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Brands on board · Helm electronics
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Chartplotter · sounder · VHF · autopilot · audio
We design and fit out the NAVY ourselves; the course, the seabed and the radio we entrust to a company that has done this since 1989. At the helm we fit Garmin: one screen for the chart, the sounder, the engine data and the music. It is not part of the list price, because the right electronics for a Sunday along the coast are not those of an open-sea passage: we choose them together, and you find them in the quote, item by item.
PLATE 02 — Why we choose it
On a RIB there is little room in front of the wheel and the sun is fierce. That is why we want a single family of instruments at the helm, talking to each other over one network cable: the chartplotter shows the chart and the seabed, reads the outboard's revs and fuel flow, controls the radio and the music, and everything updates from your phone, with no workshop visit. Garmin does exactly this, and does it with nautical charts drawn in Italy, in Viareggio, by Navionics. Garmin has always been among the brands our website lists beside the NAVY range, and the NAVY configurator has always carried two items with its name: the Garmin GPS 723 and the Garmin VHF 115i.
PLATE 03 — The helm · Naviglia vision
First, the place of the person at the wheel
BLACK FIBREGLASS · STAINLESS WHEEL · TWO SCREENS
The helm of a NAVY leaves the yard with a console complete with gauges and a recess ready for the chartplotter. What goes into it is your decision, made with us.
The chartplotter: the chart under your fingertips
GPSMAP 723 · 7 INCHES · IPS TOUCHSCREEN
It is the «Garmin GPS 723» of the configurator: 7 inches, a screen you can read in full sun, a preloaded worldwide basemap and a port for engine data. On the larger NAVYs you move up to 9 or 12 inches.
The seabed, almost like a photograph
CHIRP · CLEARVÜ · SIDEVÜ · PANOPTIX
The traditional sounder tells you what lies under the keel and how deep; ClearVü and SideVü draw it beneath and beside the boat. Useful when approaching a shoal or a jetty with no surprises.
The VHF with your position already inside
VHF 115i · CLASS D DSC · 25 W · BUILT-IN GPS · IPX7
It is the «Garmin VHF 115i» of the configurator: the distress call leaves with your position already in it, it plugs into the NMEA 2000 network and it has a hailer function.
The autopilot holds the course
REACTOR 40 · HYDRAULIC STEERING · GHC 50
On NAVYs with hydraulic steering we pair the Reactor 40 for hydraulic systems: it holds the bow even through roll and pitch, and you keep your hand on the throttle.
The music, controlled from the plotter
FUSION · JL AUDIO · FUSION-LINK
Fusion and JL Audio are Garmin group brands: the sound system is controlled from the plotter screen, with no second remote at the helm. The rest has to be heard in person.
Come and see it switched onPLATE 04
Who Garmin is
Garmin was founded in 1989 by two engineers in aviation and marine navigation electronics, Gary Burrell and Min Kao, convinced that GPS would become a tool for everyone. The name merges their two names. The first product, the GPS 100 of 1991, was designed for land, sea and air; the first factory opened in New Taipei, Taiwan, in 1990, and in 1996 the Olathe campus in Kansas was born, which remains the operational headquarters. The parent company, Garmin Ltd., is incorporated in Switzerland, with its main subsidiaries in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
Today the group declares more than 23,000 associates in 37 countries and works in five markets: fitness, outdoor, aviation, automotive and marine. At sea the turning point came in 2007, with the GPSMAP 5000 series of touchscreen chartplotters, which changed the way a chart is read on board. The group then grew by acquiring companies that did one thing best: in 2014 Fusion, marine audio from Auckland; in 2017 Navionics, the cartography company of Viareggio, with more than 350 staff kept in place and the brand preserved; in 2023 JL Audio, speakers and amplifiers from Miramar, Florida. For someone buying a RIB it means one simple thing: chart, seabed, radio and music come from the same house and speak the same language.
About Garmin, on our website, we say what the sources allow us to say: it is among the brands we have always listed beside the NAVY range, together with Yamaha and ORCA Pennel & Flipo, and it is the electronics we fit at the helm. We write nothing more, and nothing more is needed.
The Garmin range on NAVY RIBs
There is no electronics package that suits everyone, which is why it is not in the list price. Below is what we actually fit at the helm, from the smallest NAVY to the cabin model: the four pieces that make up almost every quote. Screen sizes grow with the boat; the network connecting them stays the same.
The chartplotter
The GPSMAP 723 is the 7-inch chartplotter of the GPSMAP x3 series: edge-to-edge glass, an IPS touchscreen readable in full sun and through polarised sunglasses, a preloaded worldwide basemap. It has a J1939 port to read the outboard's revs, fuel flow and alarms, speaks NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000, joins the Garmin Marine Network and has Wi-Fi for the ActiveCaptain app. The series runs from 7 to 16 inches: 7 on the 7.60, 9 or 12 on the 9.50 Cabin. The 723xsv version adds a built-in sounder; for small consoles, from the 4.80 to the 6.00, there is the ECHOMAP UHD2 in 5, 6, 7 or 9 inches.
