Radar
The most sophisticated navigational instrument aboard the boats I sailed during my first decade of cruising was the spring driven Timex watch on my wrist. I learned to navigate in fog with no more than a compass, chart, parallel rule, dividers, and a pencil. A 60 mile time and distance run from mark to mark and distantly seen bold shore was less mental challenge than clicking through the complex menus of a modern GPS.
I've always been comfortable in the Maine's fogs without radar. I set my course close to the ledges and in among the islands where I'm unlikely to meet other vessels and stay off the red course lines pre-printed on the chartbook pages. GPS has made it a lot easier but it also means a lot more people are out there.
After committing to the oceanographic cruise, I realized that things would be different down in the Bay of Fundy. Maine is famous for its fogs but we really just have mist here compared to the wet concrete like blanket that lies over the Canadian waters for much of the spring and summer. Out scientific stations will also take us out in open water where many fishing boats and other craft are rushing around in familiar waters not expecting to encounter a sailboat. The thing that really tipped the balance though was realizing that I would have my son on board.
I'd thought to get the smallest and least expensive radar I could find just to spot traffic since GPS pretty much supersedes it as a navigation tool. However, I discovered that, for just about the same price, I could buy a Garmin 3502 GPS / Chartplotter with full charts of the U.S. that a Garmin radome simply plugs into with a network cable to become a radar set. Not only is this like getting a second larger and more sophisticated GPS for free, the radar image can be overlaid on the chart for a huge improvement in situational awareness.
The painful laying down of plastic at the marine store done, I began the installation.
The first step was, well, the step. The mast step had to be modified to accept the additional cables for the radome power and signal lines. It was a nightmare of gobbed in bedding compound to keep rainwater from running down the mast support column so I dug it all out and drilled a larger hole.
This was too complex an operation to describe since the hole saw had to go half way through the existing opening. If you really need to know, email me.
The hole in the base of the mast support column turned out to be too small for all the cables and there was no way to drill it in place. Nothing for it but to jack up the cabin top slightly, pull out the column, and take it next door to the machine shop to have a second hole drilled and the first one enlarged.
The mast step rebedded with a PVC pipe coaming to direct water around through the drain hole so that the wires don't need to be gobbed up with sealant every year. I'm going to fish the radar cables down each time I step the mast so I don't have to put an inaccessible connector in the network cable.
The lucky quarter that came with the boat was dropped in the wet epoxy so it will be with the boat for a long time.
I next fabricated this mount for the display unit.
It swings out to be visible from the cockpit which also puts the radar display in the same orientation as the boat.
With the clear plastic top dropboard for the companionway I made earlier in the year, the boat can be buttoned up in rain or cold and I can still see the GPS / Radar display.
This is the view from the helmsman's standing position but I will still have the small handheld GPS on the steering pedestal for primary reference while steering.
Like many boats of her vintage, Strider has a masthead (or steaming) light for display under power that is just a sternlight mounted in a large hole in the front of the mast. I want to use that large hole for the radar cables instead of drilling another one and these lights are a bit vague on the specificed 225 degree sector.
So, I made up this mount for a new Perko masthead light that attaches to the radar mount.
The wires will just go through the nice big hole left by the old light along with the radar power and data cables. The light is directly under the radar and nicely protected from rain and snagging lines.
The light mount attaches without drilling any holes that would break the power coating finish of the radome mount.
The completed radome installation. I also moved the spreader light to the radar mount to simplify running the wires and eliminate the need to cut and reconnect the wires whenever the spreader is removed. This will also spare the main some chafe and the centerline mounting of the light will provide a shadow for the helmsman to help preserve night vision.
