[C38] radar

[Kenneth M. Sutto]

Charles,thanks for the information. Your e-mail brought back memories of my days shipping out on the ore boats.
Ken Sutto> Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:30:36 -0500> From: charles at finn.ws> To: listserve at catalina38.org> Subject: Re: [C38] radar> > Ke n,> Cruising the Great Lakes means you are routinely in shipping lanes in > all sorts of weather. These ships are moving 3-4 times faster than you > are and while they are supposed to be watching their radar and radio.... > my experience is that I would not rely on that. I installed the Furuno > 1715 radar before starting out on a 2 1/2 month cruise last spring. > This was one of the better decisions I have made regarding safe > navigation. I remember crossing Lake Huron, starting out on a sunny > day with very positive weather forecasts saying any bad weather would be > well to the south... Three hours out with spinnaker flying, a cloud > front lying right on the water hit us. It was quite bizarre as > everything on the boat was condensing (even on our stocking caps), while > you could see clear sky perhaps 200 feet above us. visibility went > immediately down to 50-100 feet. Then the wind and waves started > building (20-30 knots and 6-8 feet from the stern). Spinnaker is down > with double reefed main and perhaps 50% of furling headsail out as we > are surfing some of the waves with no visibility. We are of course in > the main shipping lanes.... We "saw" at least three large objects I > assume were freighters go by us on the radar, but was not able to make > radio contact. We had to steer clear of one of them with only radar for > eyes. Then we began to run out of lake as we approached the islands and > reefs of Georgian Bay with building seas, which made things even more > interesting! The channel on the charts said we had about a 1/4 mile to > shoot for between the reefs and it was well buoyed, but we couldn't see > more than 100 feet. But the radar showed the buoys quite clearly and > between it and the chart plotter, I felt confident we could do this. > About a mile from land, the cloud just ended and we were in clear sky! > Imagine shooting through a cloud wall with high winds pushing you at > hull speed and the wall just ends! I won't forget this I can assure you.> While we could have avoided the shore by turning around and fighting the > storm, we could not have seen the shipping. Radar is a must for those > of us who sail the shipping lanes.> Two installation issues. Most radars come with a 10 meter cable, which > is will work if you are going to mount the radome on a separate pole aft > or to the backstay. I chose to get the 20 meter cable, which allowed me > to mount the radome above the masthead steaming light on the mast, with > the screen mounted on the pedestal guard as Joe suggests (see pictures). > I chose this location over the two other options because I think it > gives me a better chance to pick up objects close to the water such as > navigation buoys. Second is I ran the rather substantial radar cable to > the pedastal through the port lazarette by drilling a hole just below > the cover. There is only 3-4 inches between the guard and the > lazarette, which makes this an easy and safe location to get to the > pedestal (see picture). Can't imagine how difficult it would be to get > this cable through the pedestal guard tubing!> > Hope this helps!> Charles Finn> Mighty Quinn #114> Great Lakes> > Kenneth M. Sutto wrote:> > I was at the Seattle Boat show this past weekend looking at radar > > units for the boat. There is alot to choose from and my biggest > > question is where to mount the radar screen. If anyone has radar on > > their boat where did you mount the screen for best use? Also any input > > on what brands will help. A fellow down at the marina told me today > > that one company makes a remote screen you can keep in the cockpit. It > > plugs into the back of the unit and a cable can be run out on > > deck with a readout. Does anyone have knowledge of this brand of radar?> > > > Ken "Sundancer"> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------> > Windows Live™: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. See how > > it works. > > <http://windowslive.com/howitworks?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_allup_howitworks_012009> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------> >> > _______________________________________________> > Listserve mailing list> > Listserve at catalina38.org> > http://catalina38.org/mailman/listinfo/listserve_catalina38.org> > > 
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