The picture below is of the flybridge helm station. Space for another MFD, a forward scanning sonar display and another Maretron display. There are controls for the bow and stern thrusters making docking very easy. You can take one step to the side and look down the side of the boat and see how close you are to the dock and then move the boat sideways with both thrusters. There are also complete engine instrumentation and a compass. I like to use a handheld VHF here. All of the very expensive displays are easily removable and able to be stored below. Less wear and tear and chance of theft. Note the 360 view and in the tropics versus the pilothouse helm station the air flow is night and day. Much easier to keep awake during those late night watches. I just noticed that my “mickey mouse” fishing rig is in the picture. I am working on that.
The other system I have been asked about is the paravane system. I love it and use it often. When we approached Pohnpei in the middle of the night and needed to wait offshore until daylight to enter the treacherous coral lined passage into the lagoon, we just deployed the paravanes as floated with the engine off. All uncomfortable side to side motion ceased. We have used them underway in rough seas and extensively at anchor. The only downside to them is that while underway the drag will cost you .5 of a knot. On a 5-6 knot boat that is a lot. The 50lb “fish” are difficult to deploy in heavy seas even with the boom deployment system I have. The key is to deploy them before, which is not always possible.
For those of you who don’t know what this is, the boom that the fish is on will drop down to be parallel with the water. With one boom and fish deployed on each side of the boat it slows down the side to side rocking motion of the boat. Many commercial fishing boats have this bulletproof system.