I recommend getting A Lowrance Elite4-DSI fishfinder/chart plotter. I love mine to bits, especially since I reconfigured the display to show depth, speed over ground and battery voltage in large letters. I don't know pricing in your area, but it only cost a bit over $400 here in Oz, and I added a Silver Navionics micro-SD which gives me the whole of Australia's coast (limited to 10 metre depth, which is good enough in most cases.
Someone will no doubt chime in on your small craft advisory, but I make my own judgement call.. if the swell is big (eg 2-3 metres, and forecast wind is 20+ knots, and it is an offshore wind, I just go sailing on my local lake) I am sure others will have differing opinions
The eyelets on the ends of the amas are there for your enjoyment! Some people rig barber-haulers to hold the sail out better going downwind, some people attach lines to them diagonally to extra brace them in case of aka failure...