Radar install

[Lorence Norton]

Hi,
I have a Ranger 2012 25. I get received a new Garmin GMR 18HD. I wanted to know if any of you had any experience with the installation. I don't know whether to tackle it myself or if it requires someone with a higher pay grade than mine. I am pretty handy. Is it a plug and play situation of routing the cable back down through the roof into the cabin and into the port on the back of the Garmin? Any info you have would be appreciated.

Lorence

 

[daviduphoff]

Buy these before you begin.

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/garmin--m ... 5--7918394

You can cut the interior cable end off and make the wire easier to run. If you cut it with a foot or two to spare you can make a new patch cable if you ever get a Garmin marine network. You will need a crimper for RJ45. They are cheaper than someone's labor.

 

[RSC]

I installed the 18HD myself without any problem. It was / is plug and play to the Garmin 741xs. I have an EC21. I had to make a larger base for the dome to attach to my tower shelf bracket. I made this from 3/4in Starboard. I wanted to avoid all possibility of water intrusion through the roof and into the cabin roof core. I first routed the wires through water tight cable outlets on the vertical side of the smoke stack. I left a sag of the wires outside the stack so that water wouldn't run down the wires to the waterproof wire outlets. This sag acts as a drip point. I then left a small coil of wire inside the smoke stack to allow for possible future working under the stack. The cables were then routed again through watertight cable outlets through the more weather protected roof under the stack.The wires then routed into the overhead wire channel in the pilot house. I brought the wires forward under the overhead wire channel and down between the the two windshields to starboard. The wires were concealed in a short piece of plastic wire channel from Home Depot so as not to be conspicuous and also present amore finished look.I installed a two switch fused panel power switch with one switch to power the radar dome and other to power the 741xs. That allows the separate powering up of the radar dome to the 741xs when desired.

For me, the most important consideration was routing the wires through watertight cable outlets in the cabin roof and leaving wire slack for future maintenance movement. Water intrusion into the core is a silent killer for the boat. The screws that connect the stack to the roof need to be sealed as well as they too can let core water intrusion. And yes...get the connector for shortening the wire to connect the radar dome to the display if it wasn't supplied with the HD18.

I am sure you will have the same water intrusion concerns on your 25 and your cable routing will differ from mine. Good luck and you should be able to do the project.

 

[nzfisher]

This is from an old post. Is your radar the newest iteration 18"? If so the following will help. If you make a new mounting plate of a non stainless material the installation will be easier. This was done last year some time. Except for the mounting plate it was quite easy and you can reuse the old wiring if your R25 had the original 18" factory radar installation.

Yesterday I replaced the 18" radar unit on my R25SC with the new 18HDx radar. Some things others might want to know from my experience. The new radar is larger than the old contradicting the notion that electronics always get smaller. Hence the radar would not fit on the mast and needed a new plate with bolt holes that move the position of the unit forward so it clears the mast column. Secondly, the power cord is not the same as old. The data cable is the same. The new power cord is a threaded fitting where as the old was a twist lock. Luckily after calling Garmin there is a fitting that updates the power cord. I found this out after a semi hysterical rant about "Why did you change the cord?" The upshot is that the mast alteration is a substantial amount of work and now heavier. You must be able to work with stainless if you want to DIY-( Drill press, grinders and good tooling). Radar up and working!