Electronics
Fishfinders, chartplotters, radar, and sonar — what actually matters offshore, explained by someone who works in IT.
EPIRB, AIS, and Radar: The Safety Electronics Stack for Canyon Runs
How EPIRB, AIS, and radar work together on an offshore canyon run — what each protects against, how AIS integrates with a Garmin MFD, and buying priorities.
How to Transfer a Starlink Mini to a New Account
The real Starlink hardware transfer process — eligibility windows, the exact steps in your account dashboard, moving to a Business account, and the boat-specific gotchas around factory resets and kit contents.
The Apps I Actually Run Before and During an Offshore Trip
Windy, Fish Weather, NOAA marine forecasts, RipCharts, Fish Rules, and Garmin ActiveCaptain — the six apps that carry an offshore trip from planning at the dock to running it on the water, and what each one is actually good for.
Garmin Boat Switch Overview: Channels, Specs, and Adding Manual Switches
What the Garmin Boat Switch actually is — 20-circuit breakdown, tank and battery monitoring, how it compares to a traditional panel, and the right (and wrong) way to add a physical manual switch to a digital channel.
Garmin Boat Switch Setup and Wiring Guide
How to actually install a Garmin Boat Switch — mounting, NMEA 2000 network connection, power wiring, the full X1/X2 harness breakdown, navigation light wiring options, and chartplotter configuration.
Marine Radar Setup Guide: Mounting, Wiring, and the Garmin GMR 18 HD3
How marine radar actually gets installed — mounting height and clearance rules, power and network wiring, why overlay and MARPA both want a heading sensor, and the real specs on the Garmin GMR 18 HD3 dome running on the Contender.
CMOR Mapping Chips vs. Stock Charts: What the Extra Bottom Detail Buys You
CMOR Mapping chips vs. stock Navionics/Garmin charts for offshore bottom fishing — how much bathymetric detail you need to find wrecks and hard bottom.
Boat Networking Explained: NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000, and Marine Ethernet
What NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000, and marine Ethernet (Garmin Marine Network/BlueNet) actually are, what data runs on each, and how they connect together through your chartplotter — plus links to a full setup guide for each.
Marine Ethernet Setup Guide: Garmin Marine Network vs. BlueNet
Legacy Garmin Marine Network vs. the newer Garmin BlueNet Gigabit Ethernet system explained — cabling, the PoE isolation coupler requirement for third-party cameras, backward compatibility, and what actually needs this network.
NMEA 0183 Setup Guide: Wiring, Multiplexers, and What Still Uses It
How NMEA 0183 wiring actually works, why you can't just splice two talkers together, what a multiplexer does and when you need one, and typical data carried on 0183 versus NMEA 2000.
NMEA 2000 Setup Guide: Backbone, Drops, Termination, and Power
NMEA 2000 wiring explained — backbone and drop topology, why you need termination resistors at both ends, connector types, power budgeting with LEN, and a real starter kit for adding a device.
Garmin ActiveCaptain App: What It Actually Does For You
The Garmin ActiveCaptain iOS app broken down — syncing waypoints, chart updates, remote Helm control, network-wide firmware updates, and the crowd-sourced marina/anchorage data most boaters never open.
Garmin Transducers: How to Pick the Right One for Your Boat
How to match a Garmin transducer to your chartplotter tier, boat, and target species — GT-series naming decoded, CHIRP vs ClearVü/SideVü vs Panoptix LiveScope, mounting styles, and real specs off my own boat.
Garmin Chartplotter Lineup: STRIKER, ECHOMAP, and GPSMAP Explained
Garmin's three chartplotter families explained at a glance — STRIKER, ECHOMAP, and GPSMAP — with who each one is actually built for, and links to a full model-by-model breakdown of each series.
Garmin ECHOMAP Compared: UHD2 vs. Ultra 2
Garmin's ECHOMAP lineup broken down — UHD2 versus Ultra 2, real sizes and prices, sonar power differences, and which one actually fits a bay boat or nearshore center console.
Garmin GPSMAP Series Compared: x3, 10x2/12x2, 8000, and 9000
Garmin's GPSMAP lineup broken down model by model — the x3 touchscreen series, the keyed 10x2/12x2 line, and the 8000/9000 glass-bridge flagships — with real sizes, prices, and which boat each one actually fits.
Garmin STRIKER Compared: Cast, Plus, and Vivid
Garmin's entry-level STRIKER lineup broken down — Cast, base STRIKER, STRIKER Plus, and STRIKER Vivid — real sizes and prices, and which one actually fits a kayak, jon boat, or budget backup unit.
VHF/DSC Setup: Why It's Your Real Safety Net Past Cell Range
How DSC distress calling actually works, why it's useless without GPS wired in, how to get a free MMSI number, and the real range difference between a fixed-mount VHF and a handheld.
Adding a Garmin MSC 10 Satellite Compass to an Existing Autopilot
Why a GPS-based satellite compass beats the magnetic compass built into a Garmin Reactor course computer — and the one situation where it still needs to fall back to magnetic, which is why it still requires calibration.
Offshore Weather Apps: NOAA, Fish Weather, and Windy, All Three
The weather app stack I actually use before every offshore trip: NOAA's marine forecast for the official word, Fish Weather for a fast buoy-based glance, and Windy for saved spots with wind, wave, swell period, and storm tracking.
Choosing an Offshore Fishfinder/Chartplotter: An IT Guy's Honest Guide
CHIRP frequencies, transducer choice, NMEA 2000 networking, and where the marketing ends — how to spec offshore electronics without overpaying.
Garmin Force Kraken on a 31-Foot Boat: Install and 90" vs 110"
An owner's review of the Garmin Force Kraken trolling motor on a 31-foot center console — MFD integration with no remote, waypoint spot-lock, and choosing between the 90 and 110 inch shafts.
Starlink Mini Offshore: Internet 60 Miles Out Without Yacht Pricing
Running a Starlink Mini on a fishing boat — how Roam Unlimited really behaves past 10 miles, the ocean data toggle at $2/GB, and why Global Priority is overkill for anglers.