Radar arches on 1st gen 34 Mk I,II,or III

[twiisted71]

I'm looking for pics of arches on the 34s. Or if someone has line drawings of the profile of one of these boats they could PM to me me I'd appreciate that and I can doodle some ideas. I could go sit on my dock and do my own drawing but if someone has one already that would be nice to start from.

I'm going to put an arch on my boat and am just trying to decide on the configuration, placement, and angle I want. This will allow me to get rid of the "trademark" mast with the light positioned perfectly in my line of sight! and mount my radar, antennas, etc.

 

[Woodsong]

Can't help you with an arch drawing for your mainship but I just installed a new arch on our pilothouse. It is a prefab arch from Atlantic Towers - Boat Towers & Boat T Tops. Very good deal and it fits well. I still have to run the wiring through it and reinstall the radar and fix the striping from where the old arch used to be but you should check them out. They have the best deal I could find. Here is how our arch looks:

Very easy to install with the help of a friend or two. This is the specific arch I used:
http://www.atlantictowers.com/products_radar_arch.php

 

[twiisted71]

Woodsong, Thanks for that link. I was going to use my new bender and fab one up but that's pretty cheap for having all the geometry done for you. I'll probably just make some backing plates for my flybridge and buy one of these and call it good! I may weld it up solid after I fit it to my boat. Have you mounted a radar on your's? Any significant flexing? They claim it can support 2 people to help facilitate equipment installation. Any idea what size the main tubes are?
Thanks again.

 

[Woodsong]

I came to the same conclusion...very affordable price for all the work already figured out. Radar not yet installed but it seems very solid and I would be surprised to see any flexing at all. It is very sturdy. I hope to have the radar up in the next few weeks when I have time to rewire everything. I think the main tubes are 2" diameter.

 

[jleonard]

Twisted, Are you a member of the Mainship owner's group in Yahoo? I'll bet there are some pictures of old Mainships with radar arches there.

 

[twiisted71]

I am a member of that site. It really is hard for me to navigate it and the way all the posts repeat the post above is very aggravating so I don't frequent it much. I have only seen a couple of pics of the early 34's with towers and they were in the Rendevous photos.

 

[Conrad]

It looks like you're committed to the arch, but have you considered mounting a mast on your flybridge at the aft end? Still in keeping with the aesthetics of the Mainship, but no longer in your line of sight? We upgraded ours on our 32' Ennos last year and are very happy with it.

 

[twiisted71]

That is a nice looking mast and I have though of just moving my existing mast, but decided I'd like the looks of the arch more and I could use it to stabilize my bimini and eventually tie the bimini frame in with the arch.
What are the things on the ends of your crossbar under the blue covers?

 

[Conrad]

That is a nice looking mast and I have though of just moving my existing mast, but decided I'd like the looks of the arch more and I could use it to stabilize my bimini and eventually tie the bimini frame in with the arch.
What are the things on the ends of your crossbar under the blue covers?

Ah, makes sense.

The blue covers are for the weather station and GPS antenna. The weather station needs a cover to keep out bugs, dirt etc. due to its sensitive membrane, and we also covered the GPS antenna just for aesthetics.

Once the weather station was working properly it suddenly became a very useful tool particularly for true wind speed & direction. (It does a number of other things also such as air temp, and barometric info.)

 

[markpierce]

As if my opinion matters, the mast is the way to go. Don't like the idea of a radar transmitter not far vertically from the human brain.

 

[twiisted71]

LOL yeah Mark I'm with ya but somehow I think a mast like yours would look a lil outta place on my boat! On the same note I've seen radars mounted on the stupid little mast that Mainship put on the 34s, meaning it would be beaming you right between the eyes from about 8' away! I've also seen them mounted on the forward edge of the flybridge!

 

[markpierce]

... I've seen radars mounted on the stupid little mast that Mainship put on the 34s, meaning it would be beaming you right between the eyes from about 8' away! I've also seen them mounted on the forward edge of the flybridge!

Doesn't your radar do a 360-degree sweep?

 

[twiisted71]

Yep, guess they're like the guy in Gumball Rally who ripped off his mirror and said "what's behind me doesn't matter!"

