Radar Systems?

[Godot]

I seem to recall seeing someone online somewhere setup a board mounted on hinges to mount electronics that was mounted beside the companionway.  Uh, that's a lot of mounts  ???.  Whatever.  It could be swung so that it was in the companionway and easily seen from the cockpit, or back into the cabin so the companionway could do its' companionway duties, namely, let crew in and out of the boat.  Depending on the boat it might work for a radar display.

No matter how hard I try, I just can't imagine it fitting on Godot, though.

[Bill NH]

A thought along the theme of "we're talking small boats here" -  redundancy is good to a point, but... with the improved reliability of today's marine electronics one might be better off spending the additional $$ elsewhere.  After all, if a single piece of gear fails you're just back where you were without it.  It's not like you're going to automatically sink or something.   ;)  IMO, the real danger is not suddenly being without radar, or any other bit of gear.  It's failing to acquire or maintain the skills to safely complete the voyage without it, whether on a daysail or offshore passage. 

An important factor that should determine a radar display's location is whether the primary use is going to be as a piloting aid (steering in fog, for example) or as a navigational aid (like using ranges to plot one's position).  Both uses are common on vessels from larger yachts on up to tankers, but on most small boats radar is almost exclusively a piloting tool and thus best visible from the helm.  GPS has become the primary, if not exclusive method for fixing position on most small boats.  Honestly, how many people on the list with radar have even plotted a fix using radar ranges in the last year? 

However, I also like using radar to check that my anchor(s) are holding in bad weather and at night, which is great to be able to do without heading out into the cockpit.  That's why my preference on smaller boats is for a hinged mount that can be swung into the companionway for piloting or back into the cabin for navigation and anchor watches...

[Fortis]

  Honestly, how many people on the list with radar have even plotted a fix using radar ranges in the last year? 

Ummm. That would be me. We use radar ranging all the time to co-ordinate coast guard search excercises and also use depth charts/readings and radar combined to do other nifty nav tasks.

[Ol' Coot]

OK, I know the small radar units have dropped dramatically in price.  But most of us are talking about sub-30 ft boats and KISS principle, right? 

And redundant displays??????  I must have accidentally logged onto one of the "big boat" boards.

[Bill NH]

I didn't mean to imply that noone fixes position using radar ranges anymore, only that it's a technique that's not commonly used on small sailboats in the course of normal recreational sailing....

Ummm. That would be me. We use radar ranging all the time to co-ordinate coast guard search excercises and also use depth charts/readings and radar combined to do other nifty nav tasks.

[mrbill]

So, I bought a book on the fundamentals of radar, and it came with a CD that has on it a "radar trainer". For some serious $ (over 100) I can unlock the trainer on the CD and put it to my computer to learn radar.

Does anybody have any experience using a computer based radar trainer? Was it helpful? How hard is radar to learn anyway...seems it ought to be pretty easy, so I'm not sure its worth the bucks...on the other hand it could be some entertainment for those long winter nights.

Comments appreciated!

[Fortis]

It is really not worth that amount of money.

The new digital inerloped display radars are pretty easy. You adjust the range, you "advise" the gain and filters and that is it, besides choosing orientations, overlays and other useful gimmicks.

We cover modern radar in the Coast Guard courses we teach. Let me put it this way. We can teach you 80% of what you will ever need to know and use in about two and  half hours, and still cram in the usual under-text of boat saftey and courtesy on the water as subliminal information.

The entire course used to be 16 hours about ten years ago. It is now four hours across two evenings...and liek I said, most of the real info boils down to two hours. If you think that is worth $100 the go for it.

:)


Alex.