Hi all - in case anyone is considering upgrades, here is our recent experience:
We recently got a radar pole from Kato Marine in Annapolis, and my wife & I mounted it with 2 struts for braces. Very nice build, all stainless steel, and very professional/rugged. Not the cheapest thing, but it’s the best quality we’ve seen. It also has a gimballed top plate so if we are on a long run where we are heeled, we can angle the radar for maximum efficiency. We love it (see below).
I've been shopping around at boat shows and online for 4 years and I'm really happy we got the Kato radar pole.
On the pole we have mounted a 4g radar antenna, lower anchor light**, satellite phone antenna, Baroplug (a NEMA 2k air temp & barometric pressure sensor), stern navigation light (LED), cockpit light (LED), and a crane with blocks for hauling our dingy's outboard or hauling in a overboard crew member.
We got a new 9” B&G Zeus 3 chartplotter & two B&G Triton2 displays. We mounted all of this in a NavPod-like fiberglass instrument panel that I made, also including our old (1990’s??) Simrad AP-11 autopilot. The home brewed NavPod was exactly sized for our setup and helped conserve space in the cockpit. It also conserved $$ since we would have needed 2 NavPod units to fit all this, and it would have cost around $1,100.
It’s also color matched to our canvas which my wife loves, so I love it too (!). I added a couple of USB ports on the back to charge phones & tablets, and a little teak holder for Rite in the Rain notebook & pencil. Can’t ever seem to find those when I need to write quickly.
We took it all out for sea trials this weekend in the Pacific across the Columbia River bar. We were double reefed in 34mph winds and pounded by 8+ ft waves. On the way out we were were socked in with fog, but could feel our way excellently through the big ships & crab pots with the B&G 4g radar & AIS transceiver. We were very happy with the entire system.
Our ancient autopilot crapped out at the end, but we put it down for an overnight nap, and it was fine in the morning. Very much like me.
Next weekend we begin our offshore leg up to Puget Sound area.
I hope everyone has found summer and that they are enjoying it!
-Mark
** Huh? What is a ‘Lower Anchor Light’?! John & Amanda Neal recently recommended this to us and it makes sense. When you are in a crowded anchorage at night, the people zipping around in their boats & dingys are not usually looking up 60 ft in the air for lights. We therefore installed a secondary lower anchor light, about 10 ft above the water. It’s small & LED, so doesn’t take much power.
We recently got a radar pole from Kato Marine in Annapolis, and my wife & I mounted it with 2 struts for braces. Very nice build, all stainless steel, and very professional/rugged. Not the cheapest thing, but it’s the best quality we’ve seen. It also has a gimballed top plate so if we are on a long run where we are heeled, we can angle the radar for maximum efficiency. We love it (see below).
I've been shopping around at boat shows and online for 4 years and I'm really happy we got the Kato radar pole.
On the pole we have mounted a 4g radar antenna, lower anchor light**, satellite phone antenna, Baroplug (a NEMA 2k air temp & barometric pressure sensor), stern navigation light (LED), cockpit light (LED), and a crane with blocks for hauling our dingy's outboard or hauling in a overboard crew member.
We got a new 9” B&G Zeus 3 chartplotter & two B&G Triton2 displays. We mounted all of this in a NavPod-like fiberglass instrument panel that I made, also including our old (1990’s??) Simrad AP-11 autopilot. The home brewed NavPod was exactly sized for our setup and helped conserve space in the cockpit. It also conserved $$ since we would have needed 2 NavPod units to fit all this, and it would have cost around $1,100.
It’s also color matched to our canvas which my wife loves, so I love it too (!). I added a couple of USB ports on the back to charge phones & tablets, and a little teak holder for Rite in the Rain notebook & pencil. Can’t ever seem to find those when I need to write quickly.
We took it all out for sea trials this weekend in the Pacific across the Columbia River bar. We were double reefed in 34mph winds and pounded by 8+ ft waves. On the way out we were were socked in with fog, but could feel our way excellently through the big ships & crab pots with the B&G 4g radar & AIS transceiver. We were very happy with the entire system.
Our ancient autopilot crapped out at the end, but we put it down for an overnight nap, and it was fine in the morning. Very much like me.
Next weekend we begin our offshore leg up to Puget Sound area.
I hope everyone has found summer and that they are enjoying it!
-Mark
** Huh? What is a ‘Lower Anchor Light’?! John & Amanda Neal recently recommended this to us and it makes sense. When you are in a crowded anchorage at night, the people zipping around in their boats & dingys are not usually looking up 60 ft in the air for lights. We therefore installed a secondary lower anchor light, about 10 ft above the water. It’s small & LED, so doesn’t take much power.
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Two coats automotive primer. Two coats of automotive paint. Two coats of a clear protective layer that came with the automotive paint.
