Instruments for your mom's boat

[windborn]

I am converting an old Heritage 1 Ton into a fast cruiser for island-hopping in the caribbean, and need to install all new instruments. I only need the basics (speed, depth, wind) for now, but will be installing a chartplotter and radar sometime in the next year. The literature from B&G, RAY MARINE, NAVMAN, SIMRAD, etc. all reads pretty much the same. And while going with all NMEA 2000 compliant gear sounds like everyone's gear should readily talk amoungst themselves, I suspect that it really isn't quite that easy.

I'm looking for some advice and feedback from folks that have had hands-on experience with the various manufacturer's gear before I spend thousands of dollars going one way or the other. In other words, if your mom was going to be spending a lot of time cruising in areas far from local repair shops, what equipment would you put on her boat?

[dougfrolich]

I'd go with Raymarine--You get a good bang for the buck, Super simple intall, and easy to expand and up grade.

[Buc]

Ditto Raymarine. For starters, they make it all and their proprietary interface is really easy. They're also NEMA compliant. Best of all, we've had their stuff on our boat and it just keep ticking. B&G (my other experience) costs more, takes more effort and wasn't nearly as reliable for us.