Building a 43e helmsman and would love to hear thoughts on electronics. What do you like or not like and why? This boat has helm on the bridge and pilot house. Looking to cruise up and down the east coast. Maine to Florida.
Radar
Chart plotters
Infra red Cameras
Spot lights
We've done a fair bit of nighttime navigation... I think I've used a spotlight about 8 times in the last 40 years... and most of those were leaving our marina at oh-dark-thirty with a fishing crew... simply because the fairway outside out slip was a bit skinny.
And haven't had an IR camera, so can't comment. Sounds more useful than a spotlight, though.
I like redundancy in depth finders, so usually aim for a fishfinder and a DST unit, different/compatible frequencies. The FF allows a bit more inspection of bottom structure.
Radar almost mandatory in fog -- or stay home -- and heavy pop-up thunderstorms... and we've found AIS useful too, mostly for negotiating with shipping traffic. Radar useful for crab pots, too.
Autopilot very useful, especially for long stretches of "go straight." Or for having lunch while on watch and navigating.
We only have one station, flying bridge, because of the crab pots. Can't predict how best to equip two stations, but I'd probably be looking for complete set-ups at each, maybe with repeaters if possible.
Our most recent long-term experience has been with a Furuno suite for radar, DST, autopilot, fishfinder, MFD, and AIS. All good, great customer support (seldom needed), and Furuno would be my first choice again.
I also like redundancy in VHF radios. Happens our most recent experiences have all been with ICOM units, which have seemed fine.
-Chris