Radar Mount on a 27 FC

[rnummi]

Well.... couldn't resist. Bought a Garmin 4212 from CL. Came with GMR 21 radar, sonar/depth finder, XM WX et al. stayed in budget. 1k for the whole lot. Expensive way to get a depth finder but what can I say. Also was in South Florida this week and picked up an aft radar mount with light pole for the GMR. all in 1,125k for the whole shebang. Bare necessities goes electric. So far my only ridiculous expenditure on this boat. Now to find time to go hook it up. Ben noted that I needed to completely rewire the boat so that's the next project.

[Beta Don]

The depth transducer for that 4212 could maybe go where that unused 1 1/2" seacock currently resides, but of course she'll have to come out of the water to get that done

I installed an Airmar shoot thru hull transducer (I think it's a model P79 but don't quote me) just forward of the engine bulkhead and it's working pretty well - At least to depths of 100' or so. Haven't been in any deeper water yet. Access is in the forward bilge under the hanging locker. The keel is *just* wide enough there for the transducer mounting. Glued it down with 5200, filled it with the special glycerine they recommended which I bought on eBay

I do have another depth instrument with a bronze thru hull, depth, temp and speed. I *really like* having two completely in dependant depth instruments aboard. Really useful when gunk holing in shallow water. When one of them tells you that you should be aground but you're still moving, you can start believing in the other one Depending on the composition of the bottom, one or the other of them won't always be accurate in shallow water, even though both of them read exactly the same from 10 to 100 feet. It's one of the mysteries of life!

Don

[rnummi]

I've got the old eagle transom mount still hanging off the stern so I'll probably just stick w that for awhile. Picked up an Airmar P66 mount at Marine Liquidators... Man that place is like their st time I ever walked into a big box electronics store.... Wow! In any event, the radar mount is up. Now comes the wire run. The best idea for that is on Don's boat. Hole through overhead wires run through a piece of stainless pipe down to the nav table. Brilliant. My next door neighbor (A27) has the cable hanging down free into PH. Don's pipe acts as an additional hand hold. Also in the theme of this thread, instead of punching new holes in the overhead, I purchased a seadog plus shaped SS rail fitting to add to the top of the light pole coming out aft of radar mount. I'm going to add two pieces of 1 foot SS rail and mount the GPS and XM WX antennas on either side and run the cables down the SS pole as well. Add one Perko mast top light on the top of the SS plus fitting and I'm in business.

[Beta Don]

In addition to the 360 degree anchor light at the top you'll also need a 225 degree white 'bow or masthead light' facing forward at least 3' above your red and green side lights. If you have to buy new ones, get LED models. Less current draw & they last forever

Don

[djpeewee]

The Hella LED nav lights are good lights. And actually, for any boat under 12 meters (~40 feet), you're only required to have the 360 all around light.

[rnummi]

I went with the Perko add on to the Edson Vision mount. It was laying there forelorn looking at Don's. Installing to day. It gives the option of wiring as an all around or fore and aft. OEM wiring is a black and red wire but since I'm using Beta Don's stainless steel wire run I can install the fore and aft configuration.

[rnummi]

First off, the Radar Mount project is complete. Pics attached. No leaks check, led lights check , all GPS and XM antennas above radar check. Oops, interior pilothouse light non functional, no power. Beta Don to the rescue. When I was contemplating my radar mount I didn't want cables hanging all over interior of boat (routed or not). Solution? Don had a stainless steel handrail mounted vertically. He smiled and said "look no wires". I merely followed in the masters footsteps. Ran new power line up the post, voila. Instant repowered light.

Thanks Don!

[Sprig1]

Wow Rick the boat is looking great. You have done a great job.

[rnummi]

Thanks Roger.... Little by little piece by piece. Since I solved the forward window leak problem I'm thinking about adding teak to the dashboard. What say you? There's tons of really gorgeous teak at DMS and I've got a finish carpenter urging me on. Covering the cabin sides maybe? The boat is really coming along. Seems like every time I finish something the next just pops up. How goes yours?

[rnummi]

Thanks Roger, I still think its amazing all the radar, gps, xm wires fit down "Don's Handhold".

[Sprig1]

Hi Rick what finish did you end up putting on your trim inside the cabin? How did you run the wire for your fans. Sorry about all the questions. I just need all the ideas I can get. Also it's fun to see how other people do things always something to learn.

[sail149]

Rick
Did your radar have a plug at the roof unit?
When I removed mine for road transportation the wires came up thru a 24" high stainless tube into the unit. I couldn't believe it I had to disasemble and remove wires 8-10! that were never intended to be removed, no marking to help reassembly etc. the other end of the 20' long cable was a large plug to go in the back of the screen unit inside. No idea how they originally mounted the 3/4" wire bundle , it goes all over the place.using up the extra length. I left it it place for now.
The mount is really nice, with a 1/8" 12"x12" SS plate on the bottom of the 2" dia SS mast and another 12x12" SS plate inside the roof. Roof is plenty strong.
Can't decide if I can be bother to try and rig it all up again , it's only a B&w Furome unit and top is heavy 75#?
Warren

[rnummi]

Ok, Roger first. On the trim I used Cetol x2 then Cetol Gloss x2. Interior paint, not yet. I'm still playing with options. Don's Marine Salvage has done gorgeous teak interior ply. Was thinking from the back handhold, past the exterior handrail bolts. Going forward up just under port and starboard side window fronts. Don't think I would go over the Windows due to overhead/side junction curve. A little teak would really set off interior of PH. I haven't bedded front or side PH Windows as I've gotta paint soon.

Warren: The only light on the boat that didn't work was the PH overhead. It made me crazy. I traced the wiring, etc. The only thing I can figure is I must have cut it when I was futzing around with PH base. In any event, I used 1" fittings and rail to make my wire run, ran my radar cable through, the power cable for radar, etc. Figured I might as well run a power line up there to light. Fans were afterthought. Was at West, they had two in scratch and dent so I cut cigarette lighter tips off and hard wired to fan and lights. A little gaudy but it is HOT down here.

Radar plug: I have the Garmin spaceship radome (the GMR 21) and you can actually purchase a replacement tip. Furuno must have the same. It was actually easy peazy to reconnect. Oddly you have to hunt for the part since they don't want us all thumbs end users to be cutting their cord.

[rnummi]

PS: After playing with Garmin 4212 and the radar overlayed on top of map... I'm a true believer. Awesome. As to Furuno BW radar, heck Craigslist lurking paid off as I got the whole shebang for about 1.5k radar/Chartplotter/XM/Depth/GPS etc. Much as I like the boat, I couldn't see plugging anything more than that in there. Shoot, new electronics would be more than I paid for the boat. Plus the Garmin's pretty idiot proof. Plug n play.