The Big Leagues

Welcome to the Big Leagues! The very fact that you’ve either just bought or are about to buy a 60+-foot yacht gives you instant membership into this exclusive Club. But as you undoubtedly know, buying a vessel this size also means you have a lot of decisions to make including what kind of marine electronics you should carry aboard. So here, we’ll take a look at your marine-electronics options when buying a production- or a full-custom yacht and hopefully answer most of your questions with guidance from a number of industry experts.

Whether you order factory-installed marine electronics on a production boat or go the full-custom route, the first thing you need to consider is how you’ll use your boat. Do you plan to do a lot of fishing well offshore or is coastal cruising your thing? The answers will determine the type of electronics you’ll need. For example, you’ll probably want a satellite phone on your boat for voice- and data communications if you’re usually beyond the range of cellular-phone service (more than 10 miles offshore). Likewise, there’s no need to buy a 1,000-kW echosounder if you’re always fishing within sight of land. But what ever your intended use for the boat, you will need to play an active role in the selection of the marine electronics and education is the key to making the right decisions.

Production Yachts. Because of the custom needs of each yacht owner, most production builders only outfit their boats with minimal electronics. For example, at Viking Yachts, when you buy a new yacht the company only provides the basics--a VHF radio, depth sounder, and knotmeter--as standard equipment. Why? According to Viking’s sales manager Joe Schwab, it all comes down to customer preferences. “Because each of the customers and their electronics packages are complex and custom, the customers contract with outside electronics companies. Most of our customers have pre-determined ideas on their equipment, and they get this info from boat shows and ‘dock talk’ with other owners and captains.” But if you’re just getting a big boat for the first time, Schwab says Viking, “Will give assistance of some past experiences when asked.”

Hatteras Yachts takes marine electronics to the next level by offering an expanded package of high-end electronics including a SEA 156 VHF radio, Northstar 951 XD GPS/chart display, Simrad AP20 autopilot, and B&G HS2000 depth/knotmeter. But beyond that, their customers call in the experts as well. According to Hatteras’ marketing manager Sandra Silman, “Owners may opt to have additional electronics installed at the factory by an outside electronics firm. All arrangements are handled between the owner and electronics firm.”

So at both Viking and Hatteras, full-service marine electronics contractors are usually involved at some point. But what happens after you take delivery and you have a problem with the electronics? Who do you call? On a Viking, Schwab says the company, “Can assist with service under their standard warranty policy and will never leave the customer ‘on their own’ but we do require the manufacturer to stand behind their product.” At Hatteras, the system works in much the same way. “Owners may call the subcontractor with whom they ordered their electronics or Hatteras Yachts if a problem occurs,” says Silman, “and they will then be directed to a service rep in their area.”
Custom Yachts. Over on the custom-yacht side of things there are no “standard” electronics since everything about the boat is custom right from the get-go. However, if you are planning a custom build, your full service-marine electronics dealer will be an integral part of your team months before he would be required for a production-boat installation. In fact, after you select the naval architect and shipyard, your next call should be to the electronics dealer so he can begin working with you on the planning process.

As general manager of Larry Smith Electronics (LSE) in Riviera Beach, Florida, Tom Lambert has a lot of experience in working with both production- and custom-yacht buyers. “If the new owner is a novice, he might be better off going with the standard package on a production boat,” says Lambert, “but he should still ask himself ‘Who will train me to use this equipment, and am I getting the latest and/or best equipment for my needs?’ When you look at the above it starts to make sense for the new owner to go to a professional marine electronics shop so he can choose exactly what he wants, get the latest equipment, have a dedicated professional to support him, and many times save money.”

As for the custom jobs, Lambert says, “Our best customer is an educated customer. He must do his homework and start asking questions. He also must shop around not only for price but for the company that will give him the best installation and service after the sale.” Lambert says his salespeople, “Will support a customer with training on board for as many times as it takes, and we also have training sessions in-house once a month. LSE takes care of filling out all the warranty cards, and all LSE technicians carry Nextel phones so if a customer has a question on their equipment while they’re traveling, LSE can get them in touch with the tech who did the job and many times can walk them through the problem.” If that doesn’t do it, the customer can send the unit back to LSE for repairs or one of LSE’s affiliate dealers can go to the boat to resolve the problem. “If all else fails,” says Lambert, “we will travel anywhere in the world to perform warranty service. The only charge the customer gets is travel and living expenses, but if we’re onboard for several days all labor and parts are covered by LSE’s 12-month warranty.”

Here in the northeast, the walls of Sean Farrell’s office at Maritech Electronics in Stamford, Connecticut are covered with diagrams of marine-electronics layouts he’s working on, and for the most part he agrees with Lambert. For production or custom boats Farrell says, “It’s always a good idea to consult your local electronics dealer. For a production boat, you can always buy the equipment from the dealer and have the yard mount the equipment and pull the wires, but save the final hookup for the dealer.” This is especially true from an interfacing point of view, since a marine-electronics dealer is an expert at making sure all of the electronics are able to “talk” to each other properly. Not only that, but they are also experts in the nuances of antenna- and transducer location, radio frequency (RF)-noise reduction, power supplies, grounding, and a whole host of other issues related to getting a group of dissimilar marine electronics to work together in a cohesive unit. And for the really big yachts, Farrell says, “Computer networking should go into every new large yacht, and even the entertainment system is now networked throughout the vessel.”

In short, when you’re talking about connecting a GPS to a chart display, and that to a radar and an autopilot, then wiring a boat for computers and satellite communications, you’re way beyond the electronics’ expertise of most yacht builders. So let the builder build the boat, the electronics company wire it up, and you’ll be able to relax in the Big Leagues knowing you’ve got a great team of experts sitting on your bench ready to go to bat for you in a pinch.