Radar mounting on CD 30c

[Lisa G.]

Another project on the list for this winter is to upgrade some of the electronics and add radar. I would prefer some type of mast mount. Figure there has to be CD owner's who have already done this , and would like to hear what your research led you to buy ? Are you happy with install? Anything you would do different?

Guess the board can always tell when there is a new CD owner by the onslaught of new posts

Thanks in advance.

Lisa

[Carl Thunberg]

Hi Lisa,

Full disclosure, marine electronics are not my area of expertise, but I hate to see a post go un-answered for so long. Mounting the radar dome is the easy part. Running the wire through the cabin to the "nav station" (i.e. above the ice box) is a PITA. If I remember correctly from my former CD30, I could not find a way to run the wires above the headliner because it was glued, so I had a short section of exposed wire from the base of the mast to the cabinet above the sink across from the head. From there, you can hide the wire all the way to the nav station.

As for upgrading your electronics, all I can say is take your time in planning out how you want the electronics to function and communicate. Start with a multi-function display you like, and then make sure everything else is compatible and will talk. Don't be surprised if your old electronics won't communicate with the new. You may end up replacing more than you think. My general rule of thumb with a new boat is to use it for a year before making major upgrades, to make sure you're making the "right" upgrades.

[Wayne Grenier]

One suggestion-keep the antenna and power supply lines unplugged unless you are using the radar. A lightning strike near your boat can fry all of the electronics that have antennas on the mast. A vhf is not expensive, a radar unit is. Do not ask me how I learned this. I do have a mast mounted radar, I think I bought it from Furuno but it was not hard to install, but it is going to make a big difference in how high you install it, too high and it will shoot over close targets, too low and it will loose range. Mine is just below the spreaders.

Mine works best at about 2-3 miles.Do not expect to"see"16 miles out just because you have a 16 mile radar. These are 12 volt units. The commercial ones are 110 if not 220.

Good Luck

[moctrams]

I plan to install a Garmin radar in the spring and use the Scanstrut backstay mount.

http://scanstrut.com/products/self-leve ... dar-mounts

[Jim Walsh]

Hi Lisa,
As for upgrading your electronics, all I can say is take your time in planning out how you want the electronics to function and communicate. Start with a multi-function display you like, and then make sure everything else is compatible and will talk. Don't be surprised if your old electronics won't communicate with the new. You may end up replacing more than you think. My general rule of thumb with a new boat is to use it for a year before making major upgrades, to make sure you're making the "right" upgrades.

This is an astute observation and excellent advice.
I upgraded my electronics after living with the PO's electronic package for the first sailing season. If you'll be spending a few grand it's best to be certain what you want. I have a chartplotter with a 24 mile radar interfaced. I appreciate being able to overlay my radar targets on my chartplotter screen. I have my radome on an Edson mast mount. It does not, in any way, interfere with the staysail. Some prefer a pole mounted on the stern and some prefer the backstay mounts. That's a personal preference issue.
In the attached photo you can see my radome mounted just above the spreaders.

[Lisa G.]

Thank you to all that has responded with such helpful information. This group contains a wealth of information.

Jim Walsh, especially helpful was the pic of your beauty, knowing that the mast mount does not interfere with the stays'l ,and that you are happy with the Edson mount. I have always liked Edson products as well as supporting a local company.

Carl, thank for the heads up on the wiring. I will take a look at that. Taking a Garmin electronics installation class in a few weeks, so hopefully I will learn something that helps

Moctrans, I absolutely love the scanstrut. It is what I call a functional piece of boat bling. Have sailed on a number of boats that used that mount and if I was doing a backstay mount that would be my choice, too.

Wayne, you had a lightening strike? How scary. I have friends whose boat got struck and had massive damage to the entire boat. Took them a year to get everything re-done. I will definitely have to remember to "unplug" !

Make it a fabulous Columbus Day Week - end and let's hope our members in the path of Matthew are all safe.

