What type of GPS should I get?

My best advice is to sell the boat, or learn navigation...

Hi,

If you are a boat Owner and Captain all rolled into one then I am wondering what sort of qualifications or experience you have to actually move the boat if you say you cannot move it without GPS.

I know So Fl is pretty flat but there are a lot of things that stick up and can be seen for a few miles up and down the coast and offshore.

If you want to go north either stay in the ICW or if venturing outside keep the land on the left ( port) going south keep it on the right (stbd)

I have not seen a GPS as such that shows Marinas the way an Automotive one shows Gas Stations, there are however a lot of combined Chart Plotters and GPS's that have very detailed maps that would probably suit your needs.

I like the current Raymarine lineup for small boats myself.

I like the Garmin units. They are economical to buy, simple to use, and have the marina and other info you're looking for.

I do agree with Lars that some basic understanding of navigation using paper charts is a good idea before setting sail. Its pretty easy to learn. It would be nice to be able to get yourself home if the electronics fail you. And, they likely will at some point. Like now.

PLEASE learn navigation and how to use charts. Murphy's law dictates that your electronics will go down at the worst possible time.
What size boat you have will have a great bearing on what unit you should get. Also, will you be combining it with radar. If so you want the largest screen you can fit. I've worked extensively with Furuno navnet. Very good units. Most charplotters today have a click on feature that will give you info on marinas, etc. but it's really easier to use a cruising guide. The pictures are nice but I have never found a need for them. The weather feature on some is nice, but I've found more useful info by turning my radar out to 12 or 24 miles.
In other words don't go buying the latest and greatest gizmos if you're not going to use them. Check to see how easy it is to change the data fields to info you'll find useful. Make sure it is easily read in bright sunlight. Is it easy to navigate between screens and tasks? Can you easily pull up tide info. All the gizmos in the world are useless if you can't access them quickly and easily while running. Also, how many routes does it hold and how many waypoints will it allow you to put into a route? If you have a boat that does more than 20 knots you'll probably want to forget about touchscreen as it gets rediculous trying to put in a quick waypoint on the fly.
My personal favorites for GPS/chartplotters are Garmin, Furuno and Raymarine in that order. I recently read an article on a guy who had to have the latest gizmos. His GPS/chartplotter/Radar would crash for about 5 minutes every 2 hours and he considered that acceptable. Me, I'd be burning up someone's phone line.

I've used most all of them at one time or another. I like Raymarine stuff but they seem to be in a bit of financial trouble from what I've read.

Your best bet is to go look at the different units and touch and feel them and learn about there features to see what suits your needs. Garmin makes nice stuff as does Furuno.

What size and type boat are we talking about here?

1) When did Burger ever make a 183' yacht
2) The owner of a 183' yacht should be taking the advice of its captain and engineer.

It must be this one..?