A method for networking a plurality of marine navigation devices into a
network is provided, the network comprising one master marine navigation
device and at least one slave marine navigation device. The method
includes determining if a slave marine navigation device has recently
been operatively coupled to the one master marine navigation device,
determining if the slave marine navigation device is of a device type
permitted to network with the one master marine navigation device,
assigning an identifier to the slave marine navigation device if the
device is of a device type permitted to network with the one master
marine navigation device, and transmitting the identifier to at least the
slave marine navigation device. The master marine navigation device may
include a processor and a memory operatively coupled to the processor,
the processor being programmed to carry out this networking method.