A couple of questions first. Are you thinking to do this down below at the chart table or out in the cockpit at the wheel? How much do you want to invest in this also. Reason I ask is I seen a system last year that was on a 34 hunter that came into our marina and I was totally impressed by this system.

It is by Nauticomp and it is a SIGNATURE SERIES II system. It had a repeater screen in the cockpit and he was integrated with radar, speed, depth, wind , xm weather, xm radio, windows vista, and we surfed the net with this system, and is daylight viewable and water proof ( not water resistance) These are fitted on a lot of tugs the person told me. If I had to do it over again, I would diffidently go with this system.
Randy

I am looking for something in the cabin. I am going to be installing whatever I end up with so simple is better. Having said that, your friend's system sounds amazing. I can only imagine what that cost. Because I have so many things yet to do on my boat I think I would like to try and come in under $3k.

I boat the Garmin 4208 last spring, I got the Depth sounder/transducer, GPS, RADAR, XM WEATHER/Radio, and the V2 vision card for a little under $3000.00.
I will admit when I first got it I wasn't happy. I installed everything the way the book said and it didn't work, after checking that everything was right and it still didn't work I called Garmin. The answer..Oh you can't hook it up that way... so I had to redo everything in a network. It was simple just time consuming. It is all plug-n-play. Next the unit did not have the info that my last and much cheaper Garmin had. Again I called garmin and they sent me an update that fixed it. I went on a two week cruise up to Northern Lake Huron and Mackinaw Island and I fell in love with it. Everything worked great and it was simple to use. The weather radar is great!

I bought it as a bundle so it was a little cheaper then I added the radar. There are lot of deals out there and most of them have the features you want.

Why would you only want something in the cabin? Really, I just don't get it. :confused: Once you spend the $$ for that, you'll seriously regret not having that information in the cockpit, unless you have a professional steerer in your crew and all you do is relay information.:) A friend with a C36 installed his radar on a swingout arm and has a remote autopilot which he uses sitting on a small bench he made that fits into the lowest section of the hatch board slot and he sits under his dodger. Neat trick. It's somewhere between all down below and behind the helm. Other than that, everything I've ever heard is folks looking for helm mounted stuff, even if they have a computer down below with all the bells and whistles. Please help me understand.

I have to agree with Stu. That is a big part of why I upgraded the boat when I bought it. Everything was mounted down at the Nav table. It just doesn't work well when you have to run down into the cabin to look at the RADAR or use the radio.

Most systems today can have a monitor in both locations. A little pricey but you can add the second down inside the cabin later when funds open up.

The only item you will want below at the nav station is the VHF, and all modern radios have a remote mic option that allows full control of the VHF at either station. I *Love* my Standard Horizon VHF's remote, helm-mounted "Ram Mic". It provides complete control over VHF operation, and the crispness of the speaker in that small handset is absolutely amazing.

All other stuff is best mounted at the helm. When you're trying to pilot your boat through some narrow pass or back into a marina when it is near zero-zero conditions, you will thank your lucky stars you made that decision. I have done this surprisingly often here in the Pacific Northwest, but I know that east coast weather can get pretty rotten also. Going below to look at a nav or radar display is akin to letting go of the cyclic to reach for the Jepp charts. If you don't have an autopilot, the boat will surely choose that moment to perversly exhibit a mind of its own; also, you will lose situational awareness scrambling between the two stations.

