Radar mount location

[chowdan]

I know a lot of people either have radar on the front of the mast or on a pole on the stern. I've got a solar arch from Atlantic towers with two 350w panels on it. There's no room for a pole on the stern so I was thinking mast mount might be my only option but I was wondering - could I have a custom bracket made up where the radar would be mounted on the outside of the arch?

How would that affect the accuracy?
I had contemplating the self leveling back stay units but I'm not a fan of possibly shadowing the solar.

[stormalong]

IMO mast mount is your best option. Of course you could have a custom bracket made but what do you mean by "outside"?

The lower the radar the lower the horizon, IOW the range. On the mast is out of the way and unlikely to be damaged. If "outside" means behind or to on side on the arch how vulnerable would it be to contact with another boat in a marina? The RADAR antenna inside the dome has to be clear of as much horizontal metal as possible so it would have to be above the arch height by at least six inches.

Why not call your Radar maker and ask their advice?

[Jim Cate]

When we bought this boat the radar was mounted just under the panels on the stern arch. Very tidy, no shading issues for the panels... but with even small heel angles the panels blocked the radar signals to leeward 100%. The radar now lives on the front of the mast. Superior in many ways.

It isn't quite clear where "outside" the arch might be, but sounds like it might suffer from the same issues that ours did.

Jim

[hpeer]

Cold and dark out.

2 each 310 watt panels. Previously the radar was mounted between the panels but that created a bunch of shading. Moving it forward helped a lot.

It also depends upon your normal orientation. We should he laying to the trades in the Caribbean where the shading is not that big a deal as the sun passes our Stb quarter.

The wind gen is a bigger shader, but still a net gain. Radar works fine.

All things being compromises, maintenance here is easy. Easy installation. I made the bracket out if aluminum.

[chowdan]

Thanks for the replies everyone, outside meant on the side essentially. Thinking about it, basically it'd be blocked entirely on the port or starboard side due to the metal arch.


Thanks for those photos. I will have to investigate the design a bit and see how it'd work on mine as that may be a good option. Not against a mast mount but just seems like a bit of a PITA running wires up the mast. Would be so much easier running it out a cable gland next to solar/ais/wifi glands and run it to the arch area

[Matt Johnson]

We mounted ours at the stern on a retractable pole. You could lower the radar so it didn't shadow the solar panels (as much) or raise it 3' to allow it to "see" everything around it. It was a simple plate welded to a 1-1/2" aluminum pipe and slipped into a 2" pipe. I used a thumb screw to hold the radar post in the upright or lowered position.... a locking collar would be better, but wasn't necessary. Best of both worlds.

[Mike Burch]

1. Mount the scanner well above the maximum height your head can reach. Microwave energy is not good for the brain.

2. The range to the horizon will vary as the square root of the scanner height. In other words, if you want twice the range you must mount the scanner four times further above the water.

3. Consider the possibility of running the cabling up the standing rigging instead of inside the mast. It's unobtrusive and vastly easier. Just make sure it's not somewhere where it will get rubbed by a sail. In my case the mizzen's forward starboard lower shroud was perfect.

4. +1 for mounting on the forward face of the mast. Safe, strong and out of the way.

[markpierce]

Believe my radar dome is located at the ideal locations.

[Pizzazz]

Mount it on the mast as other have suggested. It would be a one time effort that would pay off over time.

The range to the horizon is 6 miles at 25 ft above the water and that is what you should aim for. Bigger objects will have height by themselves which will increase your detection range. Smaller objects (dinghies) you will not be able to detect at 6 miles anyway. If you put it too high up on the mast, it will interfere with your headsail more and it will move move with the waves. Best is just above the first spreaders, so that you can work on it easily.

If you put it in the back you have shading issues, range issues, you might as well skip the radar completely.