Radar on smaller yachts?

[rogerroger]

How come you seldom see radr fitted to boats under 27 / 28 feet ? Many of these, including mine, are perfectly capable of Channel crossings etc.

Is it

a) smaller boats are bought by people with less dosh so can't afford it

b) they don't usually stray too far off shore

c) there are physical restrictions on installing them

d) all the above / something completely different ?


Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[ccscott49]

It's normally the power requirement. Smaller boats=smaller battery capacity, sometimes room, small masts, not normally hard-up owners. It's normally inshore where you need radar, to avoid hard bits. Some small boats have made amazing journeys.

 

[rogerroger]

well that makes some sense of course - but my 27 footer has two car-type batteries, pretty much the same as I've seen on much bigger boats...

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[hlb]

Think it must be the dosh thing. Or else first boat, so not yet realise the importance. Radar's just as important on any size boat. IMHO.

No one can force me to come here-----------
----- I'm a Volunteer!!!

Haydn

 

[chrisc]

most larger boats have two truck size batteries (at least)

 

[billmacfarlane]

Probably all of these things.
Smaller boats don't have the same space for battery storage. When I had a 30' boat I had 2 batteries , and was thinking of adding a third to install a radar. I didn't have the space for a 3rd battery so I didn't go for a radar.
I think the cost argument isn't as powerful. For those of us who remember the Decca Mk3 set , the JRC 1000 radar is cheaper to buy now than the Decca Mk 3 was twenty years ago.
Space could be an issue. A lot of 28 ' boats don't have a dedicated chart table/navigation area.
Of course a lot of 28' boats don't travel far and have no need of radar. I've ship dodged my way through the Channel shipping lanes for twenty odd years without radar but now as a recent convert to radar , can't imagine doing without it.

 

[jtwebb]

I had a JRC 1000 on my Fulmar, now have the cheapest Raytheon on my Dehler 36. The JRC 1000 is not as good but is small, very light radome and perfectly adequate. They all have power saving features, so many scans every so often with guard zones. The are not a lot more than fancy GPSs a while back! Dead easy to fit as well. The Fulmar had 2 x 100AH and we had no trouble, the Dehler has 2 x 190AH. I feel we get more fog in the Channel now or am I crossing more often with a bigger boat? I certainly would not want to be without after a really near miss in thick fog.

J Webb

 

[graham]

I think the smallest yacht I have seen with Radar is an Albin Vega 27. On a smaller yacht the weight and windage of the Radome up the mast will become proportionately a greater problem.Also as mentioned the extra power consumption.

On the latter point ,When motoring in poor vis the power consumed will not be a problem and the extra safety margin will be worth its weight in gold.
Dont expect a small radar to show everything .If tuned properly you will allways see the ships at a reasonable range but smaller navigation marks ,yachts and small fishing boats may not allways paint a target on your screen.

 

[pwfl]

Hello Roger,

Cheers for your response the other day (I think it was you) - definitely helped decide.

My 28 ft boat actually came with an old Vigil with a whopping 2 & 1/2 ft dome. I have seen even smaller boats with equally large radomes as well. I refused to keep it up there on the grounds that it looked ridiculous & must surely have a detrimental effect on stability. Given the battery the boat came with, I can't imagine the previous owners ever used it without having the engine running.

That is definitely an issue you need to look at - calculate your additional power requirements & make sure your battery set up is up to the job. I just fitted a Furuno 1622 & doubled the battery capacity to cope (and batteries are big & heavy). We also now have a towed turbine as well, plus a small solar panel. Quite often you can leave the thing in "watchman" mode, that switches on at set intervals. That cuts down the power, but it's no good if you've constantly got targets moving in & out of your guard zone in busier areas.

The JRC1000 dome is so small it wouldn't look out of place on a Wayfarer. Our Furuno is 15" & doesn't look too bad. I think the JRC1500 is the same size. The Raytheon is definitely a better set (although pricier), & they have excellent support (as opposed to Furuno) but their smallest dome is 18", which I thought was a bit too big for us. Having said that, when I've been alongside boats that have them, they don't really look any bigger when they're up the mast.

I have to say it was all well, well worth it. It is absolutely brilliant - it takes away all the uncertainty about how far off other vessels are & what they're doing. It helps in identifying land features & harbour entrances. Coupled with GPS it makes totally blind pilotage a realistic possiblility (with extreme caution, & only when forced to). In flat seas I've even had returns from lobster pot markers!

Definitely the most significant contribution to safety at sea that any electronic device gives. If I had to, I would trade every single other bit of electronics onboard for a radar.

Installation was easy enough. It's all a question of having the cash to spare, really.

I fitted the screen in the cockpit, which as far as I'm concerned is the only place for it. When you're shorthanded, you need it right there where you can keep an eye on things.

Hope that helps.

 

[LadyInBed]

When I has a 22ft'er I thought a radar would look a bit pretentious on it, even though I cross the channel to the CI's regularly and had a couple of hairy trips in fog.
Now with a bigger boat, and the price/size/power consumption having significantly reduced, radar was #2 on the shopping list (after autohelm).
As has been said, I don't know how I could have done without it, if only for the peace of mind it brings.

 

[Guest]

Radars affect on stability

To counterbalance the effect on stability of the scanner up the mast, you could place an equivalent weight of batteries low down within the boat, solving the problem of powering it too.