How many of you have radar on your boat and what size boat? Pros and cons. Any info or advice would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.
33’ have radar ,and use it every single time running out the river to pick up bouys, surf, other boats, land. Makes for a HUGE comfort factor running at night to offshore. Will pick up rain squalls and enable you to dodge them easier. Great for seeing which way that freighter is traveling. Can more often then not pick up boats at night long before one can see them. I would take a radar over an auto pilot definitly. As with anything else it’s just a tool and the better one gets at using it, the better off one is. In my opinion it is a HUGE safety item if going offshore a lot or navigating much at night. Can’t really think of any cons about one except for the price, which is coming down all the time. Had a JRC on another boat that wasn’t too pricey and worked good enough for the job. Have a Furuno one now and love it. They do take a bit of using to get to know what looks like what. I allways use mine while running day or night. Pretty simple and straight forward to install, just have to watch for a few things carefully.
Russ B.
Psalm 55:22
18’Custom Boston Whaler
“Sumer Sault” (inshore}
33’ GW Express
“Top2Bottom” {offshore}
I have been looking for a good used radar for my 23ft center console w/ a hardtop. I don’t go offshore at night, but would love to see the weather and use if fog rolled in. Do you need any special battery setup? I have two cranking batteries and a deep cycle accessory battery. How difficult is it to filter “junk” and see the storms? I see the Furuno and Raymarine 16 mile on Ebay but was wondering if I should pay a few more bucks and get the 24mi range?
Thanks for any advice
Rick
Rick
23 Center Console
Twin 135s
“Dirty Money”
Storm squalls pick up very well and distinct on most radars, a lot better then small boats or small can bouys when it’s rough in the river inlet, they tend to just blend in with the surf. Battery wise they do suck some juice, nothing a outboard alternator can’t keep up with tho just need to be sure to run proper wire size to radar dome. Furuno makes the best radar hands down in my opinion.
Russ B.
Psalm 55:22
18’Custom Boston Whaler
“Sumer Sault” (inshore}
33’ GW Express
“Top2Bottom” {offshore}
Top2Bottom1 do you have a GPS/Chartplotter setup from Furuno also. I was think of a Radar, GPS/Chartplotter , and Marine weather with transom transducer. Just cannot decide between Raymarine or Furuno. I like Raymarine (have A65) so I have had no experience with Furuno products. Once again Thanks for any help in advance.
I have Raymarine 4KW radar, it is new to me. I still do not know how to work/read it. Skinneej has given me plenty of help, but he has a Furuno. Thanks to him I have a better understanding of what I seeing, but I still need to know more. I have found that is takes lots of work to figure it out. But can be a very usefull tool once you figure it out.
Fishb8 (Fish Bait)
CharlestonFishing.com College Football Parlay Tournament “college football guru.”
23 Sea Hunt “My Last Boat V”
If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, try standing in front of them.
Thanks, I need all the advice I can get. Those thing can be some serious dough but may be I can sell my old equipment if I purchase. Fishb8 what is you Raymarine setup. GPS/Chartplotter ect.
I have a 16 mile radar on my 26’er, I mainly use it for night time running. Using radar and GPS track at night works really well in the rivers when you are heading home. Outshore, a plus is when you are heading to a fishing spot you can SEE if someone is already there several miles out.
26’ Twinvee
Suzuki 175’s
www.creeksidemetalworks.com
I have the Radar with GPS. No bottom sounder. I also have a Lowrance GPS/bottom sounder. I bought the radar/GPS and color display off E-bay.
Now I just need to learn how to use it 
Fishb8 (Fish Bait)
CharlestonFishing.com College Football Parlay Tournament “college football guru.”
23 Sea Hunt “My Last Boat V”
If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, try standing in front of them.
Best thing is to use it a lot during the daytime so you know what is your actually looking at on the radar, reduced visibility operation with it will be a lot easier. I have the Furuno 10" Navnet system, GPS, chartplotter, sounder and radar all tied together. At first I didn’t like the idea of just one screen, but as I got used to it I like it a lot more then having multiple screens monuted. Can arrange the info you want to look at in different windows on the unit rather then looking back and forth between different units. Have just been looking at the new Raymarine ones tho, they look pretty good as well as Garmins. Just like a depth sounder tho, if you turn off the automatic filters and adjust it manually(sea state, clutter, gain, etc…) for the conditions you are going to get a better image.
Russ B.
Psalm 55:22
18’Custom Boston Whaler
“Sumer Sault” (inshore}
33’ GW Express
“Top2Bottom” {offshore}
Looking at the newer, smaller, less power hungry, “instant on” FMCW radar? Might give it a peek.
I have the Raymarine 48nm radar, and love it. You can see stuff long before you get there. I would get the longest range you can, because if you’re offshore and there’s a storm coming that you need to beat, it gives you a better head start for sure. From 35 miles out I can tell where a storm is at on the coast and adjust which port to come into to avoid the bad stuff.