I'm taking a boat for a spin on the weekend with the prospect of buying it, it's fitted with Radar. I wouldn't have thought that this would be a common fitment for a 6.5m boat.
Who's got one and why?
What is it used for, would it be worth keeping or removing it.
Cheers
Corry
Radar has lots of uses, but......it is not a replacement for a pair of eyes, make no mistake about that! Radar can allow you to "see" obstacles that you might otherwise not see, small boats/kayaks in the dark or fog, but, just because nothing is on the radar, doesn't mean there's not "something" ahead, it's a useful tool, just like GPS, compass and so on.
And combined with an auto pilot allows you to make corrections ahead of time.Originally Posted by Noelm
One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce and canonized those who complain.
Thomas Sowell
Modern radars will overlay on plotter displays, if correctly networked. Plotters will only show you calculated position and what is "supposed"to be there--radar will actually show you what is there. Even back 20years ago, I had a radar on my fishing boat linked to GPS. Select a waypoint and head to it in the dark, you had a track line to that point overlaying the radar display, very easy to see if that ship in the distance was going to be a problem. They are so much more advanced now, and are useful for tracking weather--what direction is that squall actually travelling, how intense is the rainfall in it. or, if you are in rain, how far until you are out. Some are even good enough to pick up birds which may be beyond eyesight, if you are chasing birds for surface activity. And, if you travel in the dark, those silly bastards in the unlit dinghy should be apparent before you hit them.
Corry, i have a garmin fantom on my current rig.My first one and still getting to know it. If your running at night its a good thing. Radar tuned up short range, auto pilot on leaves skipper free to use eys and ears on lookout without distraction, this said maybe the night vis cameras are even better. I fiind mine usefull on the shelf, still working out the bird spotting thing, if its a nice flat day you can spot the clusters of boats.
Scott
If i had the size rig to suit radar as well as being able to afford it , yes i would most certainly have it fitted.
Years ago i was asked to tag along on a big rig for a weekend of Fishing outside wide.
Dude who owned the rig along with some of his mates were more interested in downing a few eating n playing cards.
Sometime into the night weather turned a tad sour, couple of them got a tad sick n owner of the rig asked me if i could take over n head back into Happyrock.
I advised best go anchor on sheltered side of reef.
Still he persistered on heading back.
No GPS like nowdays but did have Radar which i thought was a gift from above lol.
Having been in a position of comming back home different hours of the night many a time the visual effect of looking forward with radar did take a lott of the guess out of the equasion ey.
Yes i would have one if i was in the position to.
I had a regular need to come back in through a rivermouth, tight in the dark, side-on breakers---I''d use the autopilot and plotter to get me in the right area, keep dropping the radar range until I was down to a quarter-mile range, and the protruding reef showed up on radar--it was only then that the big lights were fired up, and the rest was visual. I even went out in heavy fog through the same passage one morning in the dark, lights were useless, I actually did it on radar alone, dead slow and autopilot.
I don't run around in the dark any more, but I'd have one of those modern radars if I wanted to.
It's amazing what radar can "see" but it's also amazing what it doesn't see! I posted this once before, but, a few years ago I was on a trawler off Kiama, it was drizzling rain, but visibility was "OK" we heard a call from a runabout broken down not far from us, my mate put the radar on.....nothing, started off in the direction given by the broken down boat, 10 minutes later, I spot the boat, still nothing in the radar.....go figure, why? I have no idea, but it did show up at one time, other boats in the area were easily seen!
Visiblity can depend on a number of factors--height above water, metallic/non-metallic, sea conditions. I mentioned an incident earlier where a large crayboat ran over a small wooden boat at anchor--on a calm sea, easy to spot, in rough conditions it can get caught up in the clutter and be hard to differentiate. You just need to look for a repeating return, can be quite hard on a boat wallowing in heavy seas in the dark. And clutter is worse as you zoom down, interference from superstructure and sea state can have things just disappear .They are certainly not infallible. On the other hand, I've had the same set actually show me the floats on my pots at a distance--only 3 x 8"polystyrene, but you could clearly see them a couple of miles off on a perfect day. Apparently the modern ones are quite good at this.
Yep, just think how far TV's have come along in just the last few years. Radars are the same, new one are a far cry from those of 10 years ago.
In saying that a FLIR sytem or similar in conjunction with a radar is a different world again.
One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce and canonized those who complain.
Thomas Sowell
its been said in this post already
they are a usefull additional tool. there are a few variations available to the trailer boat market. all are better at somethings than others.
they are not to be relied on, as mentioned above you dont know what they DONT see. and often the things they dont see are a very dangerous prospect.
the smaller the boat the more movement the beam will have and make ever sweep a little more iffy.
but not to poo poo them, radars are good. a nice addition to other safety tools onboard
Thanks for the advice everyone, we purchased the boat, it's fitted with Radar, so now I just gotta learn how to use it. Do like the sound of a FLIR unit too, just gotta find someone up here who can fit it all, that and autopilot, it didn't have autopilot so we're going to look into that now.
Cheers
Corry
Good choice Corry , one would have certainly been a little usefull last night for this little Vegymite i can tellya lol.
Decided to take a run right up the narrows yesterday with the hope of an overnighter in Maria Creek with the Missus.
Big Tides , No Moon , and blowing a tad more than i wished and akin to the weather forecast (As Usual ),
Up to sixish last nigh i decided it might be better sleeping in a warm bed rather than a Swags seeing as how even the Fish decided they werent going to be there lol so headed back home in the Very Black Dark as well as
thinking it would be a good experience testing the narrows and Ramsies at quarter tide or thereabouts.
Slow trip home for safety and all well and good till back in the heart of the Harbour and then trying to ride out the wake our Tugs make when under a few knots , or try not to get run over by one of them lol.
Just as well as the skipper of the one up my Clakker was a bit of a Gentleman otherwise might have been a tad annoying lol.
So yes a Radar might ghave come in Handy and although my eyesight is up to scratch in my book the harbour with all the surrounding ighting and whatever can create blind spots i can assure one..
Definitely understand where you're coming from Volvo, I've come into North Entrance many times at night and all those lights can make you start second guessing where you're going.
I remember one night in the tinny getting back into Philippines Landing in the dark, was meant to be a part moon but the storm clouds eliminated any light that the moon was trying to push through, the tide was running out and we were running out of time, we ended up walking the little tinny the last 20 yards and dragging it up the ramp with the car, then put it on the trailer. Was supposed to be out for the night, but, same thoughts, figured we'd be better off in bed. The mossies were that big you could hear their bones crush when you slapped them, and they had the typical 'Narrow' relentlessness.
Cheers
Corry
If you do any night time travelling or fishing you will get to love it. Yeah they don't see everything, and they also see things (momentarily)that aren't there .... especially when it's not dead flat. I put one on a 21ft boat in @2011-12 after a couple of incidents. It made me feel much safer. Travelling set it at 1.5-2nm or so. When anchored at night I never really switched it on unless I saw a light in the vicinity. Amazing that an anchor light that looks to be @1km away can be a container ship thats 12nm haha.
btw just bought a simrad radar for my latest boat. In 10 years looks like they def have improved. Seems much less prone to sea clutter, but that could be that latest boat is 4.5m to roof compared to maybe 2m on a trailerboat?
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