[Public-list] Radar - reasonable choices

[Bobby]

A couple of years ago, I was outfitting my Alberg 30 for an extensive cruise. Almost as an after-thought, I decided to add radar - Raymarine.  I mounted the LCD unit to swing into the companion way to view from the cockpit.  I mounted the radome on the mast right above the spreaders.  For the most part, I worked great.  Occaisonally, plastic boats would fade in and out, but anything metal show up great and great up to 24 miles.   I can say unequivally, that radar was very important to my safety.  
   
  My trip from Boston to the Keys and back put about 3600 miles under her hull of which about 2600 I did alone.  Along with radar, I used charts and a mounted handheld GPS with a spare handheld in a faradayish box (gumbo pot). I did several coastal over-nighters and I was really astonished at the amount of boat traffic and how useful radar was to help monitor everyone's whereabouts.  At night, radar allowed me to take 20 minute kips.  Rather than plotting every few minutes, radar allowed me to easily monitor my relation to shore which was beneficial when you enter magnetic black holes and your autopilot has a mind of its own.  I used radar in Florida to monitor and dodge intense thundershowers.  Several times I'd duck and stay put under a bridge while it cracked all around.  On the ICW, I used it to help follow the land contours in a tricky after-dark anchorage.  As a single-handler, radar was probably the most important piece of navigation equipment I had. I wouldn't turn in my
 handheld GPS and you always have to have charts as a backup anyway, but if I had to choose between a very expensive chartplotter and very expensive radar, I'd always pick radar.   
   
   
  
John Kennedy <John.Kennedy at gov.ab.ca> wrote:
  I was reading my new copy of Pacific Yachting the other day. There's an
article on new electronics, including a radar set that does everything but
pull up the anchor and slice bread at the same time. *Expensive!**

What types of radar have any of you put onto your boats? Any recommendations
or comments for something that doesn't require a 2nd mortgage to purchase?

John
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