An electronics budget

[hard1]

Totally agree with all your comments, and as far as the Opti goes....it's been OK for me (I'm trying to whisper in case it hears me) and yes I'm looking at a replacement 2 stroke and am in a slight quandry over a known quantity (Opti) over a largely unknown quantity (Etec) and some of the final decision will be driven by price not necessarily ultimate proveable reliability, 'cos that's hard to prove/quantify. Like I said before, I don't believe anyone knowingly asks for lesser performance in anything mechanical or electrical/electronic as we find ourselves in a numbers driven society. I've always been amazed at the gear on the average RIB/hardboat in the Solent as they could probably navigate their way around the world with some of their kit and radar has even been seen recently on Solent RIBS. Most of it totally unecessary as you rightly say. I suppose, in keeping with their land based brethren, any RIB not sporting the "toys" would not be considered pukka, if you get my meaning. Thanks for the insight into portables. I am not familiar with these models and I'll make a point of checking them out. In the meantime, my RIB hasn't a forward looking or even side scanning sonar, so I'll be checking those out too.

[Rogue Wave]

VHF's are leased for the specific job by the company i work for in the North Sea normally they use Motorolas but on one one mission Standard Horizons were delivered and we used them for a month and they were most impressive. I gained the feeling they were waterproof! Entec I just realised was a production company I used to work for I think the VHF's are called Entels

Re Rib gizmos The Rib I drive in the North Sea has an all singing and dancing Raymarine Radar/Plotter but the boss keeps the chip in the office in case somebody swipes it!

Re your Opti, I think they are great engines and other than the Etec they haven't any real (2 stroke) competition at the 200 hp plus level. But like any modern engine it uses lots of complicated and expensive bits. So if your engines in Warranty then it's cushty! The 200 HPDI is a nice engine but I have heard bad reports about the bigger HPDI's