Radar Pole and Mount

[hrsail920]

Just purchased Garmin 18" Radar Dome. Anyone know where Poles and mounts can be found used as they cost as much and more as the radar dome itself.

Thanks in advance,

hr

[SVTatia]

Did you try Garhauer?

https://www.garhauerstore.com/catalo.../?q=radar+pole

Sometimes the used ones I've seen for sale are just as costly when you factor in the shipping.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Just buy (or find) a section of aluminum tubing, along with some angle stock, & some plate, & get to fabricating. And it's even fairly simple to fab' a leveling mount for the radome. Be it self-leveling, or manual.

Sometimes finding tubing is as simple as putting up a few wanted notes on the marina bulletin board, & by/on the dumpster. Since folks pretzel spinnaker poles often enough. And a rigging shop or boatyard usually have a few such poles laying around. Which, a radar pole is a lot more tolerant of splices than is one for a spinnaker.

[tkeithlu]

They mount on four bolts. Two options, both of which I've used on different boats, being way too cheap to pay what they want for those suckers: Four stainless steel or aluminum thinwall tubes, flatten and bend over ends, drill them appropriately for bolts at each end, and make you radome into a four legged table. Second, like unto the first, but make it a true table, with an aluminum plate as the surface. Bolt the radome on, but also drill and mount for your GPS and VHF ateenas, as needed. Third option, which I have not done, use a used seat pedestal, attach a larger plate and the top, and proceed as in option 2. Cruising is expensive enough without paying out for stuff you can make in your garage.

[elittke]

I got he pole from a local welder and fabbed the top from wood and attached with angle irons. I thought that I was the only one in the world to be so cheap as to do it that way

[Glen Ballou]

I have a radar, GPS, outboard engine lift for sale. It was on my Beneteau 461. It is located in Connecticut. I have photos of it if you are interested. Price is negotiable. I can be reached at gballou1@att.net

[chuckr]

we have used a quest pole very successfully for a number of years
here is one pic of it

[UNCIVILIZED]

Some other options for the "pole" segment of a radar mount are a reclaimed small boat mast, a boom, or even a cut off from a flag pole. Or you can custom build one from wood-epoxy, or composites. Bruce Schwab's round the world racer, Ocean Planet, had one that was purely composite, with a pair of stays.
This, or there are mounts which clamp to the backstay. And they're not too tough to copy, & DIY either.

[TOPGALLANT32]

have a local shop fab you one out aluminum. I did this and it only cost 80 $
8 ft pole with a gusseted pad on both ends. drilled my on holes for mounting to deck and for the radome footprint.i had the shop drill out 3/4" holes at top and. bottom so i could feed the wires down the inside of the pole and into the boat. bedded with. butal tape
so far so good