INSTRUMENT UPGRADE

[Flyingriki]

Anyone have advice on replacing old Autohelm instruments? Bought a Garmin Chartplotter and am looking at ways to mount it and which of the various instruments to remove and which to keep as backup. Looking at two low priced Garmin radars https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/catalog ... uct=556888
and then I'll need a new wind sender as mine no longer has direction working, just speed.
Any advice or experience would be great.
Do you use the paddle wheel sender for speed or just use GPS speed?
Do you keep a separate wind gauge or just the chartplotter?
Do you use alarms from the radar?
Do you have an AIS plus the radar and alarms? (afraid a watch may fall asleep)
Do you use a separate anchor alarm or phone app or...?
Garmin seems to have some really nice sonar transducers that actually give a 3D view out front of the boat. This seems particularly useful in shallow Florida with a fin keel........

[KeelMe]

I would highly recommend a navpod that is largest enough to hold your plotter and two multi-function instrument displays.

I only use gps for speed but sometime I wish I had the paddle wheel so I could have a better understanding of the currents.

I use a windex as well as an electric wind instrument.

I love the radar alarms when I'm snoozing and ARPA when I'm in a busy port. AIS is the greatest thing ever, I will never be without it again.

Never used an anchor alarm and I've never needed to in over 15 years of cruising. I sleep well at night to.