Radar install and VHF Move

[gray duck]

My Furuno radome arrived in the mail awhile back and has been sitting around the house waiting for me to actually do something. But I was trying to figure out where to put it on the boat - forward on the PH overhang or back where the GPS was.

Tough to pull the trigger of any power tool when directed against and through your new (new to me) boat.

First holes.

Had to cut access hole to do thru bolts and run the wires.

Running wires

 

[gray duck]

While I had everything opened up I knew I needed to tackle the VHF problem at the same time. It had been placed in the companionway on its side!!!! I have no idea why but it was pretty ridiculous to try to use while driving.

Helm station:

Where can that icom go? How about up in that corner?

 

[DaleH]

I have 1 VHF up in the corner like that and the other flush-mounted to the helm. I added that flush-mount whereas it is a DSC unit. The other was completely functional, so it and the antenna stayed in place. Looks like a Furuno 600L under the cover there too ... AWESOME machine !

If you don't like drilling holes in boats ... you should never work with me on mine :shock: !

 

[gray duck]

Just as an aside - I don't know what others think but I found having the electronics hatch resting on my head while working on the wires was kind of a pain so I put a small stainless eye with a loop of line to keep it out of the way.

Ok - back to radar install. Once the wire (30') was run from the display to the rooftop, it was time to open the dome. Here are the guts:

Solo tightening of bolts:

Radome in, GPS run through bent tube to put it above the radome.

 

[gray duck]

VHF wires run:

VHF mounted cord down:

Cord up and out of the way:

July 4th:

 

[gray duck]

Dale - What I meant was that it's tough to drill the first time but after that the seal has been broken and there's almost no stopping the power tools and fiberglass dust.
The sounder is a FCV-582L

The radar actually works too which I humbly find kind of amazing but I have alot to learn about using it. It is 24", 36 nm, 3.9 degree horizontal bandwidth for a 1734C radar/1720c plotter display which had navnet but I had a shop here convert back to C-map mainly because I grew up using paper charts and couldn't stomach the orange color for land in the navnet system - cmap has the traditional yellow. another cool thing it has are accurate arrows showing direction and strength of the current. This is very nice in Charleston where 3 kt currents are standard.

 

[boondoggle]

Nice install. Did ya check out the sights on Morris Island this past weekend?

 

[ABRIG005]

I have a 2120 SC and about to install a Furuno 1623 radar. Do you need the mount or can you install flush on top of the cabin? Thanks Anthony.

 

[gray duck]

You can do it flush but I'd rec using a mount. If doing it flush, you still need a wedge to correct the angle - 5 deg or so. Having it on a mount gets it up a little and also allows for fine tuning the domes' orientation - ie so it is pointing exactly at the bow.

 

[HM5]

Recently I moved my radar scanner from where it had been originally installed farther foward on the pilot house roof. The problem I was having was loosing targets as I got close to them. It seemed that the roof was making a shadow to them and they would disapeer from the sceen. Besides, I needed to mount a speaker for a hailer/fog signal that my radio had as an option.

The old mount was parallel to the roof line so when I found a new SEASCAN mount with 4 degree forward tilt, an accessory mount and high light mount on eBay for a price that was 50% off retail, I was able to win the auction. The seller bought it but couldn't use it on his boat.

While building a unit that secuely held the hailer horn, I decided to add the high mount lights to assist in docking at night.

The mount is centered so that the bolts stradle the dome light and thus the dome light covers the large center hole that the wires go through. The control switches for the lights and the spot light are mounted just forward of the throttle/shift control.

 

[MaxOut]

Nice move. The original position was not a good choice and your performancee will be much better. Enjoy!!

 

[HM5]

Nice move. The original position was not a good choice ...

Thanks,

Supposedly, the radar was installed by a professional installer. Guess the boat's dynamics weren't considered