Radar Love

     

"we've got a thing & it's called Radar Love..."

    Before those summertime thunderstorms start to roll through, I wanted to get the radar installed.  I ordered the Simrad Halo 20 which is a 24 nm radar and matched my Simrad Go 9.  My chosen mounting spot was on the front of the flybridge.  Not ideal as it would limit me from "seeing" what is behind the boat but I had 2 reasons for doing this. 1. I didn't want to incur the cost of doing a radar arch (although that would be the optimum way to mount it), and 2. I have a bridge I have to clear & that would mean hinging.  

Good 'ole T-Bevel

    I measured the angle of the front & once I had the unit I drew up the bracket I thought would work and cut the pieces out of 1/8" plywood on the laser.  

Perfect cut every time!

    This proved to be a good idea as after cutting the first set, I needed to adjust some of the holes & the angle of the bracket.

It's the angle of the dangle I suppose

    Once I was satisfied with them, I hot glued the pieces together & checked them on the boat.  I lowered the front 2 degrees to compensate for some of the bow rise when underway.  The Camano doesn't really come up out of the water much so this seemed like an acceptable amount. 

    With all the templates ready, I delivered them to the fabricator. Should make his job easier.  I have a Spool Gun for my Mig Welder but a quality Tig welder in the hands of a professional will make a much nicer job.

Exactly like designed!

    Once the fabricator finished, I tested the final result to make sure everything fit & cleared, then mounted the bracket to the Flybridge front.  I put some grease under the stainless bolts against the Aluminum to limit the corrosion that always happens in a saltwater enviroment when 2 metals touch. My Simrad unit is on the upper station so it was an easy wire run.

Solid as a Rock!

    There was more than enough cable from the radar to the Simrad Go9. I had installed a new fuse block last year when I got the boat as the existing block was older and was giving me a power drop that the Simrad didn't like. The new fuse block was on a larger wire and a separate breaker sized for the new electronics I knew I would install. With everything installed I fired it up.  

24 NM!


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