Yacht electronics or Marine electronics refers to electronics devices designed and classed on board ships and yachts and are intended for use in the marine environment.
Yacht electronics devices include digital switching, electronic charts, marine radio, autopilot, marine radar and cameras, GPS, fibre optic gyrocompass satellite television, and various marine sensing systems like fuel gauges or depth sensors.
If used in an open environment these types of devices are either water resistant or waterproof.
Yacht electronics package
As some yacht electronics devices require other devices to work (in example a chartplotter requires a GPS-sensor), yacht electronics devices are often offered in packages.
A multifunction navigation system could be offered with built-in sensors like GNSS receiver (GPS) and usually is offered with transducers, cables and other accessories like remote controls for example.
Although industry standards (like NMEA) exist, yacht electronics manufacturers intent to make their products incompatible to other brands to force the customer into buying all yacht electronics from the same vendor.
As these electronics come in packages there isn't much room for customization. Devices which are not compatible to can't be integrated resulting in a multiple user interfaces, apps and remote controls to control audio, video, navigation, sunscreens or gangways for example.
Simrad yacht electronics and Raymarine yacht electronics offer standard, series packages with a good price-quality ratio.
Hardware design is fixed and the software or user interface doesn't give much room for imagination.
Best yacht electronics
Like picking a smartphone or tablet, choosing the best yacht electronics depends on personal preferences. If you are looking for a one size fits all solution, don't care much about design and your yacht doesn't have much build-in electronic features like sunscreens, sunroofs, hydraulics or gangways etc. a standard package from above mentioned suppliers is a good deal.
For a custom build yacht, one in which the owner has put a lot of effort in customization to make the yacht his own, we would opt for a custom user interface. A custom bridge in which all electronic devices are operated within This too can be achieved with series and certified components.
