on upgrades.

I am just one of those Geeks that wants a wireless boat.

Donsan
Your point about transmitted power is of course correct. But Furuno MFD8/12 MFD, which can run some of the smaller radars, need 10/20 amp fuse respectively. And another 3 amp for the Navnet sounder. So a lot more than you could get from N2K.

The question is whether the Garmin models that fit your limits can provide good enough output, something that is a personal choice. Furuno NavNet data is over ethernet, and once again you could do WiFi if you accept quality trade-off.

I think you need the successor to N2K, which is getting dated and as you note has serious limitations.

Navionics now has a wifi fishfinder for the iPad app.

Fishfinder now in Boating App | Navionics