Radar on a Small Boat

[relentless]

In my opinion it is an invaluable piece of safety gear. Not only in the fog but also in the dark. I was coming out of Green Harbor last suimmer early in the dark, made the corner and noticed on the radar a targer 200 yards dead ahead. As I got closer and pulled back the throttle it was at 20 yards I could make out the shadow of a cabin cruiser anchored with no lights on a moonless night. Pulled alongside and strongly suggested to the operator sleeping below that shortly another 15 boats will be coming through here and one will run him over if he does not have some lights on. Without the radar it may of been me. After steaming in Alaska on buoy tenders and buoy and 41' UTBS here witht he CG, one thing I have learned is to constntly have radar on and study each mark so that when you are coming in fog, you know where you are and what is a target and what is not. Along with the radar is a good solid GPS/Plotter and on a larger boat I would recommend AIS if you are in an area with lots of commercial traffic such as Long Island Sound, Buzzards Bay and other areas with big barges, ferries, coastal tankers etc. It is nice to know WHO is coming at you in the fog.

[Captain Greg Sears]

In my opinion it is an invaluable piece of safety gear. Not only in the fog but also in the dark. I was coming out of Green Harbor last Summer early in the dark, made the corner and noticed on the radar a target 200 yards dead ahead. As I got closer and pulled back the throttle it was at 20 yards I could make out the shadow of a cabin cruiser anchored with no lights on a moonless night. Pulled alongside and strongly suggested to the operator sleeping below that shortly another 15 boats will be coming through here and one will run him over if he does not have some lights on. Without the radar it may of been me. After steaming in Alaska on buoy tenders and buoy and 41' UTBS here with he CG, one thing I have learned is to constantly have radar on and study each mark so that when you are coming in fog, you know where you are and what is a target and what is not. Along with the radar is a good solid GPS/Plotter and on a larger boat I would recommend AIS if you are in an area with lots of commercial traffic such as Long Island Sound, Buzzards Bay and other areas with big barges, ferries, coastal tankers etc. It is nice to know WHO is coming at you in the fog.

ABSOLUTELY!!!! a must for offshore.

How do you think I find birds? And the "Relentless" when I need to find fish.

[relentless]

Sure Greg,

It might just be the other way around

[CindyLou]

Make your boat more "visible" to others put a highflier reflector on a pole and stick it in a rod holder. Your life is worth it! Buy one. Nuff Said!

Marc

Where do you buy these?...can't seem to find any that are already mounted on a pole. Or did you mount it yourself? Also, does this cause any issues with showing up on your own radar?

[AlloyToy]

Where do you buy these?...can't seem to find any that are already mounted on a pole. Or did you mount it yourself? Also, does this cause any issues with showing up on your own radar?

Google "Radar Reflectors" West Marine use to have one that folded up and could be stored away....

Also you can make one quite easy with a simple welder and some thin alum plate. I had one welded to an alum ploe I use to stick in my rocket launcher of my old boat......

Now I fish in a Radar Reflector.....

[Col. Kurtz]

Birds are a huge plus, but there is no way I would ever consider taking my boat on that 0-Dark hundred run out to the Bank (or at any other time) without radar.

Case in point- just this season, I was out fishing CC Bay on my good friend's 23' Sea Pro (without radar). We waited for false dawn to head out from Scituate (because of the lack of radar), made it out to PHB with no problems, put out the bars and 15 minutes later...BOOM- a huge fog bank rolled in.

The fog was not in the forecast and came in completely out of the blue. I gave up watching the spread and moved to the bow to target other boats trolling into our path and to tell my buddy when to lean on the horn. Not fun at all and downright dangerous in hindsight. Radar is a must if you're fishing offshore, even during daylight hours...

[wrap-check]

If you've ever seen the Barnstable Whale Watcher come out of the Fog at 30+knots, you wouldn't even consider going without.

(Not to mention the 2 High Speed Cat Ferrys, and the 6 other Whale boats that all run the Bank every day, multiple times per day fog or no fog)

[CindyLou]

I had one welded to an alum ploe I use to stick in my rocket launcher of my old boat......

So, did that reflector show up on your radar? Just wondering if something so close to your own radar would screw it up.

[stripah]

There would be no intereference from a radar reflector mounted on your boat unless it was placed directly inline with the face of the radar, even the I am not sure. The angle that the radio waves are transmitted from the array would prevent this from occuring. Metal objects on a vessel can create a "shadow" zone in which you would be unable to see a target however, we are talking like a large mast/kingspost or the exhaust stack of a ship. We have three radars a 3cm, 10cm and an aft 3cm. The aft antenna is in place due to all of the "shadow" zones along the length of the ship i.e. drilling derrick and exhaust stacks.

I get my reflectors from the fishing supply stores in Newbeige.

Marc

[AlloyToy]

So, did that reflector show up on your radar? Just wondering if something so close to your own radar would screw it up.

Showed as a very small dot in close to the center on my display as the reflector was relatively close to the narrow part of the beam width....if that makes sense

I also have/had my radar pitched downward toward the bow so as to pick up objects more accurately when running and the bow rises upward.....again if that makes sense