Howdy, new to the board!

[Latitude9.5]

figured i would say hello, new member in the process of buying a Catalina C30, gonna do the survey this thursday.

wife and i have been talking about trading the power boat for a sailboat for some time and we finally decided to stop talking about it and DO IT! lol

I work on a powerboat everyday so i more then get my fill!

Anyhow, boat has tons of upgrades about the only thing I am going to ad is a dinghy and radar.

Still trying to decide where to mount the dome, is there any disadvantage to a tranom mount over the mast mount?

Anyhow, we currently live in southeast florida, originally from washington state. "Island Girl's" first trip will be accross the okeechobee waterway as it's on the other coast. We planning on running to abaco end of july for our first little trip.

[markpj23]

Welcome, and congrats on finding your boat!

My radome is mounted on the backstay, and the mast causes a noticeable dead spot in the radar sweep. Of course, it's the least important sector of the sweep - dead ahead

I'm thinking of relocating it to the mast as a result. Ours is a sloop rig...

What part of SE Florida? I lived in Ft Lauderdale in the mid 90s.... had a great time and met my wife there

[Latitude9.5]

Yea i am thinking the mast is really going to be the best bet, like you say that's pretty much the one spot you don't want blocked LOL

We are in Port Saint Lucie, about 120 miles north of ft lauderdale. We're beating around the idea of relocating we aren't a that satisfied what this area is becoming.

[SkiprJohn]

Hi Latitude,

Welcome aboard. Really great site with lots of nice folks giving friendly advice. Although I don't have radar yet, I'll be getting a smaller unit and mounting the antenna on the mast.

Regards, --John--

You will gain height with a mast mount, and the mounting set up will cost less. Welcome to the board

[CaptainK]

Welcome to cruisersforum, Latitude9.5 .

If you could find a good spot on your mast. Put your radar up on the mast. Have it mounted up there.

Good luck with your Catalina 30. I own a Catalina 27.

[rsn48]

I too am a Catalina owner. Although I've bought my radar and chart plotter - JRC 1800 - I've not installed it as yet; recovering from a hip replacement. I have bought the mast bracket for my JRC since it was cost effective, up higher for increased "visibility", and safer human zone - not getting your eyes zapped because of too low an installation - seen way to much on many power boats.

[Latitude9.5]

I ended up with a furuno radar, and a mast mount, obviously havent installed them yet, I am going over this weekend to do some cleaning and a check on the safety equip before we bring her over in two weeks. i also need to pull the genoa off and have the seam on the luff re sewn.

I think i will mount the radar screen on a swing arm i'll make out of teak that way i can view it in the cockpit or at the nav station.

[S/V Elusive]

ahhh.. the advantages of a modern radar system. My Raytheon unit is now 26 years old, is large and cumbersome, and doesn't swing anywhere.

[Latitude9.5]

Man the ones we trained on for my radar observer were ancient, i think they were phased out by the coast guard in the 80's LOL I think they do it by PC now, but i am not sure.

Furuno unit seems pretty nice for the price, i shot support a question about interfacing with my garmin via their website and they called me back within a couple hours, i was just expecting an email. Although I will admit raymarine was very quick to answer a question about an older autopilot quite quickly as well.