I am a Linux and open source geek in the UK, armed and dangerous with a 3D "reprap" printer. Recently bought a Westerly Merlin 29, and have been working hard to merge my interests.
I spent quite a while trying to find a way to have an open source chart plotter, but it seemed that the lack of a legal source of charts was an insurmountable problem. I ended up sadly buying from Polarnavy; which seems good, but I would ditch it tomorrow for a viable open source solution.
My 3D printer is proving very useful for my boat, printing all sorts of stuff for my boat, some of which can be seen on Thingiverse. Every boat owner should have a 3D printer. Presumably these could be used for building housings for electronics, conduit etc.
Planning to fit an NMEA 2000 backbone to my boat, although I gather it needs to start at the top of the mast, which has put me off a bit.
I doubt my electronics skills will be up to helping out, but I will be interested in following the project.