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Random Quote: Offshore fishing, like yacht racing, is like standing in a cold shower trying ignite thousand dollar bills.
Ok, after much thought, we are ready to pull the trigger on a radar for our boat. We currently have a Contender 23 Open, and would need a stand alone type radar, in order not to have to replace all of the electronics in the boat. Here's my question.
1)What's a good, fairly cheap radar that we can use, to mainly see at night and in the fog? Not needing to see birds, crab traps, ect. Just to have in order for us not to run into unlit rigs, poles, ect.
2) When mounting this, will we need a radar mount, or can we just mount straight to the T-Top? I have a flat bracing running over the electronics box on the top that can support the weight of it. What angle should it be at to see what I want?
Oh NO!!! Contendor and Radar in the same thread!!!!!
This should be good for 45 pages in not time!!
Baker,
What's on the boat now? Any brand 18" or 24" radar (Garmin, Furuno or Raymarine) will work fine for the simple collision avoidance your looking for. Nothing complicated.
But, if you already have a chartplotter display, I'd suggest you get the same brand and connect it to that so you can utilize radar overlay, that is the radar image overlay on the chart display.
As for mounting, many folks plop it right on the T-top. But I'd recommend rasing it at least 6" off the T-top to get a better quality image, espeically when running and the bow is up.
I just put one (Raymarine 2KW Dome with C80) on my 23' Mako last year. Very happy with Ray, but I am sure the others are good too. I would recommend putting it on a mount that has a forward tilt (see Birdmans pic). When you really need the radar at night or in the fog you wont be (hopefully) running flat out. The forward tilt will allow you keep the radar level with the horizon when you have some bow rise.
I had a JRC 1800 color radar one one of my last boats and it worked great, very inexpensive and can also be a back up gps. I would mount it on a 6" pedestal like mentioned and put a wedge under it to give it some forward tilt. Or buy this one from a fellow THT'er:
1. Furuno 1623 or 1715. Small reliable stand-alone radars.
2. You may or may not need a mount. It's difficult to say without seeing the boat. It will make it easier though. You will probably need to angle it down slightly so it is level with the horizon when you are running.
I have a 241 Mako cc, I installed a Garmin 3210 and the 18" HD dome on a pedistal, its a great set up and not too expensive. I used to have a JRC 1500,didn't like it and couldn't trust it.
I have a garmin MFD with the 18hd dome and love it. BUT....check out BOE marines deal of the day today. Its a FURUNO stand alone unit that might fit your need. just a thought.
Just checked out the deal of the day (FURUNO 1623 LCD RADAR 2.2KW 16NM 15DOME) as I am in the same position with the same needs regarding a radar as BakermanJr. I have a garmin 188C chartplotter so not sure that would do an overlay or not but am under the impression a garmin radar is much more pricey.
Does anyone use this radar above that can speak to it's performance and use? I just started looking into radar myself and was under the impression from my one discussion at a store that I was basically looking at spending roughly 2k (for a RM C70) or 4k+ for a hd version radar with nothing in between. The price would appear very right on the unit above if it is 50% off but not sure I would want to pull the trigger today only for the price unless it was an excellent deal. Anyone have any thoughts? How often are radar's the deal of the day at BOE?
ps BakermanJr, not meaning to hijack your thread in anyway as I would guess you want to know about this unit as well.
I have the Furuno 1623 on my boat, works great. I have it connected to my Garmin 498 chartplotter which provides a "lollypop" on the radar screen of a current waypoint.
Here is a pic of my setup. Boat is a 19' Key West. Raymarine C120 with 2KW dome. In retrospect the only thing I would have done differently was to use a higher mount ( mine is about 3" off the top )
Radar for Smaller CC 
