RADAR INSTALLATION

[hdevera]

David and Heather,

You mentioned that the RL70C generates a lot of heat and the need to ventilate.  I have my unit at the NavPod.  It is sealed for watertightness.  I have not had a problem with the unit overheating, although the heat sink seems to be larger on this unit than the monochrome model.  I worried about it overheating, but so far so good... after one season.  Did you put holes in your navpod to allow heat to escape?

[cholder]

Further to my earlier note about putting the radome on a post at the starboard quarter.  The height has to be sufficient to be above peoples heads and I did that with ease and without having a too flexible arrangement.  The trick is to get a decent sized post with a good wall thickness and ensure it has a good base connection.  The balance is to keep weight and size in reason since too large of either impedes aesthetics and sailing performance. In my case I believe I achieved a good stiffness without undue weight.  In retrospect I could have used a slightly shorter post but am not about to change the layout because it is fine as it is in every other respect.

[shekinahsailor]

As a follow-up to this discussion, my endeavors to install radar have including “how to mount the scanner (dome)?”.  Searches through this site as well as the SailboatOwners site have provided me with a wealth of opinions.  I now realize that “where and how to mount a scanner” topic is right up there with politics or religion.  There are no best answers.  A gimbaled mount made sense to me for a sailboat.  However,  some sailors were concerned with excessive cable wear due to the constant movement. Maybe, maybe not.   I ended up ordering the Garhauer Tower with manual gimbaled adjustment.  99% of the time, when I’m not using radar, or using radar under power, the scanner will be in a fixed position.  If I’m lucky enough to find myself sailing in fog or at night, the mechanism is very easy to adjust to any heel angle with one or two rotations of a large, oversized, reverse course thread nut.  
The unit just arrived and hopefully I’ll get it installed this weekend. The design and workmanship are super, the polished stainless is very attractive and the cost was somewhere under $600.  It is very robust (I ordered a 2-1/2 diam. Pole).  I intend to cross brace the unit to the stern pushpit with two brackets.   I  don’t think excessive vibration or “whipping” will be a concern.    For those of you who have this as a “future project”, you might want to give Garhauer some consideration.

[John Langford]

John, are you going to attach the base to one of the swim platform seats (and which side?)or to the outside vertical surface of the transom just above one of the seats? I am going to have a pole fabricated locally and have a chart plotter antenna arm added to the package. The price is comparable to garhauer and the fabricator will come and do the measurements on the boat.

Charles, thanks for the follow up on the "optimal height above the head" issue. I still don't seem to get any sense of consensus on the issue. I think I made the pole on my last boat too long as well.

I also just constructed a homemade box for the radar screen and the chartplotter (side-by-side)using Starboard rather than ABS plastic. I got the industrial plastics folks to cut the pieces for me (1/4" for the top and bottom and 1/2" for the 4 side pieces) and I screwed it together. I am going to bring the finished product back to have the pros router the edges. It won't look as cool as a real Navpod but the cost was $70 (US) rather than the list price of $480 for the Navpod. Now all I have to do is fish all the wires down the remaining pedestal guard tube.

Cheers,
John

[shekinahsailor]

John, I'm going to mount it on the swim step port side.  I chose this side because I fly a large American flag off the starboard side and didn't want it to foul.  The Garhauer unit has an Antenna Bar that vertically encompasses the scanner.  To this unit I'll install 2 GPS antennas and (if the wife get's her way), a small TV antenna.  Your getting a custom made unit for the same kind of Boat Units sound great.  Good Luck.