Raymarine Radar

Ok, got the boat , now i want to buy it a present!
I though a radar for the C80 on board.
Any advice or help in what i might need?(or cost (Gulp!))

The current Raymarine scanners should all work with the C80.

List price for 2Kw RD218 is £934 inc VAT. (This is actually 1/2 RRP for the equivalent Garmin unit - guess they don't make/sell as many) Range is 24Nm Product details (http://www.raymarine.com/raymarine/ProductDetail.asp?site=1&section=2&page=76&product_id=3655)
You might see some deals offering a cable at extra cost, but it should come with the unit!

You'll also need some sort of mounting which will depend on your a-frame setup. Take a look at ScanStrut products. Not cheap but they make them to fit the Raymarine units. Could be £175-225 depending on what you need.

Thanks Mike

Any advice or help in what i might need? Raymarine have recently released two new scanners. I've no experience of these new ones but the spec for the 4kw unit doesn't have as narrow a beam as the previous version. A narrow beam is generally a good thing. I guess it must do something else better.

Speaking about the previous units, the 4kw gives a much cleaner, finer, more detailed image than the 2kw. Things which the 2kw would only find for a portion of the time become solid with no problem.

You can sit it on the top of your A frame provided it's tall enough. It's not a good idea to scan your brain with 4kwatts of microwave energy. You may need a wedge to set the mounting angle correctly.

Quite right about the scanner - it's more important than the head unit. Having said that on a RIB you wouldn't want one too big - any radar is better than no radar!!!

Ok, got the boat , now i want to buy it a present!
I though a radar for the C80 on board.
Any advice or help in what i might need?(or cost (Gulp!))

Have you got the DSM300 fishfinder for it - they are great!!!

no >:O(
the boat has no fishfinder
perhaps one from father xmas would be a good idea!

Would be cheaper than Radar anyway!!!

Remember the transducer is as important to a fishfinder as the scanner is to radar. The one I really fancied costs £1500!!! It was also rather large so in the end I went for a transom mount. Wish I had gone for a through hull or even an in hull one instead.

Cod, just silicon it to the inside of your hull. It'll be fine.

Cod, just silicon it to the inside of your hull. It'll be fine.

Good idea - suppose I will lose some detail and range then though? At the moment it works fine until you get over about 10kts - would it be much better in hull?

Yes.

on powerboats transom mounts are the nuts but ou need to make sure you have the right one designed for the speeds you guys do, through hulls and in hulls dont work as well on the plane on a rib as they do in other boats. If it aint working above 10 knots have a wod with the dealer you bought it from see what the problem could be

....on powerboats transom mounts are the nuts ......through hulls and in hulls dont work as well on the plane on a rib ben, that is not my experience and I know others on the forum feel similarly. Even if the tranducer is placed well and manages to track the bottom at speed, ribs frequently leave the water and the sounder will loose the bottom and not manage to lock on again before the boat hops off another wave. Also, transom mount transducers are designed to kick up on impact and they do this on landing.

Because of Codder's comment in this thread, when I was last out I took note of the the sounder when I was over the deeper areas of water and travelling at about 35 knots over chop, the sounder was following the bottom detail without a problem at 185ft. This is a simple Garmin unit with a transom transducer stuck to the inside of the hull using silicon about 1metre forward of the transom.

jwalker thanks for the reponse it is interesting to know what u guys think as my coastl ribbing is limited. However surely it would make no difference what you have if u r airbon. Also if you come up onto the plane then the sonare will not be looking down but at an angle through the water then refraction etc would take place and relay an image which is not true.?? Just my views and thinkin would be nice to know what u guys think

With my transom mount transducer I have to wait about 10 seconds after coming off the plane for all the bubbles to go before I can see anything - will give it a try sticking it in the hull. I will miss the paddle wheel but it doesn't seem very accurate and the water temp though.

However surely it would make no difference what you have if u r airbon.Yes, that is the case. I maybe didn't express myself as clearly as I should have done. I was relating the hopping over waves and the transom mount transducer knocking up.
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Codders, I found the paddle wheel to be a useless device unless I was moving at displacement speed.

With my transom mount transducer I have to wait about 10 seconds after coming off the plane for all the bubbles to go before I can see anything - will give it a try sticking it in the hull. I will miss the paddle wheel but it doesn't seem very accurate and the water temp though.

i dont think you will be able to just stick the transom mount transducer inside the hull, that will almost definately not work. if ou get interference from bubbles and stuff when on ht eplane, it oculdbe your transom mount is mounted in the wrong place, it usually takes 4/5 tries to get it correct after a good few test runs