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« on: November 17, 2021, 08:12:52 AM »
Paul- I think the gimbaled mount is not as necessary with today’s high definition radars and the way sailboaters use radars. There are lots of comments and discussions on the Forums about this. Albeit a lot of opinions: here is one that I thought presents one side of argument pretty well:
“ I find that I only ever use radar to find small objects when in rather quiet conditions, rather obviously in poor visibility or darkness, but very rarely when heeled over. So I think the OP's question is more theoretical than real.
For big objects such as headlands, they move relative to you only at the speed of your boat, so the occasional view is enough to make a fix, after which one can sail on according to DR in the traditional way so continuous radar look out is not required.
When in poor visibility where there are small uncharted hazards you really should slow down and not bash on as fast as poss, whether upwind or not, so again the angle of heel isn't so critical. In big seas when the boat is rolling heavily the radar will mostly pick up waves anyway and so yacht radars are pretty useless (and golly your stomach will have to be strong - to use radar effectively you can't be steering / cooking / doing the crossword at the same time, you have to stare at it and concentrate for tens of minutes at a time if you are to distinguish random clutter from real targets.)
So the only time one might need the radar when heeled over for extended periods is when sailing is in poor vis amongst shipping on a reasonable length passage, say cross channel. AIS receive has made all the difference here, and radar is much less important than it might have been once. And if able to afford radar, I'm sure you will have fitted an AIS which transmits as well as ”
