Once we get this all cleaned up and finished, that wraps up our initial Simrad upgrade. Which included the new NMEA2000 connected VHF radio, NSS16 display at the pilothouse helm, the autopilot and rudder feedback sensor, and the new transducer, and new radar.

The hardest part of replacing the radar was running the wires and removing the old radar.

Here are some photos of the old radar coming off.

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I think that we spent more time running wire for the new radar than anything else. The wires from from the pilot house dashboard to the closet in the bunk room, to the space behind the refrigerator, then up to the stereo panel on the fly bridge, then to the speakers in the radar arch and finally all the way to the center of the radar arch.

The image below shows the new radar, the new pedestal for the radar, which has a bar going up high for a new anchor light. The bar to the rear with an antenna and light on it will go away. The two wires coming out up top will be for turning on the anchor light, and a large flood light to light up the rear upper deck, and to use if we need to back into a slip in the dark.

Where we keep the boat anchored in the winter, there is a bit of an undeveloped “cul-del-sac’ in the waterway right across from the boat with no docks. When we first turned the radar on, in the middle of that small bay an object showing up a, and after further inspection it was a loon at about 300ft showing up on the radar.

Here are some photos of the radar on the NSS 16 display.

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Now we just need to learn how to use all the options on the radar.

Perhaps next time we are out in the fog that is as thick as pea soup, this will help us out.

The next step in the project will be a new display, the NSS-9 on the fly bridge, and to network it in to the NMEA2000 so we can do everything the NSSS-16 can do.

Here is how the radar arch looked before:

And this is what it looks like after.

4 antennas replaced with this.

Just for comparison, here is what the old radar looked like. The Furuno model 1715. Probably very nice 25 years go, but technology has come a long way in that time.