I need some boat advice

[dieselhp]

I need some advice.

I just bought a new 18.5 ft fish and ski. I fish Sandy Hook NJ and lake Ontairo for the most part. I have installed a chart plotter with depth, VHF and a fishing arch. Should I install radar on the boat? What would you do and if so does anyone know of a good small unit I should look at?

Thanks for the input.

Rick

[Landshark]

What kind of water do you fish in sandy hook? I would say for lake ontario its not essential unless you are out there alot and fish alot of fog

[dieselhp]

I live 4.5 Hr's from lake O and 2 Hr's from Sandy Hook. When I go fishing on days off I don't want the day to be shot. No I would not go out in heavy fog, but I don't want to get stuck out in it if it rolls in. I also like to fish after dark sometimes. When I fish the hook I dont go to far, the boat is kinda small.

[Fishtails]

Rick.... I fish the same areas you do. Lake O (spring and summer) and Sandy Hook (fall). My boat is in the shop for a starboard engine coupler so I'm going to miss the fall stripers and blues this year.. Kinda bummed about that. I got out surf fishing once, but I'm really more of a boat guy.

Anyway...I've been looking into radar also. I don't know that it's really needed unless, as was said, your fishing in fog. I'd guess it also wouldn't hurt to have it for night fishing. With an 18 ft boat, your not going far offshore In Sandy Hook....maybe to the mud hole on a really nice day ??? A good chartplotter and gps will do the job. Good chartplotters accept c-chips, something I'm just learning about. I'm getting one for lake O and also Raritian Bay/ Sandy Hook and my other favorite spot to fish, the Florida Keys.

As far as the electronics, as long the unit is NMEA, Sea Talk or HSB, the units can communicate with other units and transfer data as an integrated system. I've choosen to go with Raymarine with the exception of my Furuno FF. Personally, I'm staying away from multiple function units, and will have a display for each function, but you may not want that on a fish & ski, and not everyone has that much space for display units. That's when the multi function display units come in handy.

That's about all I know so far, I'm in the learning phase myself....Hope that helps. PM me if ya need a fishing partner anytime this fall In Sandy

Rod

[Fishtails]

Here is a link anyone looking inton chartplotters needs to visit...

It's Chapter nine from the book "The weekend navigator".....using digital charts

http://books.google.com/books?id=J1fTvB ... #PPA115,M1