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Coastal safety equipment


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Antares_9 wrote:

Ah, but we know for certain that we both give a good signal return just as we are Perry

Yes we do David I was surprised how good the returns were.

It was an excellent test of how useful Radar is in inclement conditions the echo's from buoyage was also very good given the amount of metallic 'clutter' around Harwich.

We thought this was thick until we got back to Shotley :?

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Clanny shows up well on Crackerjacks Radar but I wonder whether that is because the Scanner collecting the information is on the same plain. Would the echo be as good to a big ship where the scanner would be miles in the sky or would it be lost in clutter?

Ian

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  • 2 months later...

This radar reflector stuff is a nightmare.

I am depsperatly trying to sort one out for Sea Jem cos I want to take the opportunity for a sea run at the Salties Easter if the weather is good.

It seems from my research that the Echomax seem to be the passive ones to go for but to fit that I think I would have to also buy an arch to staddle my raydome and move my anchor light - so the whole set up will be about £300.00 + - I know you cant put a price of safety but at this stage we wont be doing that much sea work.

Obviously we have to have one to comply with SOLAS

Anyone got any ideas??

Thanks

Wayne

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Obviously we have to have one to comply with SOLAS Anyone got any ideas?? Thanks Wayne

Nobody can make you have one and you have your own radar and MKI eyeball to see what's around you anyway which is far more important. Learn how to use it as it is the best piece of coastal navigation kit you can have and well above GPS as along with an accurate sounder and charts you are navigating in real time. Big stuff will not be able to even get at you without running aground if you are just coastal anyway. Also a vessel of your slab side shape and size will be a good radar target anyway (just get somebody with a radar to confirm that) vessels like yachts with curves and little topsides and upperworks possibly benefit from a reflector but frankly I doubt you will.

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It's a bit grey, "if practicable" can cover many things.

As I said they can't make you fit one, if you feel more comfortable from both a legal standpoint and more important a safety one then you should of course ignore what I have said and fit one. I doubt it will make you any better target though.

Med type sportscruisers with compound curves are an entirely different matter though as they scatter the radar beam.

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Wayne - did I read somewhere that you are working on getting a working VHF ? If thats the case then I would very much concentrate on sorting that out first - A must have for offshore !

I don't have a radar reflector at all - at present I have no ambitions of crossing busy traffic areas like I used too - just gentle up and down coastal cruising - but as David says, if you have it in your head then its best to get one as you will be continually worrying about it !

When I had the F33 and made lots of trips across to Holland, I didn't have one then either.

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I am sure someone on here (probably David) posted a list of what you should really consider as a minimum set up for coastal cruising. Can anyone point me to it?

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Wasn't it near the start of this thread ?

Not the one I was thinking of. Still, if that what it is then I'm happy now. I had envisaged a great long list but most of that one (Mark's) is covered already or will be soon. Still even though we're knew to salt, the boat herself is not. A quick flick through the saved journeys in the GPS reveals courses plotted for Holland, Belgium, France, the Channel Islands and the Solent. The boat herself was moved up from Gillingham a few years ago.

The annoying thing is I have 3 spare impeller kits from my last boat which look identical to the kit on this one but the Volvo database says otherwise so I'll have to buy them all over again. :(

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I'm in the same boat Wayne (sorry for the crap pun, which was entirely intended of course). I was looking at fitting a Plastimo tube type reflector, as they are cheap and easy to install. However, after reading the research that Perry pointed me towards, it seems they are worse than useless, so didn't bother in the end. The big canister type jobbies are totally impractical to try to mount on my arch, so I have decided not to bother for the time being.

Also, with regard the VHF, I do not have a DSC set yet either. I have an old telephone type Simrad set, which seems to do the job for now. I will upgrade later this year I think, though.

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We spent a very long day doing the RYA radar / nav training course, during which our instructor went to great effort, by taking us out on his ship, to demonstrate just how ineffective our tubular radar reflector mounted 17’ up on the radar arch was. As David's post, the important part is making sure you can see what's around you.

Phil and Carron

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The annoying thing is I have 3 spare impeller kits from my last boat which look identical to the kit on this one but the Volvo database says otherwise so I'll have to buy them all over again. :(

Not necessarily Simon, as I think I remember reading somewhere that part numbers had been superceded.... Might be worth a quick google to see if you can locate the part number?

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Not necessarily Simon, as I think I remember reading somewhere that part numbers had been superceded.... Might be worth a quick google to see if you can locate the part number?

Well I did ask the Volvo dealer in Brundall (i.e. Gary) and they were looked up on the Volvo database. Normally that should cross check for updated part numbers.

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