Offshore Boat Electronics- Update Pg. 3

Congrats. What kinda rig you getting?

Even at the highest budgets you will have some people prefer different brands. I highly recommend you do some searches on this on The Hull Truth forum. I find google does a better search than the boards search option just type your google search word followed by “The Hull Truth”. A large wealth of information on that board in this category. Although if you post such a broad question you are likely to either get little replies or some smart arse comments.

26’ Pursuit- and because I got a great deal, I can splurge on the fun stuff.

I always wanted one….Pursuit that is.

The Hull Truth made sure I bought one too- I was flamed for even suggesting that a Cobia or Century could even be stored at the same dry stack :-)

FLIR is a really nice addition.

I'd probably go Simrad for "electronics" but am not up to date on what's new and cutting edge. I'd look into adding a CMOR map card as well.

Paging CP3

He will be here shortly to really help you with marine electronics.

One thing I would not be without is an ipad with lifeproof case and mount. Fire tablets are a good option as well, but ipads come standard with an internal GPS and for the cost, they are great backups to just about all boat electronics. They are a great way to transfer data to electronics while inshore and all major electronic brands offer a mirroring function as well.

Obviously, they give you music, weather, and cellular internet if nearshore.

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- Lithium batteries? YES IF MONEY IS NO OBJECT, BUT REG BATTERIES ARE FINE
- Rhodan, Garmin, or Minn Kota? I HAVE OWNED RHODAN AND MINN KOTA AND BOTH ARE GREAT BUT I LIKE THE SMALL REMOTE AND INTEGRATED SPOT LOCK IN THE RHODAN WITHOUT HEADING SENSOR OF MINN KOTA
- Garmin, Simrad, Raymarine, Furuno? GARMIN ALL THE WAY THEIR NEW 3D BOTTOM MAPS ARE AS GOOD AS CMOR.
- FLIR? NO I WOULD DO THE LOW LIGHT CAMERAS INSTEAD (SIONYX) BUT A HIGH QUALITY RADAR IS MORE IMPORTANT ESPECIALLY FOR THE RIVER FOG.
- Hydrostatic Release EPIRB? YES
- Hydrostatic Release Life Raft?RAFTS TAKE A TON OF SPACE AND FOR A 28 FT BOAT NOT SURE YOU HAVE ROOM.

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Some things you didnt mention that I like having offshore:

-Garmin InReach Satellite Texting
-SiriusXM Weather
-Radar
-Electric reel outlets
-Good stereo with some subs. Need lots of volume running in a center console.
-Razor lightbar on t-top for spot checking where you are at night. I use mine mostly in my marina when we leave early in the AM, not while running. Radar is more useful for that.
-Invest in good Lebroc helm seats. I think this is way more important than electronics FWIW.

I’ve got a 27’ cat with manual epirb. I would go radar and light bar over flir and some of the other things, but I know the river can get foggy and I think people have said flir is better for that? I can’t remember.

But, I would be realistic with the size of your boat what you need in regards to safety and what not. Splurge on the items you will use daily, not the other things like a life raft imo. You are going to run out of storage and money somewhere. Sat weather is great but are you really going to push it in a 26’ boat? I would just not push it.

ETA: I’m not trying to disagree with other posters. I’m just trying to relate as someone with a boat in your size range, I think that’s very important to keep in mind.

Give me like 30 minutes and I’ll give you answers lol. Just finishing up wiring a bay boat.

Also if you need someone to install said electronics I may know a guy …

If you’re going to be swordfishing a lot and are blowing money, get the Airmar R599 3kW transducer. Don’t NEED 3kW to reach bottom, but if I had a blank check that’s what I am getting. You will also want a 1kW high or medium band transducer for upper water column. B175HW should be good for that. Some people prefer the B175MW (medium band) over the high band HW. Just depends what you’re doing fishing wise. Will need a separate sonar module for the 3kW regardless of which MFDs you get.

Do electric reel outlets at rear & bow at a minimum. Maybe even midship.

Plenty of rod holders

I Put Starlink in a freeman and that seems cool, but it’s really expensive per month.

Xm Radio/weather module for whatever MFD you get

Good sound system - I like JL speakers and Fusion Amps. JL speakers are definitely the best of the best IMO and worth the price.

Side,rear and fwd facing spreader lights. Lumitec is top of the line for pretty much any marine lighting.

We had 50” LED bar on boat. Never used it. Probably won’t ever put one on boat again. Radar is all you should need.

Pretty sure FLIR doesn’t really work that well in fog, another reason I say just stick with Radar. But like I said, if you feel like spending money just to spend it get FLIR

Shaded relief mapping

Autopilot

Dedicated starting batteries for each engine (assuming twin engine), 2 battery house bank isolated from crank batteries with either ACRs or Aux charging leads to engines. Should be standard these days but with stuff I’ve seen from boat manufacturers I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t.

Onboard charger for trolling batteries.

We had 36V trolling motor battery wired up to charge off engines while running. 12V to 36V charging module. We had trip engines so plenty of charging capacity to go around. If twin engine boat maybe I’d not do this to make sure you’re keeping house batt charged and not spending juice to charge trolling motor batt. At a minimum maybe have a disconnect for charging trolling batt off engines so you can isolate if needed. Probably wouldn’t be an issue though.

If you have kids or are worried about ppl going overboard with boat running, I’ve heard the MOB+ system is decent. I’ve installed a few but never really used them myself.

Make sure good livewell pumps/system. Preferably pressurized livewells and seachest if stepped hull.

I’m sure I’ll think of more stuff as the night goes on

Don’t forget that while a 26ft CC is still a big boat, you can run out of room pretty quick lol. Keep that in mind when thinking about adding a ton of stuff in it.

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Invest in good Lebroc helm seats. I think this is way more important than electronics FWIW.

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This. All of this. Price is worth it 10000%