Where to buy electronics and other questions.

[Legacy]

Budget and wife permitting, I may be upgrading my electronics this winter. As much as I want to stimulate the economy, I have two helm stations so I'd prefer not to pay retail for all the gear. Any thoughts on the best place to buy the gear? Leaning towards the Raymarine E120 system.

If I move ahead, I'd plan on having the installers work during the Spring commissioning when I haul Legacy and have the zincs and bottom paint done. Weather permitting, how long should it take an installer to remove my current gear and install the new transducer, radar antenna, GPS antenna etc? Do I have them remove the old transducer and repair the holes or best to leave everything in pace?

And one last thought. Think any good installer would trade their services in exchange for creating their advertising or building them a website, or even taking them on tuna trips?

Thoughts welcome and Happy and Prosperous New Year all.

Rick

[jleonard]

Do I have them remove the old transducer and repair the holes or best to leave everything in pace?

I never leave old transducers or no longer used thru hulls.....I remove them and glass up the holes.
Jay

[dmonteiro]

I purchased a Garmin 4000 series GPS unit with a remote. I also bought a inexpensive monitor ($200) from Best Buy. I now have two station capability for only $260. I an very happy with this set up.The remote cost $60.

[RicM]

Rick:

BOE is a pretty good online dealer, I bought my Furuno stuff from them.
http://www.boemarine.com/
Sit with your installer and find out if you do, indeed, need to change the transducer. They are made by a limited # of manufacturers and the Garmins of the world just slap their decal on most of them.

You might also post in the electronics forum at:
http://www.thehulltruth.com/forums/foru ... asp?fid=62

[Tuxedo]

Rick:

BOE is a pretty good online dealer, I bought my Furuno stuff from them.
http://www.boemarine.com/

+1

I've outfitted 2 boats using them. Good prices and service.

Also, all transducers are made by Airmar. It may be possible your current transducer will work with the new equipment, although it may have to be rewired. Contact them.

[zinbaad]

Perhaps try Consumermarine in New Jersey. Great customer service & competitive prices & no tax or delivery charge prompt delivery.,
also try Wholesalemarine in Florida. Just got the Newport BBQ for $203, cheapest price I had seen was $269. Arrived in 2 days no ship no tax either, Well worth the calls. Let us know what you choose. Eddy Zinbaad

[jleonard]

I can't recall where I got my electronics, individual chart plotter and radar, in 05/06, but it was not from anyplace that had "marine" in their name. I decided what I wanted, and then did some serious searching on the i net.
I recall finding the sources thru bizrate or one of those other generic shopping engines. It totally shocked me that I found marine electronics that way.
My result was serious savings from the marine places. My Furuno radar was free shipping, and the Garmin chart plotter was latest and greatest (at the time) and maybe $ 7 shipping. No tax of course and that's a big deal for a Ct resident.
Of course I do my own installation so that might be a factor for someone else.
Happy hunting!
Jay

[Mariner]

I highly recommend the Raymarine E series. I don't think anybody is currently matching Raymarine's quality and breadth of product offerings that all interface and work together.

Definitely remove the old transducers and antennas if necessary. Particularly with the transducer, as they can affect trim and impact stability. However, it may be interchangable. I discovered that my "Garmin" transducer was actually made by Airmar and with a little splicing of wires, can work with a number of different brands of fishfinders.

Of course, you may want to upgrade to a better unit, which would require replacement.

For installation, it all depends on the individual installation job, and how many pieces of equipment you're installing. But in general, I would say allow one hour per item being installed for just the physical installation of the item itself. That means an hour for mounting the display, an hour for mounting the transducer, an hour for mounting the antenna, etc... Running wires and cables can be a whole seperate pain in the ass on top of that, and can REALLY rack up the hours. I strongly recommend installing the items yourself if you have a mechanical bone in your body, and don't have a bottomless wallet. Professional mechanics and installers charge over $100 an hour, which means a $10,000 electronics package can become a $15,000 one in a real hurry. The added benefit of doing it yourself is that you know the system inside and out, in the event that it develops a problem at sea where help is not available. However, if you do it yourself, you really MUST know what you're doing. If you don't build the system correctly, you will have nothing but problems. Research, research, research.

[Legacy]

Thank all. It's a big nut to spend, so I'll shop around your resource suggestions and see if it's possible. Great logic for wiring myself too.
All the best,

Rick