Marine Electronics book-learnin'

I'm gradually oozing over to the replace-it-all side of the spectrum of the electronics we ought to have aboard Revel.

Simple question: what are the best books for learning enough to ask the right questions of suppliers. I may be opinionated but truly, I'm a newbie.

Revel currently has: 1, Raymarine radar/chartplotter dating from the early '80s. It has a 24" enclosed scanner, RL 70C master and slave displays (that won't talk to each other, and I have not managed to learn how to get it to work). 2, two depthfinders, both operational but have aged/hard to read displays and one with a broken night light. 3, Raymarine modular VHF with two 230 handsets, one has a sun-damaged display. 4, Raymarine GPS. 5, 2 handheld VHFs. 6, New Garmin GPS/chartplotter/chirp mounted so that it can be carried from helm to flybridge (I have not installed the sonar transducer...yet).

I can't think of a book which will help you with your selection of new electronics for your boat. Marine electronics are a small market and things keep changing: touch displays, new 3G and 4G radar technology, new interface standards, use of tablets as a secondary display. The list goes on.

Panbo.com is a marine electronics blog/forum which keeps up with the cutting edge stuff. It is somewhat archane to read and you would have to spend hours and hours reading old subjects/posts to get up to speed.

I would find a real marine electronics dealer/specialist like Pete Waterson of Seacoast Marine Electronics in Oriental, NC. He is a Raymarine dealer and probably won't be able to represent Garmin, Furuno, Simrad, etc effectively. But I think any of those will work for you and getting the right advice is more important than the brand.

David

Electronics

"Pete Waterson of Seacoast Marine Electronics in Oriental, NC"

Pete is first class. He knows the how and why of electronics. He did all of my electronics after a lightening strike last 4th of July weekend.

Plan B would be a pair of hand held VHF , a portable marine GPS and a sounding lead or marked push pole.

Almost no learning curve and 100% of what is needed for inshore travel.

Use the time saved to read "Da Book", your engines maint manual.

I've been using Bob Campbell out of Annapolis as a consultant on my major electrical/electronics upgrades. He ran his own marine electronics business for years, has an excellent reputation and is extremely knowledgeable . . .with endless patience for weekend warriors like me. Most of our interaction is via email or phone but he also traveled to the boat to inspect my work before we powered up. (Everything worked perfectly ) His rates are reasonable . . . orders of magnitude less than if I'd paid to have pros do the work . . . plus, I learned a lot about what makes Stella tick.

Sounds like you might be committed to Garmin with the new GPS. But if not, Furuno has a great rebate offer going. I just got $1200 back on two 12-inch MFDs and their Doppler radar that Ben, at Panbo, gushes about. I have to say, based on totally subjective first impressions out of the box, the Furuno MFDs feel more substantial and sturdy than the relatively new Garmin I just sold. Hope I like the operation and interface as much.

FF, as a former keelboat sailor, I'm familiar with the use of the solid state depthfinder that they have. I also have the older version: