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routing radar cables on a PS34

2K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  MarcHall 
#1 ·
I'm wondering if anyone out there with a PS34 has run radar cable from the mast to the cockpit. My cable comes out of the base of the mast and is accessible from the small hatch in the cabin sole next to the head. I'm trying to figure out the best route from there. The installation guide specifically states that it should not be run through the bilge (I'm guessing this means not to run it where it could be submerged). The DC power cable probably should go to the master breaker panel while the data cable goes to the cockpit to be plugged in to the MFD.

Any suggestions on best route/means to pull the cables where they have to go?

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
If you are going all the way to the cockpit, I would run the cable into the cabin as close to the compression post as possible then aft down the starboard side as close to the starboard bulk head as possible. You would be able to run the cable out to the cockpit at the riser for the traveller and mount your radar under the cover of a dodger. The cable would be concealed in the headliner but depending on weight may have to be tie wrapped to a batten on the cabin top.

Personally, I would not install a radar in the cockpit. Instead I would put it below decks protected from the elements. Raymarine products allow the use of tablet to see and operate navigation equipment down below. We monitor our gear with a tablet in a waterproof case. Works perfectly.
 
#4 ·
I have a Raymarine MFD/radar display at the nav table. Sitting in the cockpit I can see the display.

The display can mirror via Wifi to an iPad or iPhone. I have several ram mounts under the dodger for setting up iPhones or an iPad. They can all display as well the Watchmate XB-8000 AIS transponder, plus the iPhones can serve as standalone chartplotters running Navionics or Garmin apps.
 
#6 ·
My radar unit was professionally installed just prior to my buying the boat.

The radar cables were free dropped in the mast. They rattle and bang inside. There has been some indication that they have once or twice become involved with the internal halyards.

The installer failed to adequately reseal the mast base where the cables pass into the boat. Water leakage there resulted in the eventual destruction of the mast compression post requiring its total replacement.

Bill Murdoch
1988 PSC 34
Irish Eyes
 
#7 ·
I did't weigh in on this part of the install, but here goes. I would recommend mounting the radar dome on a scan strut or a pole located at the stern instead of the mast. Doing so would reduce the weight aloft, eliminate the chance of a halyard damaging the dome and would make the install easy as pie. It also eliminates the need to unstep the mast or make an ugly external wire run down the mast.

When we purchased Hush she had a raydome on the mast.....it was an old non working analog version that I quickly eliminated.
 
#8 ·
The PO had an old analog Raymarine radome mounted on an unstayed post on the port stern quarter cap rail, connected to a Raymarine chart plotter that was no longer serviceable. I didn't care for that configuration so when I bought the boat I had a new digital HD radome installed just above the spreaders on the mast - much better range and less chance people walking on the forward part of the boat would get unwittingly radiated. There is plenty of clearance between the radome and the inner forestay, and have had no trouble thus far flying the staysail. Installation of the stern post configuration was clearly much easier - I followed the cables from the binnacle into the port cockpit locker (though I didn't check beyond that to follow wires to the breaker panel at the nav station - will have to do that this weekend).
 
#9 ·
We mounted our radar on the mast and found it to be a good compromise for short and long range reception. The cables are routed in the bilge but off to the side, behind some support partitions. They lead back to the cockpit and up the pedestal. I like having the radar display close at hand when I'm standing watch at night and when I'm navigating tricky situations in the ICW. Having the display below or up under the dodger basically eliminates adjustments when you're having to make quick decisions.
Good luck,
Sam Christo
s/v Grace PSC34
 
#10 ·
Put it on the Mizzen, on a leveling mount. Or lacking a Mizzen a radar pole. You'll be much happier.

If you put your display below deck, then you need to have two people up and awake to use it. If you put it where the helmsman can see, only one.

If you plan to rely on a tablet above deck, that might actually work at night, and in fog, but not so much in bright sun. Of course you don't plan to need radar in bright sun. Then again the more things that have to work at the same time, the lower the probability that they all will be.
 
#11 ·
I have to agree with samchristo on the advantage to having the MFD right there in the cockpit. I am often single-handing so having it below is not practical, especially since it is probably more reliable than my iPad.

I managed to follow my depth and speed transducer cables this afternoon, so my radar cable should be able to go the same route. They appear to go around a stringer then under the cabin sole along the starboard side in a little "shelf" that runs parallel to the fuel tank. I think it goes around another stringer but I lost it a little forward of the engine compartment. I'll have to try to follow my depth and speed transducer cables from below the cockpit sole to see how they get from there to the bilge area. The problem I foresee with pulling the radar cable through that same path is that at some point the cable has to split - the bundle of red, black, and green wires need to get to the DC breaker panel somehow, and the digital data cable has to get to the helm in the cockpit where the MFD will be mounted. One step at a time, I guess...
 
#12 · (Edited)
I like to have the Radar/MFD in the cockpit, mainly to be able to see the radar display and to be able see the MOB SARTs from the cockpit it they are ever needed. However I have always liked the radar at the front end of the cockpit rather then on the pedestal facing aft. On most of my overnight passages the boat has either been steered by autopilot or wind vane and I find it more comforatble to sit up under the dodger rather behind the wheel.

With my old Raytheon Pathfinder radar I had a mount on the optional shelf located along the quarter berth aft aft the nav station but the cables were long enough to reach an arm mounted to a pedestal pole and rotated aft or forward. This worked fairly well. The cables were
small enought to route up thru the companion way with all boards in and the hatch pull shut.

With the new B&G setup I not sure where the display is going to be mounted but it will be up forward and it will be able to be detached and mounted down below. My array of 3 Tritons are easily detached and stored below by releasing 2 wing nuts and 1 NMEA 2000 cable connection.

Since the boat was converted from wheel to tiller there is no wheel to stand behind or pedestal to mount it anyway.

Radar antenna mounted to an radar arch, cables run down thru the arch into the top of the quarter berth and to nav station. Cable run to cockpit may to thru the traveler supports or thru the cabinets above the quarter berth.

Marc Hall
Crazy Fish - Maintaining, Upgrading and Sailing a Crealock 37
 
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