My approach on our coastal Cruiser is based on redundancy and ease of use.
We use a Furuno (but you can pick your brand) navagation suite. We have:
Two 10" displays. Each display has its own GPS sensor/antenna. Each display has its own chart chip.
This gives us 100% position and charting redundancy. There is no single point of failure.
We also have a 4KW open array radar which is tied to one of the displays. We have no redundancy on our Radar.
For depth we have a Furuno black box sounder. This sounder goes on the network, and is available to either display. We carry but do not have installed a brand new black box sounder in case of failure. We have two identical transducers installed for redundancy.
The network depends on linksys layer 2 switch for sounder data. We carry a spare switch.
For instant backup and object avoidance we have an Interphase Foward Looking Sonar.
This type of setup (again, pick your brand) provides 100% redundancy of your basic functions of Position, charting, and depth. There is nothing that can go wrong with this system that will put you in a situation where you do not have these critical functions.
For communications we have a VHF, and a handheld VHF, and a KVH tracphone. The KVH gives us satellite internet at around 2 MB/s and voice anywhere in the world. With this we can download weather data and or communicate with the rest of the world.
I do not carry paper charts for everywhere I cruise. I do not miss them. I can bring up the same charts that my nav system uses on my laptop to do route planning.
Oh, as far as autopilots go, pick one you like. We have a Simrad unit. It works fine. It will follow a route from the plotters, or it can steer a course based on either its own compass or based on heading data over the network.
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