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Old 15-12-2015, 15:04   #46
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Location: vessel sold at LAKES ENTRANCE to a local. Currently nursing my 93 Y/o mother in Sydney. Next boat probably will be bought in the U.S.
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Re: Radar in the days of GPS and AIS

Thanks. Good article.
I am desperate to not run over a tiny recreational fishing boat who is ten miles of the coast (and im asleep) and so a tiny radar is a serious want.
And, when the geniuses make furlers which will beat to windward with luff no longer 1/8" wide but 4 inches wide, then I'll get two furlers.
Until the my heads'l and the stays' are
hanked on with downhauls running thru the hanks and the hauls are led back to the cockpit.
My boat is tiny and when things get sloppy I'm staying put in the cockpit.....all about 'rate of motion'.
Sort of sorry about the drift.
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Old 15-12-2015, 15:09   #47
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Re: Radar in the days of GPS and AIS

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Originally Posted by MKB53 View Post
Hi

I have been doing coastal cruising in Australia for 8 years or so with an AIS transponder hooked into my Nav system and no Radar. I would not like to sail in shipping lanes without AIS but to date I have not missed radar at all and have friends who have the same view. ie: In our neck of the woods Radar is of limited benefit.

I have just signed for a new boat with the intention of cruising in the Med for a few years then possibly coming back to Aus via Panama and the Pacific.
I need to finalise the electronic kit out and the question is whether to fit radar or not. Much easier and cheaper at this stage!

I can imagine that when you get into "3rd world" areas with unlit fishing boats, fish traps and the like it would be a lot of comfort.

I am interested in the views/experiences of cruisers on the need for Radar in the Med specifically but also crossing the Atlantic and Pacific.

Cheers
Congratulations on the new boat (what did you choose?)
We were in the same situation four years ago - a new boat delivered to us in the Med. Much research and many questions later, we went for everything possible except RADAR as we were advised it would not really be used much if at all. We regret that advice, and given our time again, would include RADAR in the options list. Examples:

1. Crossing to North Africa from Sardinia, during the night I was acutely aware of the many AIS targets on my screen, but could not help wondering about any boats out there without AIS, and therefore hoping their nav lights were on, and I saw them.

2. Another day along the North African coast, we lost GPS position for a good 20 mins. If we had RADAR, I could have manually adjusted the chart overlay to correspond with the RADAR imaging as we went along, therefore giving me some redundancy (yes, I was marking up our paper charts each hour also, so we had approximate position)

3. Crossing from Pantalleria to Gozo, heavy fog surrounded us for most of the night, into the dawn. Again, we hoped that everything out there was transmitting AIS data.

4. Looking at yachts and powerboats in the marinas of France, Italy, Tunisia, Malta, Sicily (so far) it is hard to find one without a RADAR scanner.

RADAR is on our list of next to do .....

I suggest from our experiences to date, and the other comments, your decision is made.

Wish you the best with your new adventure - exciting times. Perhaps we will meet over there one year. If you have any further queries regarding your optioning, feel free to ask or PM me. We learnt a lot during our own exercise regarding what to do with a new boat in regards to making it workable and a nice floating home.

David
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Old 15-12-2015, 15:18   #48
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Re: Radar in the days of GPS and AIS

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Originally Posted by capt-couillon View Post
Me, I can't afford it... either to buy or to supply the power to run it. In the time I have been sailing, it has always been a "would be nice" but never a necessity.

Fog?... Don't go there, or if you do heave too and sound a fog signal
Enter a tight channel at night?... Are you kidding me? Stand off till first light. Radar don't show the coral heads.
Fishing boats?... Mark one eyeball works well. I know there is gonna be a bunch of dark boats on the Mysterioso Bank. Slow down and watch.

AIS is a great thing for moi... A good radar reflector mounted at the top of the stick makes sure they can see me (if they are looking), and the AIS receiver shows me where the BUFFs (Big Ugly Fat *******) are so I can make sure to get the hell out of their way cause they ain't gonna get out of mine.

Yes, in my little fantasy world with unlimited funds and power I would have a radar that puts the USN to shame, but in my world AIS is a god send for seeing the stuff (by international law) that could run over me at 30 Kts and never know it. The rest of it I can deal with.

I know I will be in the minority (heavy sigh) for not wanting to use all the fanciest, most expensive, gotta have it, safety equipment. But then again I sail single hand and sleep on watch... Complain to the management
Good advise on the radar reflector. I heard a container ship Capt. (female) giving someone down the road, via VHF, about not being visible on her radar. In your neck of the woods.
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Old 16-12-2015, 10:43   #49
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Re: Radar in the days of GPS and AIS

I greatly praise those clever contributions to make a RADAR usage worth the cost.

However, I feel like a leisure boat can equally sail without it.

Having it, I'll be using it a bit more! Thank you :-)
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Old 16-12-2015, 15:18   #50
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Re: Radar in the days of GPS and AIS

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Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
It's power consumption may not be all that much different, but it's RF output is supposedly almost zero, claimed to be less than a cell phone. Maybe it's silly, but I rather like low RF things since I used to fly in a sort of high RF environment, and the big C is a concern of mine.
I have some concerns about this as well. I've heard various things on the subject. There's some good advice in here so I was wondering what are the do's and dont's about mounting the radar, how powerful of a radar do you really need, and what are the health issues?
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Old 16-12-2015, 22:49   #51
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Re: Radar in the days of GPS and AIS

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheThunderbird View Post
I greatly praise those clever contributions to make a RADAR usage worth the cost.

However, I feel like a leisure boat can equally sail without it.

Having it, I'll be using it a bit more! Thank you :-)
The point being that the sea, and incidentally the laws of the sea, do not differentiate between 'leisure' and 'professional' simply between a well found and run boat and a less well found one. As a leisure sailor your only advantage is the ability to be more conservative about when to put to sea, unless of course you have to be back for work!
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Old 17-12-2015, 13:48   #52
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Re: Radar in the days of GPS and AIS

COUILLON, out of Boot Key Harbour.
Sir (M'aam?), you've done me a big favour.
If you can admit to sleeping on watch then I think I'll just 'heave to' while I sleep and the judge can decide my fate.
The 15" Furuno radome was going to look bad on my little boat....only place for it was a transom mount pole but my 135W solar is 8' above the water already and doesn't want to be harrassed by a radome just above it.
Your little rant did my feeble brain a lot of good and I'm grateful.
So grateful in fact that I went looking for your boat on G/Earth. Too many very similar to yours!
"HEAVEN ON EARTH" part of the world....apart from the heat.....hate the sun.
Cheers Brother. sis?
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Old 17-12-2015, 13:56   #53
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Boat: triton 721 24' x 9' 1985 Cutter rigged.
Posts: 922
Re: Radar in the days of GPS and AIS

But I think an Echomax reflector or Firdell perhaps is a good idea.
Anyone know where in Australia I might get one?
Thanks all.
Brian
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