Origins of the radar arch on offshore boats
 

I got into a discussion the other day about radar on cruisers and wondered how big the actual antenna arrays are/ were when radar arches were offered on on some offshore boats? Has anybody seen a offshore boat with a radar antenna on it? I know some of the boat manufactures installed docking lights, navigation lights and VHF antennas on them.

:d

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38 pq

Holy crap Wally, that display is huge. The screen mount looks like the kinds of mounts that the auto manufactures put in their test vehicles for holding laptops.

I don't know, but they look awful...........

I always really liked the arch. Had one on my cruiser and my 38 special. Don't have one on the fountain but I've seen them on 42 fountains and I like it. I prefer the reversed arch.

They seemed to start arriving in the late 80 with the arrival of affordable CRT and dome based radars.

You usually get a floppy fiberglass piece that wiggles in at least one direction I like the usability and am only so-so on the look and hate the permanence of them.

Had mine made from stainless tubes and removable.

Wouldn't do any real ocean or big lake at night running without a radar or I can yank the whole assembly for small lakes with low bridges.

To avoid the bug mentor to etc side I built a semi glass cockpit from the start to accommodate a large display and only went analog on the few gauges that matter.

There are 2 kinds of arrays those with domed antennae and open arrays.
Open is the classic radar you can see turning on big commercial vessels.

The domes vary from about 2 for a 16 miler to 3 feet in diameter for about a 24 mile radar. The open arrays go to 6 foot or more.

Open arrays take more power to turn and in general are more powerful than their domed cousin.

Powerboats aren't high enough off the ground to see very far on the horizon anyway so the array types range doesn't really get excersized.

Uncle Dave

1983-ish is about as far back as I can remember seeing them. 1st on Chris Crafts, and then on Sonics in 1984-ish.

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There's a mid to late 80's Sonic on the Illinois Chain that has the reverse arch on it. It looks really cool. The boat is dark gray with black red and white graphics. The nickname of the boat is Nasty Habit.
http://www.funonthefox.com/gallery/d..._display_media

Yep, that is a Jay Ross built Sonic, probably a 33RS.