Radar pole placement on PSC 37?

[stevemac00]

I used an Edson SS pole with a fiberglass sleeve. The sleeve was glassed in at the bottom of the hull and top of the deck. This required no further struts and could be removed if necessary. Take a look at Edson's website. It worked great but I always wondered what was being shot at me when I went out on deck. If I were doing it again it would be the mast right above the stay tang.

I'd recommend going to the archives as this has been discussed in the past during winter - a lot of PSC owners are now out sailing.

[lsbrodsky]

I had a backstay mount, worked fine for 13 years and was still fine when I sold the boat. I liked the cleaner look of not having a pole back there. If you needed to service the radar, you could put a 2x8 across the the top of the stern pulpit, stand up there and do the service. It easily handled wiring and GPS antenna.
Larry

[svjobeth]

On Jo Beth, our radar is mounted on a mast at the transom. The 'step' for the mast is kind of like a tabernacle step on a trailerable sailboat and the spar itself is supported by two legs made of stainless tubing. It sits out slightly aft of the backstay chainplate.

I've looked for a picture of it, but I don't have anything that show it other than general boat shots. If you'd like an image of the mount/installation, send me a note with your email and I'll get some taken and forwarded to you.

The same pole also supports our wind generator. The installation is visible in our avatar image.

[MC1]

I have a backstay mount and like its clean installation and having it on the center-line of the boat. The Raymarine radomes are heavy though, and if the boat hobby-horses (rare, and generally solvable by bearing off a little), the forward/back pitching of the boat will cause the weight of the radome to exert influence on the backstay. I'm considering adding a couple small braces from the stern pulpit up to mount so it remains in a fixed position at all times and eliminates all weight on the backstay.

Since a key requirement in this case though is to also have a motor lift, I think a separate pole just to port of the backstay is a better solution. For consideration, Scanstrut makes a radar pole with a gimbal mount and provision for a motor lift. The gimbal mount is nice for optimizing the radome's orientation as the boat is heeled.

[quanyin]

This is on a 40, but a 37 would be very similar. Sorry for the quality; I took them with my phone.
Again, we like the set up, but I'm sure there are better options. The outboard is quite heavy, and it's very easy to deploy and retrieve.
Paul

[Seacurves]

You all have been very, very helpful! Thank you. I certainly have enough information to go from here. I will post the final pictures in a few weeks.