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Random Quote: Spaulding, get your foot off the boat! - Ted Knight (Caddyshack)
For you guys with radar what percent of boats does your radar miss? Reason I ask is I was running in some pretty thick fog today and had my radar on the 3 mile setting and was not quite on plane following my charted course and I just got through glancing over my instruments gauges and right off my bow was a lobster boat thankfully go in the same direction I was , had he been coming at me could have been ugly!! The only thing I can think of is that this lobster boat did sit low in the water and maybe my radar was shooting right over his boat I know the unit works I was tracking people while sitting fishing and on the way in picked up all the buoys and other boats. Just kind of freaked out about this, will definately have me nerved up next time it gets pea soupy
Vector
If your not quite on plane your running angle is high so your beam is a little higher.
If it was soupy why did set your range at 3mi..?..set it closer and keep your running angle down.
Bluefin...
You are correct about the wedge. When I said, "flush mounted", I was referring to the fact that I have no dome tower. But, I did custom cut and install spacers at the rear so that I was not looking above the horizon. To determine spacer height, I first just temp mounted and wired the dome in place. Then I put the boat in the water, located a channel marker and ran at it noting the point at which it disappeared from my radar screen. At flush mount (no spacers), the marker disappeared at about 200' off the bow. I kept adding in spacing until the marker remained on the screen to about 15-20' (marker sticks up off the water ~6"). At this point, I noted the needed spacing and then cut some sheet plastic to the exact dimension required (I believe it was 3/4"). It was worked well and for a system performance each spring, I run at the same marker.
At a three mile range setting, close boats would only be a spec near the center and easily missed. In thick fog and off plane I would probably set a range of around 1/4 to 1/2 mile. You will get much more resolution of nearby targets. I only set at 2m when running in open ocean and there are enough white caps that anything close then 1 mile will mix in with sea clutter. I used anything over 2m is for looking at boats, birds, storms, etc. and not collision avoidance.
I guess I was not thinking with my head on straight I ran out in 1/2 mile setting and while stopped fishing I kept hearing boats and wanting to know where they were in relation too me I moved up the range to 3 miles, next time I know better just fortunate nothing bad happen and can learn from my experience. I am going to try they buoy trick and see if wedge is needed, I suspect some may!
Sea Dad referred to my post above and I just noted an error. The marker I use has a height of 6' not 6". It markes the No Wake Zone at the local lake. On plane, my horizon is ~100'. I feel this is a good balance between seeing stuff close up when trolling and an adequate safety zone when on plane.
MDT
Get your range down. How about the gain or sea clutter adjustments. Most factory settings are useless and you need to adjust depending on the conditions. Learn how to use it on a nice day. Then you will know what your looking at if it gets snotty.Most Lobster boats have radar reflectors so they should light up like a X-mas tree.
Vector,
I'm with ccm (hockey player?). I keep mine on alot during the day...you get to
see how different targets return and how to recognize important nav aids and
landmarks. Interphase w/ your GPS and it's twice as nice.
Using the zoom feature and decreasing the range setting to a mile or less greatly increased my ability to see near targets on my Furuno 1712. When running in the dark, that's what I use.
In thick fog I run it at 1/4 to 1/2 mile range setting it picks up everything including most lobster pot buoys. Every once in awhile I throttle back to neutral and let the radar cycle a few time at 1 - 3 miles settings just to get an idea what's around me.
That is a fact! You should see the look on everyones faces when you pass a marker about 10' off the side of the boat at 60 knots that no one saw come out of the fog until it was 10' in front of you! That is exciting. Running fast at night is also fun, the guys that are tending their crab or lobster pots must get the begesus scared out of them on a regular basis
Radar question 
I know the unit works I was tracking people while sitting fishing and on the way in picked up all the buoys and other boats. Just kind of freaked out about this, will definately have me nerved up next time it gets pea soupy 
That is exciting. Running fast at night is also fun, the guys that are tending their crab or lobster pots must get the begesus scared out of them on a regular basis 
