looking for electronics recomendations

[chesapeake albin]

Hi, thanks for anytime you might put into reading this in advance,

I am looking to do a complete electronics package on my 97' 28TE
I am in the Chesapeake and plan to go offshore only a few times a year,

right not the only thing still working on the boat is a e7 raymarine screen, which does not support sonar, so I am looking to get a new radar and fishfinding system. also have a raymarine 6002 auto pilot which needs a new computer as this does not work either. Finshfinder currently is antique ratheon 600 watt something.

Should I....

1. go with all raymarine, fix the auto and keep the screen I have, even though this technology seems to be out of date?

or
2. Start over with simrad 4g radar and
a. one 12" screen or
b. 2, 7" or 9" screens? ( I am used to having 3 screens at once)
not sure what to do about the radar?
c. if going with simad, which is the preferred transducer for this boat for the chirp/structure scan units?
the boat gets forklifted in the yard sometimes, can I use a transom mount? can I get performance with
an inhull transducer??

second question,
I have the standard radar arch, do I need to raise the radar up with a 6" powertower on top of the radar arch to clear the roof or just the radar arch?

Thanks for reading this
Travis

[Jeremyvmd]

Im not an expert but I have some experience and just did a ton of research. On my cat boat I have a nss7 evo2 and love it (no radar) with down scan and side scan. I just got the new go7 from along with a bg zeus12 touch basically a last gen nss12. I would def get a simrad 4g radar. From what I've read and been able to see it gives you the best short range and small target resolution. Not gonna be tracking birds 20mi away with it but it will keep you from going bump in the night (or fog). Screen sizes are a personal opinion. I say fewer largest screens rather than more small screens. That's why I went 12" and 7". If they had made the go7 in a 9" i Woulda gotten that instead. Honestly im not a fan of raymarine. My dad has their stuff and is allways having issues. I got the b60 hdi tilted element transducer as I don't care about side scan for this boat.