[fmueller]

I put a B&G 4G radar unit on Jerezana four years ago. It looks large on my small boat but it is actually a fairly compact dome. I used an Edson mast mount.

http://www.bandg.com/en-US/Products/Broadband-4G-Radar/

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... id=1583200

Complete overkill for my boat and, except for curiosity, I haven't needed to use it. But at the time my Pa offered to get me a radar which, in his mind, was an essential piece of gear - but his active sailing days ended before wide spread use of GPS.

4G radar is the Simrad/Lowrance/B&G term for FMCW radar (frequency modulated constant wave) radar which is quite different from pulse radar. They also call it "Broadband" You can Google all the terms. There are several things to know about this type of radar. Number one - it has less radiation risk than your cell phone, and way less than pulse radar - so you can mount the dome on the flying bridge of a center console stink pot, for instance, and be unworried about exposure. And it uses very little power for a radar - I think 10 watts. Generally speaking it has less range than trad pulse designs. B&G claims 36 miles - I've never seen more than 20 on mine, but mine is mounted quite low. On the other hand this radome can see right up close really well basically because there is no pulse gap (ie speed of light "blind" interval of the pulse). My unit for instance easily showed the slips and boats when I was birthed at Shipyard Marina in Boston Harbor, even the boats next to me. It sees all the boats at their moorings in Marion. I think of it as a very good short range radar. For that reason, and for physically clearing my various jibs, and to decrease weight aloft I mounted the dome fairly low.

My thinking was that since the advent of GPS, radar (for me) would be most useful for seeing boat traffic in fog or at night at fairly close distances (never more than 10 miles - typically a mile or two), so I went with this unit. My Dad used radar to snoop into fog bound harbors in his day. We just don't need that technique with GPS anymore. It also helped that it integrates with my B&G Touch plotter via a proprietary NEMA 2000 data cable set, and can overlay on the chart displayed on the plotter - or be viewed discreetly on the plotter as well. The reason this is so useful is because the underlying map helps you id blips that are not bouys or rocks or other objects. If you see a blip where there is nothing on the chart, well, it's probably a boat.

I would completely differ to other more experienced sailors about more traditional radar. I know (only from reading) that one important use can be tracking squall lines, and there I think the more standard pulse units high on a mast would be the thing you'd want.

[Jim Walsh]

Pretty cool radar, Fred.

[fmueller]

Hey Jim ... is that your radar reflector tube like thing on your upper starboard shroud?

who makes that ? maybe more important than seeing is being seen by the big guys!

Fred

[Jim Walsh]

Hey Jim ... is that your radar reflector tube like thing on your upper starboard shroud?

who makes that ? maybe more important than seeing is being seen by the big guys!

Fred

Yes. It's a Plastimo Tubular Radar Refector thingamabob. It's unobtrusive and has a permanent home there. When I'm offshore, in addition, I use a folding aluminum radar reflector which I hoist from my port spreader. I've only had a couple occasions where I thought it prudent to radio a ship which was uncomfortably close (and on a collision course) and they both stated I was a clear target on their radar screens.
You are correct concerning squalls and dense rain, it shows up clearly on my radar. I also used it to take a 24 mile look-see before taking a snooze offshore. That and my AIS with the alarm set for twenty miles is reassuring in reduced visibility.

This guy was way too close and only altered course (barely) after I asked if he was aware of me a few hundred miles north of Bermuda. AIS is very helpful and pretty cheap.

[Lisa G.]

Radar is awesome for finding and tracking squalls. I do a lot of boat deliveries, and that is a very valuable way to also use the radar.

Lisa

[Steve Laume]

I once used my radar to find whales.

Not by directly seeing the echo of whales but by tracking the whale boats out of Provencetown. We were on our way out to see whales but were not certain where they would be. The tour boats are out there every day and know exactly where to find them, so as a boat went flying by on it's way out, I switched on the radar. It kept getting further away from us until we couldn't see it anymore and then it stopped. I hit the go to button at that spot and we proceeded on out there until we found the whales. It didn't matter that the boat had moved on by the time we got there as we then knew where to look. We spent all day out there as the tour boats ran back in to pick up their next load of screaming tourists.

It was the best day of whale watching I have ever had, Steve.