The VHF
The VHF 115i is the fixed radio that goes on NAVY RIBs: class D DSC, meaning distress calling and direct calling with an MMSI number, with a built-in GPS that puts your position inside the message. It transmits at up to 25 W on all international channels, installs on the NMEA 2000 network with a single connector, has a 20 W hailer function and is IPX7 rated. It measures 85 by 170 by 146 millimetres and weighs 1.24 kilograms; the manual asks for 70 centimetres of clearance from the compass, a figure that matters when you are laying out a narrow console. On licence-free NAVYs it is not standard equipment: it is a choice we make together.
Seabed and charts
Three technologies work beneath the keel: traditional CHIRP, which picks out targets in detail; ClearVü, which draws the seabed under the boat almost like a photograph; SideVü, which does the same to either side. The UHD2 generation takes them to ultra high definition, and Panoptix shows live whatever is moving around you. The charts are Garmin Navionics+ and Navionics Vision+: daily updates, Auto Guidance+ that plots a suggested route respecting the draught and clearance you set, and in the Vision+ version shaded relief and satellite imagery. With Quickdraw Contours the plotter draws the map of the seabed as you go.
Autopilot, radar, audio
The Reactor 40 autopilot comes for hydraulic steering, in a steer-by-wire version and in a version dedicated to Yamaha Helm Master, with the GHC 50 control unit; on NAVY RIBs it pairs with the hydraulic steering on the price list. Radar makes sense from the 7.60 upwards and on the cabin model: the GMR 18 xHD3 radome is a 4 kW magnetron with a range of up to 48 nautical miles, declared suitable for the limited space of a small boat; the GMR Fantom series is solid state. For music, the Fusion Apollo MS-RA800, 670 and 770 sources with their amplifiers, and the JL Audio A60 with M6 speakers, M7 subwoofers and the M200 with lighting. The GMI 40 multifunction instrument completes the picture for those who want the data outside the screen as well.
PLATE 06
Model by model
The rule we use at quote stage is simple: the screen grows with the console, the radio comes in when you go beyond the shoreline, the autopilot and the radar when the boat starts covering miles. Sizes and power figures are those of the price list; the advice on electronics is ours, and it is a starting point for your own configuration.
| Model | Length and people | Engine | At the helm we suggest |
|---|---|---|---|
| NAVY 4.80 | 4.80 mup to 6 people | up to 70-80 hpwith a 40 hp outboard, licence-free within 6 miles | ECHOMAP UHD2, 5 or 6 inchesVHF on request |
| NAVY 5.50 | 5.50 mup to 9 people | up to 115 hp | ECHOMAP UHD2, 6 or 7 inchesVHF 115i on request |
| NAVY 6.00 | 6.00 mup to 10 people | up to 150 hp | ECHOMAP UHD2, 7 inches, or GPSMAP 723the Garmin GPS 723 is in the 6.00 configurator |
| NAVY 6.60 | details on requestThe mid-size model of the NAVY range. Data sheet being updated — details on request. | Honda, Yamaha or Mercurypower is quoted with the boat | GPSMAP 723 and VHF 115iconfiguration at quote stage |
| NAVY 7.60 | 7.60 mup to 15 people | 200/250 hp recommendedsingle outboard up to 350 hp or twin engines | GPSMAP 723 and VHF 115ithe two Garmin items in the 7.60 configurator; Reactor 40 autopilot with hydraulic steering |
| NAVY 9.50 Cabin | 9.80 mup to 15 people · design category B | twin outboards, power agreed at quote stagefitted so far: from two Honda 250s to two Honda BF350s | GPSMAP, 12 inches, VHF 115i, radar, autopilot, Fusion audiothe big screen under the hard-top |
The configurator items are the ones we have always had: on the NAVY 7.60 «Garmin GPS 723» and «Garmin VHF 115i» among the other accessories, on the NAVY 6.00 the «Garmin GPS 723». The rest of the Garmin range we put together with you at quote stage, where every piece has its name and its price written beside it. The outboard is chosen separately, and a chartplotter with a J1939 port reads the data of engines that speak that language: Garmin expressly names Yamaha and Mercury; for the engine you have chosen, we check it ourselves.
PLATE 07 — The on-board network
NMEA 2000 · J1939 · GARMIN MARINE NETWORK · ONEHELM
The secret of a clean helm is not the screen: it is the cable running behind it. NMEA 2000 is the language in which chartplotter, VHF, AIS, autopilot, engine sensors and sound system exchange data over a single network; the J1939 port brings the outboard's revs, fuel flow and alarms onto the same screen. When there is more than one Garmin device on board, the Marine Network shares charts, routes, radar and camera images. OneHelm adds the controls of third-party systems, and Fusion-Link those of the music.
