Considering a sonex but still would like info on some specs.

[AstroAussie]

The OP stated he may want to pop thru the Marine layer occasionally to go places. Back before color TV, I had a Grumman Yankee (late 80's) with its one NAV radio and a Gyro turn coordinator. Against all the 'opinions', my partner and I used it for our IFR training and occasionally popped thru the 1000 ft Florida summer butt deck to get VFR on top to go somewhere. It was pretty common to file tower-tower to do this. We would be on instruments for all of 5 minutes. With my little MGL Xtreme and my iPhone running Foreflight as a back-up, I feel INFINITELY safer doing that these days, even behind an AeroVee. Come to think of it, the iPhone with the Foreflight synthetic vision is better and more reliable than ANYTHING out there under 5 figures.

Looking at the actual current load of my Onex with MGL Xtreme, COM, Sandia transponder, ADS-B, NAV lights, and iPhone charging, the total load is around 5 Amps. That secondary ignition will draw 5 amps. Lets double that and say its 20 total. Oh No! the alternator might not keep up. But wait, our plan is to pop thru the layer and go back VFR. Unplug the iPad, turn the NAV lights off, and carry on. And if the volts look a little low and you have a ways to go, turn off the secondary ignition for a bit and let the battery recharge.

So what do you really need to pop thru that marine layer a few times a year? Everyone has to do what they are comfortable with. I don't have one but I just love seeing homebuilts with Space Shuttle instrument panels in them. Especially when its not my wallet! And not to beat a dead horse, but look at accidents. These just don't happen often.

Yea exactly It wont be an IFR plan for more than a few minutes to get down safely. Its usually sunny in cali and hazy here an there but nothing extreme.