Sorry, Joey, I tried to give you reasonable advise. I have sailed in New England for over
40 years. The last dozen years I've had radar, and I've been happy to have it. But I
cruise the Maine Coast, Buzzard's Bay, and Vineyard Sound - all places that have more than
their share of fog. I've also traveled the East Coast to Florida several times, and
haven't used radar more than few times south of Newport.

LIS has very little fog; roughly 1% of observations have visibility less than 1/2 mile.
If you "frequently encounter fog" in LIS, you don't know what fog is. When you get
further East, you run into more consistent soup: Nantucket is 10% of observations. Even
in the cities in Maine the number is 4%, but offshore that can go much higher. And while
radar is handy at night, it shouldn't be needed in good visibility.

Further, you asked if you need anything more than a 1623. The answer, in my opinion, is
no. You'll make marginal use of a small radar on LIS; I don't see any reason to spend
money on a bigger. What do you think you need? More power? More range? Better
resolution? A bigger screen? You tell us, what feature do you think you need? You
haven't told us what kind of boat you actually have, or where you plan to cruise.

BTW, I've worked my way down in radars - I started with a Vigil, then a Ray 10XX, now a
Ray SL70, which is roughly equivalent to the 1623. The first two were in the cockpit, but
away from the helm; the SL70 I have at the helm so I can practice with it all the time.
If you're planning on mounting it below at the "nav station" it's a waste. You won't
practice with it enough to learn how to use it when its really needed.


--
-jeff www.sv-loki.com
If you can't say something nice, say something surrealistic. -Zippy



wrote in message
...
On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 17:09:13 -0500, "Jeff Morris"
wrote:

wrote in message
So, I'm wondering... For coastal sailing in LIS and very occasional forays to
open ocean points north of there, do I need anything more than Furuno's model
1623?

Why do you think you need any Radar? Do you often travel in fog? Are you headed Down
East?

A small radar will help a lot if you get caught in Vineyard Sound and want to stay
clear
of the ferry, but it sounds like this would only happen once a year, if that.

You can make a case for more powerful radar if you cruise the Maine Coast all summer,
but
not for LIS.

I was hoping for some input from people with actual experience and knowledge.
You and that Mooron guy (Who can't even spell moron correctly) seem more
interested in trying to inflate your own weak and faltering egos more than
adding anything of value.

Yes, I frequently encounter fog in the LIS, as well as moderate darkness most
nights. If you had a boat and sailed it, you would be more familiar with these
concepts.

Thanks anyway, jackass.

Joey