[QUOTE=stu jackson c34;636]Why would you only want something in the cabin? Really, I just don't get it. :confused: Once you spend the $$ for that, you'll seriously regret not having that information in the cockpit, unless you have a professional steerer in your crew and all you do is relay information.:) A friend with a C36 installed his radar on a swingout arm and has a remote autopilot which he uses sitting on a small bench he made that fits into the lowest section of the hatch board slot and he sits under his dodger. Neat trick. It's somewhere between all down below and behind the helm. Other than that, everything I've ever heard is folks looking for helm mounted stuff, even if they have a computer down below with all the bells and whistles. Please help me understand.[/QUOTE]

Nav system set-ups are as personalized as sailors and their boats, and I understand it is easy to lose that perspective when someone gets pigeon-holed into a certain type of sailing. For all the primarily daysailers out there, the cockpit mounted set up is probably preferred, but I often sail for a couple days on end when I go to Bermuda, the Bahamas, or even just into the gulfstream for an overnight fishing trip. I invite anyone to sit in a cold wet cockpit to reference their chartplotter/IAS at 2:00 am, and then tell me how you feel about the cockpit set up! There's a reason chart tables are not built in cockpits. I have depth, wind, and speed instruments, as well as a handheld gps in the cockpit which is all I've ever needed. I'm also not going to be the guy who gets his chartplotter stolen from the cockpit, as I've seen that one played out a couple times before.

You make a good point, Pineapple. It is, indeed, a personal thing.

Up here in the PNW we have nasty friggin' weather. In six passages between Portland and Puget Sound I have honestly seen Cape Flattery (the NW corner of Washington state) only one time; on the other hand, the hours I've spent in pea soup fog can be counted in the hundreds. But then my wife insisted I get cockpit canvas, something probably unheard of down where you sail. So what is right for me may not be for you. Viva la difference.

The "neat trick" that Jeff Berman installed on his C36 that I mentioned is the answer to "all-the-way-down-below" navigation equipment for bad weather.

I personally dislike all that "stuff" behind the helm, because with so much there you need a stepladder to see over it!:) I single hand a lot and am rarely behind the wheel, using my handheld GPS and the autopilot which is mounted on the coaming so I can get to it from either behind the wheel or in the cockpit.

I agree with the vive-la-differance that Larry mentioned, but for people who sail single handed, I feel it is unwise and basically dangerous and misleading with a false sense of confidence to have [I]everything [/I]down below and only down below. After all, that's why they invented repeaters.

[QUOTE=stu jackson c34;677]The "neat trick" that Jeff Berman installed on his C36 that I mentioned is the answer to "all-the-way-down-below" navigation equipment for bad weather.

I personally dislike all that "stuff" behind the helm, because with so much there you need a stepladder to see over it!:) I single hand a lot and am rarely behind the wheel, using my handheld GPS and the autopilot which is mounted on the coaming so I can get to it from either behind the wheel or in the cockpit.

I agree with the vive-la-differance that Larry mentioned, but for people who sail single handed, I feel it is unwise and basically dangerous and misleading with a false sense of confidence to have [I]everything [/I]down below and only down below. After all, that's why they invented repeaters.[/QUOTE]

Ask 100 different people, and they'll recommend 100 different nav setups. Each has its merits and drawbacks. A repeater would be nice, but that's an extra $500-$1k that I really feel is not necessary.

I ended up going with the Garmin 4208 with AIS down below (gasp!), and am pretty happy with it so far. Decided no to subscribe to XM until I see what is going to happen with SiriusXM as a company. In any case, I'll let everyone know if I sink, or run aground because of my setup, but don't hold your breath.

[QUOTE=Creedence623;721]Ask 100 different people, and they'll recommend 100 different nav setups. [/QUOTE]

Ah, I always thought it would be 110 different opinions from those 100 guys! :):):) Good luck with your system, enjoy it, it sounds great.

You will like the system. I have the 4210 and it is great. I bought the complete setup as the electronics on my boat were as old (20 years) as the boat.

I was a little miffed when I first started using it because it wouldn't do the things I thought were basic and my old Garmin 172 would do. Garmin sent me an update and viola! it all was back to working fine. Since then I love it. It is large enough that my wife with her bad eyes can still see it. I also love having everything in the one unit and i like being able to overlay the radar and the charts.

I still carry a small hand held gps for backup and of course paper charts to. but simple cruising you cant beat it.