For you it means one screen to look at, one place to look for a figure, and no instrument cut off from the others. We do the wiring in the yard, before the console is closed: it is one of the reasons the electronics are best decided at quote stage rather than after delivery.
Detail — 07 · The two screens at the helm · Naviglia vision
PLATE 08
The words of the helm
Garmin data sheets are full of acronyms. These are the ones that really matter on a RIB, put the way we put them on the phone.
PLATE 09 — In person · real photograph
In photographs every screen looks good. What counts is whether you can read it at midday in August, through sunglasses, and whether a wet finger does what it should. Step aboard, switch on the plotter, turn the chart, make a call on the VHF. Come and see them in person. Then try them at sea.
FIG. 08 — NAVY 7.60 bow in the foreground with anchor chain and the sun low on the horizon.
Questions about the electronics
These are the questions that come up when we talk about the helm: what is included, which screen, whether you need the radio, whether the autopilot can be fitted. One at a time: opening one closes the other.
No. NAVY list prices exclude the engine, and the helm electronics are not included either: in the 7.60 configurator, for example, the Garmin 723 GPS and the Garmin 115i VHF appear among the accessories. Chartplotter, VHF, sounder and the rest are chosen with you and appear in the quote item by item, with the product name and the price beside it, so you have the final figure in front of you.
Two items among the other accessories: the Garmin GPS 723, meaning the 7-inch GPSMAP 723 chartplotter, and the Garmin VHF 115i. On the NAVY 7.60 you find both; on the NAVY 6.00 the GPS 723. They are the starting point: at quote stage we add other screen sizes, sounder, radar, autopilot and audio.
From the NAVY 4.80 to the 6.00 the console is small: 5, 6 or 7 inches with the ECHOMAP UHD2. On the 7.60 the 7-inch GPSMAP 723, or a 9. On the 9.50 Cabin you move up to 9 or 12 inches, and under the hard-top the big screen can be read from the whole cockpit.
On NAVYs with the 40 hp outboard the VHF is not standard equipment: it is a choice. The VHF 115i has class D DSC with a built-in GPS, so the distress call leaves with your position already in it; it also has a hailer function. If you go out often, or with children on board, we talk about it at quote stage: it costs what an accessory costs, not a boat.
The GPSMAP x3 series has a J1939 port that shows the outboard's revs, fuel flow and alarms on screen. Garmin expressly names Yamaha and Mercury engines; for the engine you choose, Honda included, we check compatibility ourselves before writing it in the quote.
Yes, on NAVYs with hydraulic steering: the Reactor 40 for hydraulic systems holds the course even through roll and pitch. Hydraulic steering is on the price list as an option: the 75-150 hp hydraulic system with all-stainless wheel at €4,428 + VAT on the 5.50 and the 6.00, the 150-350 hp hydraulic system at €4,652 + VAT on the 7.60. On the 9.50 Cabin we discuss it at quote stage, together with the engines.
The price list carries the player with 2 speakers, €936 + VAT on the 4.80, the 5.50, the 6.00 and the 7.60, and 4 extra speakers, €2,237 + VAT on the 6.00, the 7.60 and the 9.50 Cabin. If you want a Fusion or JL Audio system controlled from the plotter screen, ask for it at quote stage: they are Garmin group brands and speak the same network.
Garmin Navionics+ charts receive daily updates and are downloaded from your phone with the ActiveCaptain app, through the plotter's Wi-Fi, with no workshop visit. Navionics is based in Viareggio and has been part of the Garmin group since 2017: the charts under your fingertips are born in Tuscany.
From the 7.60 upwards, and above all on the 9.50 Cabin, which also goes out at night. The GMR 18 xHD3 radome is a 4 kW magnetron with a range of up to 48 nautical miles, declared suitable for the limited space of a small boat; it mounts on the roll bar or the hard-top and talks to the plotter on the same network. For the rest of the range we do not recommend it: the money goes further in a good sounder.
PLATE 11 — The other brands on board
For what pushes, you choose among the outboards we fit on NAVY RIBs, Honda, Yamaha and Mercury, with equal weight; for what holds the air there is ORCA fabric by Pennel & Flipo. Every brand has its own page, with the facts and the power ratings model by model.
PLATE 12 — The quote with the electronics
Tell us which NAVY you have in mind and how you use it: along the coast or offshore, by day or at night too, with children or with fishing rods. The chartplotter, the radio and the rest go into the quote by name, item by item. Which screen would you like in front of your eyes?
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Naviglia Yachts — Aprilia (LT), Italy · 380 173 0961
