radar location

[Tazman]

We really battled with how to mount our Raymarine last year. I did not want anything that distracted from the beauty of the Ericson lines. And I did not want to add a lot of weight up on the mast. I walked around the marina and payed attention to all the boats on SF bay over the season. After reviewing all options, I decided on the Questus mounted on the Backstay. Allen (the owner of Questus) provided quite a bit of support during the installation process. The Questus is not a simple unit, but thus far I am satisfied. I hated the poles mounted on the stern of sailboats and the mast mounts did not appeal to me. For a backstay mounted unit, you have two choices, Questus and (the other guys- Walsh I believe.) My Questus was not cheap but it looks and performs great. I did order the 3' extension to raise the unit further up the backstay. I did this after the standard pole was installed. I installed the unit myself.

 

[Kristoria]

We really battled with how to mount our Raymarine last year. I did not want anything that distracted from the beauty of the Ericson lines. And I did not want to add a lot of weight up on the mast. I walked around the marina and payed attention to all the boats on SF bay over the season. After reviewing all options, I decided on the Questus mounted on the Backstay. Allen (the owner of Questus) provided quite a bit of support during the installation process. The Questus is not a simple unit, but thus far I am satisfied. I hated the poles mounted on the stern of sailboats and the mast mounts did not appeal to me. For a backstay mounted unit, you have two choices, Questus and (the other guys- Walsh I believe.) My Questus was not cheap but it looks and performs great. I did order the 3' extension to raise the unit further up the backstay. I did this after the standard pole was installed. I installed the unit myself.

Brilliant Tasman. Could you by any chance provide an Internet link for the kit including extension if not from the same stable.

 

[Loren Beach]

URL asked for

http://www.questusmarine.com/welcome13.html

Here ya go, better late than never...

And, another related thread:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=3974

LB

 

[Howard Keiper]

I noticed that a mention was made of moving the GPS antenna. GPS performance is diminished slightly by raising it. Signal strength is not noticeably improved and the vessel's movement, especially the swaying of the higher parts of the mast, if that's where you contemplate moving it, force a longer time to compute the average position. Best place is on a rail, or even better, on the deck, out of the way. The Raymarine units lend themselves to mounting this way.
Howard Keiper
Sea Quest
Berkeley

 

[CaptDan]

On the question of why a fixed mount...
Even if our boat had not come with a stern pole, I would have installed one.

Cheers,
Loren in PDX

At least yours is nautically correct.

Main reason I've never provided a pix of my solution is because it's frankly - butt-ugly, and should earn a special prize for How To Mess Up the Fine Lines of a King Design.

Thing is, it works - at least for my limited needs: radome sitting on home made baseplate atop painted galvanized hardware store plumbing pipe mast, secured with a modified Garhauer rail brace, and a pair of athwartship 'shrouds.'

I've seen worse, and I've seen a whole lot better too. But when somebody cargo shifts an older, but viable radar system your way - you might be inclined to go cheap (and cosmetically reversible) just in case it craps out.

I know this didn't help much, but I thought I'd toss it out for grins.

Capt Dan G>E35II "Kunu"

 

[vbenn]

radar mount

Here's mine. Up and out of the way - doesn't interfere with the jib. Since this picture was taken, I relocated my GPS antenna to the split point on the backstay. Again, up and out of the way. Kato Marine introduced a bracket just for this purpose.

Vince Benn
Wild Blue
E-380 #22

 

[Steve]

Ditto

Ditto to vbenn, this works for us, I have to say I don't plan on sailing hard in the fog..

Steve