Backstay Radar Mount

[wufibugs]

Saw this in a picture. I have an old radar setup but was going to sell rather than mount it on the mast because I did not want to deal with the hassle of running that massive cable down the mast and into the cabin or up pedestal. However, running it from the backstay might be a much easier proposition.

Any opinions on how those mounts work, how the radar works when so mounted, and whether one should consider the strain it puts on the backstay?

 

[Tim R.]

Does not put much strain on the backstay. I made my own for my two previous boats. Check out the projects link on my website. I think it is under the Pearson. The radar worked fine on the backstay.

 

[njsail]

I have a Questus radar back stay mount on a Bavaria 40 Ocean. http://questusmarine.com/learn-more-6.html It works fine. If you have the radar up high on the mast you get the additional distance (in my opinion) just because it is higher. I will say it is nice when something goes wrong and you don't have to go up the mast to work on the radar unit. I had a belt slip off and I just walked on the back deck, propped up something to climb on and fixed it. That was nice. It's also easy to wax it every year to avoid oxidation. It pivots so it says level to the horizon. I don't see any evident blind spots when using it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Rich Stidger]

I've had a self-leveling backstay mount on my split backstay since 2000. Works great, keeps the radar level on any heel, dampens the movement, and you are correct in that running the cable to the pedestal is a relative snap.

Besides that, if you need to get to the radome for any maintenance, the backstay is much easier to get to.

If there is any disadvantage at all, it is that the lower pivot point of the mount needs to be a really robust assembly. The original design of my mount wore the mounting hole to be oblong in about 4-5 years. This caused the pole to rotate and introduce a lot of slop in the radar heading. I finally re-designed the mount to eliminate that wear. I'm on year three with no problem.

 

[zeehag]

my mast mount--mizzzen mast mount--works great, but my jrc face --the screen-- went black-----

make sure you protect your screen from any and all sun and heat..do not cook your radar--was mounted in a bad place on my boat--at least for tropical sun....this also happened to my garmin, and my depth sounder and is happening to my ap16.......need new or can i find repairs.....

 

[Gunni]

I was doing a delivery a few years ago on a boat with a gimballed backstay-mounted radar. The thing swung like a metronome due to the motion of the boat in a quartering sea and really messed with the radar. We hung a dive weight on it to dampen the motion. Might want to evaluate the motion of your boat.

 

[wufibugs]

The mounts endorsed here are of the self-leveling type. Investigation shows them to be a bit pricey. Went on some of the other forums and the backstay mount definitely gets mixed reviews when compared with pole mount. I suppose the ideal solution would be to find/make a salvage arch that could do triple duty as a platform for solar, dingy mount and pole for radar, gps and any other antennas one needed to mount. If only there was a way to make pvc robust enough . . . .

 

[Tim R.]

The one I made was fixed and it worked perfectly on our Pearson 28 and then on our Ericson 35. It is still going strong after 9 years.

 

[capta]

Every single cruiser who has or had one, I have spoken with regarding the the self-leveling type radar mounts has advised against them, bar none, when I was researching mounts for our second radar. Complaints ranged from too much motion to stuck into a non-level position.
I agree that incorporating a radar mount into a stern mounted davit set-up would be the best and cheapest way to go. Check out "speed rail" or similar for a no weld solution.

 

[Gunni]

I've been very pleased with the performance of my Kato Marine radar pole with optional radar pivot. Get the boat in her groove, reach up, pull the pivot pin and level the radar - the radar image cleans up and expands out. The pole doubles as our outboard hoist (and brings shore supplies aboard.