Planning to cruise the Sacramento Delta with "Lioness" and while we do have forward scanning sonar (Interphase PCView) I'd like to hedge my bet by equipping my inflatable tender with a "StructureScan HD(tm)" capability to allow it to precede us and record a bottom profile that can be overlaid on Zeus MFD chart by swapping in the SD Card ("Structure Map" in Navico parlance).
What would be the most sensible setup where the battery box would ideally have the GPS/plotter/Sonar unit attached and the transom or outboard would have a removable transducer?
I think I can do this inn B&G with a Zeus2 $1200, SonarHub $599 and "total scan skimmer" transducer $299 = $2100
It looks like if I went Lowrance, I could do it this way, HDS Gen2 bundle with built in Sonar? $1059
http://lr.factoryoutletstore.com/details/60266-54439/lowrance-hds-7-gen2-touch-insight-with-ss-83%2f200khz.html
Am I missing anything on this ?
Further research finds the Elite Ti Totalscan in 5&7" versions. $750& $800
A perhaps more esoteric question is whether the tender's sonar/gps can be reasonably bridged to the sailboat across a wifi booster to provide realtime display either on MFD or an Ipad?
One could anchor host vessel and deploy tender (future "drone?) to reconnoiter ahead.