Radar Reflectors

[bayhoss]

Greetings to all, I'm thinking of adding a radar reflector to my boat. Anyone out there have any experence/preference? Most of my crusing is done on the Chesapeake Bay with some trips on the ICW planned.

Best,
Frank

 

[Maine Sail]

Active is best

Active is best, Sea-Me, but pricey, then probably the Davis Echomaster hung in catch rain or double catch rain..

 

[Chris A.]

I have the Davis Echomaster, and here is an excerpt from Practical Sailor from 2000

As we have each year since 1995, PS editors selected the top 10 products tested during the past year. Looking back to that first year (was it really five years ago?!), 1995 saw us select the inexpensive Davis Echomaster radar reflector, which in the anechoic chamber at the Stanford Research Institute outperformed much more expensive reflectors.​

The problem is that it is difficult to see what effect these devices are having on someone else's radar display!


Here is a link to another article (for purchase) on PS about the topic:

Radar reflectors

And for some info on the Davis products:

Davis Echomaster

The gold one is sort of cardboard- I have one of the metal ones.

 

[Annapolis E-27]

This is a good link that addresses a lot of radar reflector choices. http://www.ussailing.org/safety/Studies/radar_reflector_test.htm

 

[treilley]

I also use a Davis Echomaster.

Here is some more info on reflectors:

http://sbo.sailboatowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109198

 

[Rocinante33]

The Echomaster is also what I use. There are two issues with it, though;

It is not a permanently mounted unit, and it won't work (no surprise here) when it is not hoisted up the mast. I often have to remind myself of this image I have of the bridge of the monster ship that is still a mile off, steaming at 25+ knots on a crossing course with us. The watch has his glazed eyes hypnotically fixed on the radar/AIS screen & never looks out at the small boat (us) in the path of the ship! Even on clear days, it is a good idea to hoist that thing. Ours goes to the second spreader. The higher the better, I think. It does clang around up there, so it is not practical to leave it up all the time.

It must be mounted in the catch rain position (as mentioned above) in order to reflect strongly. The mount for the one I have now is good for this. I had an older one on our first boat that did not have a way to mount it correctly.

 

[Frank Langer]

We have a Davis Echomaster on our 30 foot sailboat. During a very foggy trip where we had to get home we mounted the radar reflector at the first spreader, about half way up the mast. I heard a ferry fog horn, and radioed him on our VHF. His reply was that he had been monitoring us on his radar, and we discussed how we would avoid a collision.

It was our first test of this radar reflector, and was reassuring to know that it worked!

Frank

 

[bayhoss]

Thanks to all for the valued info. I just bought an Echomaster.

Best,
Frank