"Eisboch" wrote in message
. ..

"Gene Kearns" wrote in message
...


LD wrote:
After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over
kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions

Good suggestions, but if there is the potential for the necessity of
transiting narrow and/or busy inlets or other passages in poor
visibility, RADAR is money well spent.

We've never regretted having those "extra eyes."



I agree and am a little surprised that "LD" thinks it's an overkill. Not
only for busy inlets, but for crawling your way back home in pea soup
without running into others that don't have radar or other objects
floating in the water like lobster pot floats with lines that just love to
wrap around your props. I'd agree that if your boating is restricted to
immediate coastlines and inland rivers, the need isn't as great, although
you can still get into trouble if the heavy fog develops. I know I did
once in a 17' center console. I was only 100 yards off shore of Scituate,
MA, a heavy fog developed in a matter of minutes, and I spent an hour
trying to find the harbor channel markers while avoiding submerged and not
so submerged rocks in 4-6 foot breakers. Visibility was about 25 feet.
It wasn't fun.

Another note about fog. It doesn't necessarily "roll in". It can develop
without warning if the temperature, dew point and barometric pressure
combine in the right conditions to produce it. I've seen it go from
crystal clear to pea soup in a matter of minutes, usually when the
barometric pressure suddenly drops quickly due to an approaching front and
the water vapor in the atmosphere condenses.

I am not suggesting that every small boat should have radar, but those
situations *do* occur. If you do a lot of boating and it hasn't happened
yet ..... it will.

You don't need a super, high powered, 60 mile radar to avoid collisions or
running over stuff in the water. I think JVC and others make a reasonably
priced unit with plenty of range.

Radar. Don't leave the dock without it.

Eisboch


Conditions may vary depending on where one boats. We do not see the fog
events on Lake Erie as you see in the NE Atlantic. The need for radar also
depends on the type of boating one does.

I had radar on my 32 footer and used it mainly to monitor possible
approaching storms. We only made daytime crossings and I kept an eye on
weather and sea conditions.....if they were not favorable, we would not
travel.

The majority of boaters on Lake Erie do not travel by night and the majority
do not have radar.

The key piece of hardware I used most was my gps/chartplotter, something I
would consider more practical in my area than radar.

BTW: True or false - If you have a radar unit does it always *have* to be
on when underway?