Radar is a go
 

Trolling motor isn't happening

But I pulled the trigger on this Radar set Up waiting on an install date

waiting for 1 answer wedge or 4in mount or standard install .. My Top is canvas any concerns anyone have via experience

GPSMAP 943xsv
GT56UHD ducer
Fantom 18 dome

and keeping old 740s as backup plotter and FF

Wow
Santa hadn’t been watching you all year....

Nice Wayne,, GL

Good choice! Im doing the same with the Fantom. The beam is 12.5 degrees up and down. So for every horizontal foot you need 2&5/8" of height, use the bottom of the unit at the center of the dome as your reference point and you'll be good. The install manual is on the garmin website.
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Thanks for the info, I won’t be the one doing the install, i want it done right..

Went with the fantom for the Doppler I like how it marks targets green or red depending on their movements
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I will be doing my own install, and you got my thinking about it. I looked a little further into where the radar reads from. "The beam origin" per the Garmin owner's manual for the Fantom18 dome reads from center of the unit at centerline, which is about a 4&3/4" high at centerline.

I drew up my boat & the console I have; to test 3 things. 1st where the radar can see its full potential, 2nd where the radar's R.F. waves might impact someone in the boat for extended periods of time (i.e. standing at the stern and fishing). and lastly where would the radar hit the water.

tested flush: Attachment 67586
tested at 3" mount height: Attachment 67587

I'm going to contact Garmin to confirm that the readings occur at center of the dome's height, but I'll will do a mount height shorter than 3" because I have some tall people I fish with, it also shows me that an angled mount makes a lot of sense especially for any power boats where the bow will rise under power. The only other thing I would consider and factor in is the slope of the deck and/or top at rest, vs. at lowest speed plane.

I did read a Hard top could possibly cause problems? I have a soft top

seeing I have never had radar i'll need to run it all the time in every trim and sea condition to be Sure it is seeing what I am seeing before I see it

Awesome work.....
I’m planning an 18” dome come spring... last winter I had a couple alum plates welded into the soft top t top at the same
local you show yours..
I’m not sure I’ll be concerned about the beam towards the aft....

Will you use bushings at each bolt to raise the unit?

Great info LS,,, thanks

Hurry Wayne, only 3 months left.... :-)

I think you'll be fine as long as it's mounted level to the waterline. I noticed most of the radar shims for sale are 4 degrees, maybe most boat decks are 2% at rest to drain water and the extra 2% helps balance out the radar while under power??? I checked tilting the radar back 4 degrees on my sketch and it adds 16' to where the radar intersects the water in the front of the boat which would be 50' instead of 34'... at 8 degrees it adds another 45 feet (95' instead of 34'). The most significant loss when tilting the radar down occurs in the range where we might not see birds well but the radar can. I.e. at 1000' with the radar set parallel to the waterline it can "see" a height of 229' above the water, tilting the radar down 4 degrees at the same range the radar would only read to 157'. My primary reason for the addition of radar is for safety, so my goal of mounting will be some blend being able to see close to the boat first, and secondarily seeing something cool like working birds.

I want to see the water all the way around my boat within reason in case fog rolls in and someone approaches from the aft, or in a night situation during the time I am using the radar to head out or head in and am being overtaken by someone else I can see their approach.

I will use some sort of marine star-board for a mount and marine sealant for weather proofing the hole in my hardtop for the power and data cables.

Before I mount any type of shim, I will check the slope of my hardtop at rest in the water with a 6' level and figure out what shim will get me parallel to the waterline.

I'm glad wdmso posted about this, it's been a good exercise!

Radar came in, it's so much larger than the picture on my phone LOL
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Wayne, where did you get your kit from?
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I went to Nauti Nav in Dartmouth . just waiting on install if you need anything else let me know

Keep us posted on how you like it, if boat prices stay this way, I’ll be upgrading the electronics on my whip this year... this combo is on the radar (no pun intended)
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That’s was kinda of my thinking seeing the prices have gone thru the roof and boat availability the other way ,

I just decided to do some upgrades that will help me be on the water more often and also provide some safety.

