Anyone out there have Radar on their boat?

[Mr__Bean]

I am interested in the "true value" of having radar fitted to my fishing boat.

The new Raymarine C series combination plotter/sounder has capability to attach a radar antenna.

But before lunging off and buying such a unit I seek to understand the value of radar given the advances in plotters.

My particular interest (after a near miss) is whether the 2kw radar units would let you know you are heading toward an unlit tinnie or channel marker.

Anyone have any experience with small radar units?

- Bean

[MulletMan]

Radar is unfortunately only as good as the guy pressing the buttons I am afraid! The structure and viewing angle of many vessels are not conducive for detectiuon by most radars, even the good ones! Nonetheless, a guy who knows how to play with the range and gain can pick up pretty most anything within reason. For example, a beacon approached head on will show a good return whilst from the side angle (much reduced) will be only a fraction of the former return (target).
They are not a day instrument really but at night they all have excellent "intruder alarms" that can be set to pick up most objects at your predetermined range setting. As a safety device they are worth the money. Navico make a very good LCD mono unit that I think is about $1500-$1800? Excellent piece of equipment and user friendly.

[peterbo3]

I had a big 72 mile JRC on my trawler in Cairns in pre GPS days
& this was our prime means of navigation/watchkeeping. Mounted on the gallows, & height above water is the key, we could pick up land 40+ miles out & other vessels up to 20 miles depending on size. Max speed steaming 10kn - trawling 3.3kn. And this is where small boat radars come undone. At 25 kn at night you may not get time to interperet a new small return in a bouncing boat until it is too late. You may not get any return from a FG boat or in heavy rain. The attention level required to use radar properly is very high & at speed you will get many false echos due to the movement of the boat.
So slow down & buy a flash spottie for $200. If you already travel slowly at night then the radar will be of some benefit but I reckon the spottie is much more cost effective, especially in close navigation situations.
I have a Raymarine 760 combo plotter/sounder on the big tinnie & use C-Map & tracks a lot but at night I keep the 1,000,000 candlepower spottie at hand.

[fishingrod]

We've got a Furuno 1622 16 mile unit. (about $2300) The antenna is only about 2m above the water line. Ive never got any more than 1-2 miles useful range out of it, but its more of a night time/fog/smoke navigation safety device on a rescue boat in our case. We dont need outright range. Im normally working on the 1 or 0.5 mile range

On no moon nites, in heavy rain and in bush fire smoke, the radar, C Map GPS plotter and depth sounder mean u can drive with very very low visibility almost with your eyes closed. I DONT NOT ENCOURAGE THIS!

12' tinneys low to the water line and canoes etc "can" be hard to see or appear and dissapear on the screen. I dont make my self out to be a expert user but know enough to use it with confidence.

Ive had foam and storm water rubbish and reeds floating on the surface show as a blocked channel once !

It can see timber channel markers (with lights and solar panels on them) fine only "IF" you get the settings right as The commadore has said above.

Its all in the user, settings and correct interpretation of the screen.

The watch alarm is good if your anchored as it can watch for "in coming" danger

rod

[Zeeke]

im thinking about fitting a pair to my 4.3 meter tinny because i do alot of creek fishing at night and even tho i know the creeks like the back of my hand, we got alot of gill netters and crab pot droppers around.. certainly help to light the way instead of controlling throttle with one hand, steering with my knee and holding up the spotlight..

wire it up with a switch on the console.. should be fine

Tim

[Mr__Bean]

Thanks guys for the replies.

I guess you have confirmed my initial thoughts, yes it will be useful when pitch black and cautiously proceeding at a reasonable speed.

I am no thrill seaker so it is slow going in the dark.

If (with effort) it will detect items directly in front of me that I would otherwise be unable to detect, then I think it is worthwhile.

I take the point on the spot light. I have a yellow-eye one at the moment but even that is a bit dazzling to the eyes when put on and off when coming back in.

For interest, what are peoples views on having forward mounted docking lights turned on when travelling in the dark?

I know they are frowned upon in harbours where they are dazzling to other craft, but whatabout when out in a bay etc?

- Bean

[NQCairns]

They are great for finding where the birds are working if you get one powerfull enough.nq

[blaze]

I used to have a search light mounted on a boat years ago, it was operated by a handle just inside the cuddy cab, that was one bright sucker, was on the boat when i brought it, these days i have trouble with the glare off lights.
The local marine vessel here has bow mounted lights, fitted down low, they reckon there is very little glare off those, so may be the secret is to have the lights down low.
that aside, i would love a small radar, linked to a gps, they tell me they are good for marking spot x from a distance
cheers
blaze

[MulletMan]

If you are really serious about getting a decent spottie, steer clear of all the rubbish in Supacheap and the like as they all have a high diffusion rate i.e. the beam starts to spread immediately it leaves the reflector in the light. Hence lots of white light about the boat and driver who loses night vision very quickly. We have 4 x 9" and 2 x 7" spotties for our rescue boats and they are truly magnificent. They have a focal point whereby the beam actually becomes smaller to a fixed point about 100 metres out and then start to diffuse after that, kinda like a huge elongated stretched our hour glass! The 7" is about $150 but will last for yonks. Bow mounted spotties drive you mad as they not only have a high failure rate from the cold water hitting the very hot glass but can't be held still due the boat movement up and down.

[searaider]

TheCommodore ,
Great Info on the spotties , would you be able to post the Make & model details and where you can buy them .

Regards
Peter Hamlyn