Aft Mounted Radar Pole on a Hunter 376

duck21

duck21

.
Jul 17, 2020
120
Hunter 376 0 Washburn, WI on Lake Superior
Hi!

I've ordered a Raymarine Quantum radar and am trying to decide where it should be placed.

Has anyone here aft mounted a radar pole on a Hunter 376 with a bimini? If so, where/how did you mount the pole while avoiding the bimini cloth?

I'm considering the aft mounted pole as it feels like running new wire through the mast wiring conduit with the mast standing is difficult at best. I'm not in a position to drop the mast this season and I'm not keen on running the wires outside the mast or inside the mast/out of the conduit (I'd rather not deal with adding connectors on the deck or trying to mitigate wire slap inside the mast). Of course, if others have experience with this on one of these boats that they'd like to share I'm open to ideas.

Thanks!

The other option is
 
Rich Stidger

Rich Stidger

.
Feb 10, 2004
3,930
Hunter 40.5 Warwick, RI
I have the sister ship - h40.5, and I mounted a aft pole on the sloping transom. I used a Kato pole and I do have a full factory bimini. There is no interference. If you would like to see my setup, let me know and I will post the pictures and installation details.
 
duck21

duck21

.
Jul 17, 2020
120
Hunter 376 0 Washburn, WI on Lake Superior
Hi Rich,

I'd love to see pictures and details! I'll look up Kato poles as well.

Thank you!
 
sail sfbay

sail sfbay

.
Feb 21, 2013
4,638
Hunter 46 Point Richmond, CA
Never seen a 376 with a bimini and stern radar pole but not a big deal since you have lots of space aft to install one as shown in the photo below, even if you had to cut a hole in the bimini and sew a collar around the pole. You probably know that a stern pole radar mount is expensive.vs. a mast radar mount. If you do an internet search on "stern radar pole" you will see plenty of examples of stern radar poles, maybe on a stern like yours.

1616505738836.png
 
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duck21

duck21

.
Jul 17, 2020
120
Hunter 376 0 Washburn, WI on Lake Superior
I did note that prices for poles are equivalent or more than the actual cost of the radar. Kind of nuts...

I would prefer mast mount, but I don't think it's do-able for us this season. We took ownership of the boat in February, it's currently winterized on Lake Michigan. We're sailing it up Michigan and over to our area in the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior late Spring/early Summer. I found a good deal on a radar and would like to use it for the trip (concerns about Great Lakes fog and shipping lanes).

I'm probably going to do a (nice looking) DIY set up with a quality aluminum pole, a deck mount point, and bracing on the stern rail for now. The challenge right now is project planning with the boat being 500 miles away knowing that I'll have limited time on-site on our next visit to implement things.

Once we get the boat back to our home marina we'll drop the mast (maybe for winter, or before launch next season) to perma-mount the radar and add wiring/hardware for wind instrumentation.
 
sail sfbay

sail sfbay

.
Feb 21, 2013
4,638
Hunter 46 Point Richmond, CA
I had my radar and mast mount installed on my Hunter 386 by a marine electronics contractor who climbed the mast, while the boat was in the water. He was fast and his installation materials and labor, ex radar, cost was less than a stern pole.
 
smokey73

smokey73

.
Oct 26, 2010
1,903
Hunter 40.5 Beaufort, SC
Like @Rich Stidger I have an aft mounted Radar Pole. You can see in on my avitar picture.I am away from the boat but when I get back next week I'll try and take some closeup pictures with measurements for details. I have also mounted a small rigid solar panel to the pole for keeping my batteries charged on a mooring. I don't see why you'd have to buy a pole specifically "designed" for a Radar mast sinc the components look pretty stanard.
 
Rich Stidger

Rich Stidger

.
Feb 10, 2004
3,930
Hunter 40.5 Warwick, RI
@duck21 - After reading your longer range plans above, I would think that you might want to hold off mounting until you can do the mast mount properly. After research and in-person inspection, I decided that the Kato pole was the very best pole, but that is me and you may want something different or a alternate price point. But the following shows my stern pole mount. I mis-spoke when I said that the 376 was a sister ship to my 40.5. The 376 is a later model and I was thinking of the 37.5. Regardless, I would expect that you have plenty of room on the transom to mount a pole and find two locations to mount the bracing at 90 degrees. IMHO I think that the stern pole is the best location for several reasons. First- you have less weight aloft. Second- the cable runs to the steering console are much easier. Third- when you need to do any maintenance on the raydome, it is near the cockpit and not half way up the mast. Fourth- the head-sail won't whack the radar when tacking. And in terms of radar range, you really don't get much more range with a mast mount vs a pole mount. Anyway, most of you radar working range will be 3 miles or less, and that is easily achieved with a pole mount.

So here are my pictures:

2015_0505_181802.jpg2015_0505_181826.jpg2015_0505_182002.jpg2015_0505_182010.jpg2015_0505_182022.jpg2015_0505_182038.jpg2015_0505_182250.jpg2015_0505_182310.jpg

My radar is a Raymarine 24" 4Kw unit and you will notice that it is mounted on a self-leveling damped mount at the top of the pole. This enables it to remain horizontal when heeled. I adapted that damped mount from an older back stay mount with which I was very unhappy. But the damping device itself was great.

Every installation is unique. I am sure you will find a good solution. However, planning, measuring twice or more, actual mounting, and cabling of the entire system is way more than a one day job. And it will take two strong people. Be prepared and good luck.
 
shemandr

shemandr

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Jan 1, 2006
7,069
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
Maybe OP should consider using AIS for his delivery trip and mount the radar where he can have better control of the circumstances. I don't mean to start a radar vs. AIS discussion. But we went from Stuart Fl to Greenport NY in the Ocean using AIS and found it to be very useful. The owner had it set up so the AIS reports were on the chart plotter and we never missed having radar. We always knew what was around us. Also, unless the OP has used radar, learning while you need it is not the way to go.
 
Rich Stidger

Rich Stidger

.
Feb 10, 2004
3,930
Hunter 40.5 Warwick, RI
kappykaplan said:
Interesting since I can see "Raytheon" in a couple of the photos. I used to have a Raytheon unit, but the display failed and I replaced with a Raymarine unit. :beer:
Click to expand
You are correct. My radar is branded Raytheon. But I thought that Raymarine was just the new branding of Raytheon. Is that wrong?
 
kappykaplan

kappykaplan

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May 1, 2011
4,238
Pearson 37 Lusby MD
Nothing wrong. Raytheon spun the marine stuff off to Raymarine in 2001. Just tells me that your radar has been around for a while. :beer:
 
chuckwayne

chuckwayne

.
Mar 20, 2004
1,729
Hunter 356 and 216 Portland, ME
Garhauer made me a really nice stern pole with a custom antenna hoop and a tilt control to level the radar while heeling. Great to work with over the phone and email and very reasonably priced. My hoop holds the
radar with VHF #2 and my 2 AIS antennae above it. I added their engine hoist and less than 1/2 the price of the Kato
 
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