Wanting and needing a new boat are two different topics
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Amen to that... on the other hand, wanting and needing radar is basically the same topic :)
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Agreed
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"Hello Matthew,

Happy to help. Because the Fantom radar is solid-state, it is more sensitive to interference caused by solid objects nearby. It is even moreso with domed radars as there is less space between the array and the mounting surface. For this reason it would be ideal to mount the radar on a slight pedestal to help clear the beam from being impeded by these structures.

Thank you for choosing Garmin,

Jeffrey

Product Support

Garmin International"

how not to answer the actual question.
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Here was my question: "I recently purchased the Fantom 18 radar, I will be installing it on a flat hardtop. My goal is to mount it at the lowest possible height because I trailer my boat. Here are my questions: (assuming a perfectly level and flat surface) 1. how far away from the dome radar will my hardtop cause interference? Is the beam a single point at center of the unit, and what is the beam width? 2. I wish to mount my radar aprox. 12"-16" from the front of my hardtop, flush, and the distance to the stern edge of the hardtop is 4'-10" maximum distance, assuming the radar's beam is -12.5 degrees at center of the unit... I know there will be blocked beam close to my boat but not so close it would stop me from doing this. So my second question is will this cause the performance of the entire unit to be degraded on the screen? thank you for your time, the more precise the better because I am going to model it in CAD so I know."
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Just got an email from my installer seems my Garmin GT-56 UHD Transom Mount Transducer is on back order till march. I have no luck ordered a window in January to have it in before my kitchen remodel in March was told now maybe April after my slip said February, I stress Maybe! Same Place we ordered a Door just now got the Price also from January only to see the spec were incorrect ... Anyone have any solid places to conduct business with. I am sure my orders were set aside and forgot because I wasn't spending 5k just a feeling seeing email after email was ignored and i had to physically show for an answer.. Odd both my dad and I did are whole house with replacement windows no issues prior to this from Horner Millwork never again

If door issue spoken about was ordered from Horner in somerset u not only one in that boat. We got run around from them all week on crown molding. Supposed to be here Tuesday and Saturday still no crown and we been gettin run around and ignore button from them as well.
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I am a very non confrontational person , but I kept getting we are so busy excuse I should have taken the hint when they blew me for 3 no call no shows for a kitchen measurement . I cant recommend them to anyone, I understand things happen , but they shouldn't take deposits on jobs they cant fill,, you point of contact isnt Bill is it?

That ducer is a beast,,,
I have a gt22 kicking around to fill in if needed...

I ordered my stuff in November got 2 units and radar in about 3 weeks ago and no transducer. I think the issue is that every person who didn't own a boat bought one last year and any one who already had a boat added new electronics. The supply chain hasn't caught up yet.
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Thanks ray but my 740s is staying so I have a back up fish finder if it isn’t installed by April
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Dead in the water on transducers here. Best bet put in an order everywhere.

The f18 Radar sits forward of the bolt locations. At 12" back from the front of my top to the forward mounting bolt locationsit's about 3" to the front of the dome. I spoke to my dealer about mount height. He said just do it. Leave a 6" coil and test it. If there is interference where you don't want it then shim it after. There is space under the unit to do this for sure.
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Ordered same machine as Wayne from same place, combo with 18”...
They said April 1,,,, hoping for the best! LOL
We all know how that goes..... LOL

Good luck!
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Good luck with your installs guys...
Don't be afraid to share some before and after pictures...:heybaby:

Mine is scheduled for install on the 29th I will post some pics along with my trolling motor install ,
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That’s a good sign for me me thinks :-)

Here's the used console I picked up. I think it's on its 3rd iteration now of being chopped up.

Attachment 67759

the previous owner had some big hardware in it so I had to build mounts for my electronics in the gaps and get back to flush with the console surface. I still have to fill, sand and repaint the black surface before installing my panels.

Attachment 67760

here's my dry fit where I screwed up the location of my tach guage :splat: I had let it sit for a while in my CAD program and when I revisited it and turned on the steering wheel layer I saw that the wheel would block my view of the tach so I moved it closer to the binnacle throttle. Now I either have to reverse it and deal with the tilt/trim being on the opposite side or order another piece to shim it up. Or find a cup holder that fits that hole then set the guage between the 2 units on the upper panel...