Now I want RADAR. (dont let my wife know.)

[id. painter]

Well, after the conversations that ive been having with you guys , I now feel like i should have radar(radio detecting and ranging) on my boat.
The idea that large ships are motoring around in the heavy fog is my concern.
Without having radar on my boat i could be an accident just waiting to happen.
In my mind, a sport boat that is not aware of the large ships , could end up getting crushed by one.
The large boats all have it, but, without it (radar) i could make it impossible for a large ship to avoid me . True???
Shhhhh, now speak softly (or my wife may hear you) How much should i spend on radar for my boat?
Who has it ? Just to get an idea. id. p.

[El Shaddai]

Depends what you all ready have in your boat...Furuno make a really nice color radar system called navnet...for a few extra $$ you can add a gps and sounder...you could purchase the entire thing for $3500.....if you all ready have a gps and sounder, then you can get a standard radar for under a $1000........

[id. painter]

UNDER A THOUSAND!!!! Oops i forgot i was trying to be quiet. Hummmmm.
Are tuna fisherpeople all rich? Im a school teacher, getting outfitted for tuna is going to be an adventure, like none ive ever had.
I (as a rule ) hate to shop, but getting all this cool stuff is going to be fun,as long as i can stay out of the dog house with my wife. id. p.

[Miss B Haven]

First thing you need is an Arch. or a hard top (I would put a mount/extension even on a hard top). Does your Hewes have one, it is a hard top isn't it? Needs to be high enough so you don't fry (microwave actually) important body parts (eyeballs and brain amongst other delicate items :shocked: ) even if you are standing up. I've seen radar mounted in some pretty scary places. You don't want your radar beam directly striking the gps antenna either.

Height is also the key to range. It is line of site so the horizon will limit you on "short" objects (no matter what the listed range is). 6 feet off the water you will be lucky to see small craft or bouys (also 6 feet high or so) at 5 miles with a little chop or swell. Coastal hills of course will show up at your max range. Freighters some where in between. Small fiberglass boats with inboards (near the waterline) may not show up at all (stealth boats), I can usually pick up there wake if they're up on plane.
The range listed IS key to the resolution of the radar. As power goes up and beam goes down the listed range will increase and so does resolution. A 2KW open array will provide approx the same resolution as a 4kw dome. Domes are much "safer" if your mounting is near places that items can get "wrapped" in the rotating open array. (Like fishing poles- don't ask how I know).
I would personally recommend the 24 mile 2kw open array furuno system (1720 I think- they may have renumbered it?). I don't think you'll get it for a thou (or any other good radar, closer to two boat bucks. I have it on my old boat and have two friends who have recently installed newer units. They are both pleased. Furuno is much more user friendly when it counts. All the important controls are direct button and knob on the front. My Raytheon on Miss B is a fine unit, but lots of the features I use are buried in menus. It is much harder to tweek and keep an eye on the rest of the boat/water.
The navnet feature mentioned above is simply an interface feature. If you are going to interface gps/radar etc together it is nice. Not required for a stand alone radar. Having GPS waypoints show on your radar is a nice feature. THey should be right next to that Bouy that shows on the radar return!
Be careful about going to heavy in single/mutipurpose units. I have separate displays on my old boat and it gives much larger screen area for each unit than my mutiplexed units on Miss B. I have stand alone radar, but combined depth/chart on Miss B. It works but if I do it over I will have 3 seperate displays.
Radar displays can be fairly cluttered to start. I would not try to squeeze another display on to the screen. :smile: I would go with a daylight viewable monochrome display (LCD). Color is not really needed on radar. I would recommend a good color screen if you go with a chart plotter. Very useful near shore and inland. If you do decide to go with a combo- get the color so you have it for the chartplotter. CRT's still have better resolution but are only mono and will fade out in bright or direct light.
Hmm.. wish you were closer, I'd love to go shopping with you and help you spend some money. You might have to name that boat "College Tuition". It would not be original though, been done before!

[Bobber Down]

I had the 1721 2kw dome radar. My problem was that the dome was not mounted high enough to do as good as it should. So I traded it in for a 1731 4kw dome, now I can see seagulls if I tune it just perfect. There is a big difference between the 2kw & the 4 kw. I do have the 4kw mounted on the same arch same height as the prior 2 kw. I'm glad I made the switch, I sure got to compare apples to apples. My boat is only 21 ft. so I am limited on how high the radar dome can be mounted. I hope this helps..............Bobber Down

[bait boy]

You could put up a removable arch or have one fabed for over the soft top. But installation with the soft top is going to be near impossible unless you install another arch like this one.

[ANDYCOHO]

Bait boy,

That is a sweet looking arch, where and how much???

Andy

[bait boy]

I just typed in radar arch under the IE search function and came up with a bunch of nice ones. the link image is from their page so right click it and check the props. that should get their page and backtrack from there.

[id. painter]

Soooo much to learn. O.K. i think i got most of the info from your posts. I should print that one.
My Hewes has a collapsible top. Sunbrella. Can i still get radar working on my" baby " boat.
Radar sounds like something i should have. THANKS id. p.

[Miss B Haven]

Hey Bobber - I sent ya an email. We gotta hear more about 36 TUNA trips last season. I didn't make that many fishing trips all total, let alone TUNA runs! :shocked:
You working a commercial boat, charter? Out of Warrenton? Do I know your boat? :whazzup:

Curious tunafishbrains just gotta know more. :grin:

[id. painter]

It looks nice. I think for me the first year or two of tuna fishing, will be getting outfitted .
It going to take $ i dont have yet.
Bait boy, will you still help skipper my boat without some of what would be ideal safety equipt.Can WE tag along and not be considered a burden?
My list of things i want, but probably wont have the first year.
Life suits for all, i will have one or two.
406 manual epirb for boat
life raft
radar.
I will have much of what has been listed in previous posts.
Buckets
rope,anchor
water
first aid
two of all , compass,g.p.s.,v.h.f.,depth finder,
Extra gas
P.F.Ds
tools and parts, flashlight.bolt cutters
all C.G. requirements
Back up motor
What else???
Can i (we) get started, and add some from my wish list as the $ is available?
Feel free to add to my list if you notice that i forgot something important.
My 4 year old daughter was very ill all night and ill be going home to tend her. Ill get back friday. id. p.

[Sensei-san]

Holy smokes!!!!!! I just checked Consumers for some other electronics and saw on the front page that the JRC 1000 was going for only $688.

http://www.cmelectron.com/

The electronics manufacturers most be desperate.

[crasea]

just purchased furuno 1742c rader gps combo unit . went with c map nt installed myself for around 3250. after a lot of studying and questions to other users it seems the rader units are the same but antenna is key. the better the antenna the more it costswe replaced a broken 13 mi sitex and it was never half the machine as the new one., this is one of those mel mentioned. only probllem book is thick and learning is slow. last summer while crossing the columbia the sitex failed boy are those ships hornes ugly in the fog