Radar Install

[Laura Lee]

Now or later, chose now. Got everything from ebay,saved about $ 200+. Hardest part was placement. Had to fit around wires and leave alittle room for larger washers for backing support. The scary part was drilling the hole for the cables to run through. Had to miss the full pvc wire chase. My goal for inside the cabin was to hide as much cable as possible. There is no room to run the cables with others, so they had to go external. I didn't measure but I bet there was 30' or more cable. Even after I chose the long way to go on routing, I bet I coiled 20' to lay in the helm space. I changed the allthread mounting studs to round head Allen bolts for 2 reasons. Appearance and maybe theft deterant. Hooked it up, works great.

 

[SOUTHWINS]

if you want to hide your wires make a new chase out of pvc pipe,cut in half cover with hull liner and screw in place

 

[ReelyNauti]

I'll take pictures for you but Parker made a factory Starboard one on my boat..i have no visible wires and have two antenna a radar a horn and a stereo

 

[Laura Lee]

Thanks, cutting and adding another pvc chase is a good idea. I have seen the improvement with the starboard above. That really is a good design for access and being able to work in that space.

 

[SOUTHWINS]

lowes has a thin wall pvc that works great,parker hs the hull liner,and you can take the tube down if you add more wires

 

[got_em_on]

what degree pitch radar mount did youuse onthe hard top?

 

[SOUTHWINS]

laura lee here are some photos of the chase

 

[Laura Lee]

Got-em-on...I think it is 4 degrees. It came from Discount Marine off ebay. $ 120+ shipping. Type in Garmin Radar on ebay and scroll.

 

[Laura Lee]

Southwinds....Way nice. That is a great fix for running wires. I will do the same soon.

 

[ceblizzard]

Nice job on the install. When I installed my Garmin Radar, I noticed that the lock collar on the cables were not very impressive. I put a small bead of 3M 5200 across the collars to act as a lock. If I needed to remove the cables, a pair of pliars could easily remove the bead.

Charlie
Eden, Maryland

 

[SBH2OMan]

I'm getting ready to dive into this same project and found what looks like a nice 5 degree pitch mount on Defender

I plan to mount it in the same location as yours, but with a slight twist: I'd like to bring together the running/anchoring light (which is on a wobbly Perko stalk just forward of the rocket launchers) and the flush-mounted GPS antenna all together with the radar mount setup and have all the wiring run together to make things clean.

Questions:

1. Is running the wires together (12v light, GPS antenna, Radar antenna) together as a bundle problematic (e.g. interference)?
2. Is there a combo GPS + running light stalk that I can attach to the back of the radar mount? (I've been searching for one and can't find something). Are they universal if I do find one, or do I have to go with the same company that makes the radar mount? (in this case Edson)

There don't appear to be any wiring chases in the inside of my new (to me) Parker, and I love the idea of the PVC pipe covered in the hull liner material. How are you guys attaching that PVC to the roof/walls? (with screw-down clamps of some kind?). I was planning to use the plastic wiring tracks that they sell at home improvement stores that have an adhesive back but "click" shut to hold the wiring, then just glueing the track to the hull liner...

Thanks,

Brent

 

[coolbreeze]

I have the same mount from ebay .. the seller is great will make it anyway you like . I opted for the mount with the go light .. Love it .. the light combo works great and completely out of the way . It also has the anchor light bar that free up from on my top.

 

[HM5]

Here is another thread that might offer some additional ideas on radar mounts:
http://www.classicparker.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6920&p=54727&hilit=radar#p54727
The pictures of my install on the Tidechaser are down at the end, but they show the anchor light/steaming light mount to the radar mast. I mounted my hailer speaker on the Golight mount as, it, is mounted on the pulpit.
The other thing that I managed to do was mount the mast so that the thru bolts straddled the cabin light making them less obvious.

The other thing that you can do with the Home Depot/Lowes plaastic track, it spray on some Parker gelcoat to color the track to the boat.

Enjoy your radar it provides that extra margin of safety when you need it.