Radar observation

[luckydude]

When Johnson-Hicks mounted my radar on my hard top, they mounted it pretty level. When Charlie Hicks (no relation) did my pilot house, he did about a 6 inch tower for the radar and tipped it down towards the bow about 4 or 5 degrees.

Holy smokes, what a difference! Before, I didn't see kayakers, I didn't see 17 foot whalers, I really didn't trust my radar at all. Now it sees everything.

If you are having similar problems, play with the tilt. Don't go crazy because if you tilt too much you will lose sight of far off stuff (miles) and lose backwards sight. And I suspect that raising it up off the roof helped.

Only downside I can see is now I want the radar on all the time and I need another screen

18 inch Garmin Fantom is what I have.

 

[SkunkBoat]

Generally, planing boats should tilt the radar 4deg forward.

Never trust your radar to see kayaks and 17 ft whalers.

 

[Hookup1]

“Don’t worry. They’ll get out of the way. Learned that driving the Saratoga.”

I run daytime on clear days. I didn't do a platform or a tilt but I believe it's a good thing to do.

 

[Ky Grady]

I mounted my Simrad Halo 24 on a custom 4" SS Battlewagon pedestal with 4° down angle. Works great. I run mine quite often just to keep familiar with targets during the day and what it's seeing, so at night, I can trust it to see when I can't.

 

[kirk a]

Best thing one can do with radar, is run it on good days, and pay attention to everything that gets near you. That experience will really help when you end up in fog, or if you run at night. Trusting your instruments is vital - and knowing how big the rings on the screen are compared to what you see is helpful. How close is 1/2 mile? 1/4 mile? How comfortable are you when something unexpected shows up at those distances?

Nothing is spookier than an intermittent light radar return in adverse conditions.

 

[Hookup1]

Kirk's point about using radar during the day is a important tip. Pilots practice flying "under the hood" to learn to trust their instruments when they loose visual feedback.

My recommendation is to install a magnetic heading sensor along with radar. Autopilots will have one. Garmin has a SteadyCast as well as a GPS 24xd that are inexpensive ones as well. Without a magnetic heading the radar uses a GPS generated heading. GPS heading is accurate when you are moving but dangerous when you are stopped or going slow.

Coming back from 4th of July fireworks on the Delaware bay one year the fog came up just as we got thru the canal to the turn buoy and bridge. Strong current and no visibility. Stopped and moving slow the boat kept turning around and the chartplotter was all over the place. A large dragger came out of the fog with its lights on and scared the hell out of us. But we knew he came under the bridge so we had a better idea where to go. I had a autopilot with magnetic heading sensor but it was pre-NMEA2000 and not interfaced to radar.

 

[SkunkBoat]

“Don’t worry. They’ll get out of the way. Learned that driving the Saratoga.”

I run daytime on clear days. I didn't do a platform or a tilt but I believe it's a good thing to do.

good ol Sarah