 

[jleonard]

LOL yeah Mark I'm with ya but somehow I think a mast like yours would look a lil outta place on my boat! On the same note I've seen radars mounted on the stupid little mast that Mainship put on the 34s, meaning it would be beaming you right between the eyes from about 8' away! I've also seen them mounted on the forward edge of the flybridge!

I had one mounted that way on my old 34. The Furuno manual states 3 feet as a minimum.

 

[twiisted71]

Yep, guess they're like Raul Julia in Gumball Rally who ripped off his mirror and said "what's behind me doesn't matter!"

What's Behind Me, It's Not Important - YouTube

 

[IMO]

How about having a hardtop built out of Alum and installing everything on it? I am looking to buy a 34 and that is what I plan on doing. Not only will if give you a good place out of the way to mount your radar you can also mount you other antenna to it and have a lockable electonics box built on it as well. It would also be good place to mount solar panels to if that is something your interested in.

 

[twiisted71]

Berwick eh? I'm a Nicholls alumni! I have given a lot of thought to a solid top. I have wavered back and forth with what I want. From a price point the Atlantic towers top is VERY attractive. I like the idea of a pipe frame with a fiberglass skin and may go that route if I can find someone to bow some tubing for me. I don't have a rational reason but the aluminum top doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Peter B]

LOL yeah Mark I'm with ya but somehow I think a mast like yours would look a lil outta place on my boat! On the same note I've seen radars mounted on the stupid little mast that Mainship put on the 34s, meaning it would be beaming you right between the eyes from about 8' away! I've also seen them mounted on the forward edge of the flybridge!

Twiisted,
It might be worth looking at what your local chandlery has in the way of arches. I was just reading our Bias Boating catalogue here in Oz, only minutes ago, and noticed they were featuring a pre-fab'd alloy tube arch for stowing rods on - called rocket launchers here in Oz. It immediately occurred to me that for $179 you couldn't get a purpose one built, yet it could do the job perfectly for a radar arch. It was 2.4 metres across the base - about the width of a CHB 34 upper deck rail, and you could mount all sorts of other stuff on it like weather stations, GPS antennae, even carry some rods, as it was designed for...? As to being too close - I don't think I would nowadays consider anything less than one of these new 3G low power draw/output broadband radar jobs. In the US you even have 4G versions now, which are even better than 3G, and far easier to set up and use than old pulse radars. Closeness to people no longer an issue either. They put out about mobile phone strength signal. 24 mile radius, finer definition than pulse - especially close, and cheap and chips, as they say. Well $1799 here, so surely cheaper there...? Most things are. However, this sort of arch would get even a conventional pulse radar up enough to be out of harms way, I'm sure.

Here's an arch...scroll catalogue right arow 3 clicks, then enlarge
Bias Boating Summer 2011/2012 Product Catalogue
and for the radar...scroll 7 clicks then ditto
Bias Boating Summer 2011/2012 Product Catalogue

 

[twiisted71]

I couldn't even buy the aluminIUM over here for that price! We call them rocket launchers here as well.
As for the Radar....looks like a definite improvement safety wise, but I bought a Garmin 740s combo last year when I bought the boat. I've had other things going on and am just now starting to be able to contemplate fulfilling some of my dreams for this boat.
The list is long and the pocket is shallow!

 

[Peter B]

I know the feeling....as the Aborigine here might say..."all time long same"...
I want a radar, auto-pilot, new GPS/sonar for up top, new curtains and new sqab covers, just for starters...
actually, if I was getting radar, then I'd need one of those new larger screen, HD multifunction units like you have, so I guess the existing Lowrance GPS/sonar down below should move up top...and....hmmmm...Oz7 Lotto jackpots to $70 million this Tuesday....

 

[twiisted71]

Buy me a ticket too while your at the store getting yours!!

 

[IMO]

My wife is a Nicholls Alumni and we have a son attending now. I went to Tulane.

About the Alum hard top you don't have to leave it raw. I would paint it to match the boat or have one built out of fiberglass. I like the idea for solid easy mounting of antenna etc. good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Rodneym]

Here's the radar arch on my mainecoaster,hulls are much the same as yours,I bought the boat in Portsmouth ,NH,not sure where the arch was made but works well.

 

[twiisted71]

that's a good looking arch, thanks for the pics