Radar arches

B

b_arrington

Member
exMember
Joined
Jul 21, 2005
RO Number
18340
Messages
552
I posted this to the fabrication section by mistake.

Has anyone installed an Atlantic Towers radar or fishing arch on their boat? I'm looking for others' experience in installing one of these towers. How difficult was it to install? Would you recommend professional installation?

I'm especially interested in how electrical connections are made for antennas and lights, given that the mounting points are solid and wires can't run completely through the pipe and into the boat. How did you run multiple wires, such as an antenna, arch lights, and nav lights?

If anyone has put one on a 2005 / 2006 270 Amberjack, I'd really like hear about that.

Brad
 
Brad,

I installed an Atlantic Towers fishing arch on my boat (Wellcraft Sprotsman 248) three years ago. It was really fairly easy, taking about 4 to 5 hours with my 14 year old son's help. The hardest part was holding it in place while measuring, marking and dirlling etc. I have radar, VHF and GPS antennas, deck lights and an all around light mounted to the arch. To run the wires I simply drilled a hole in the side of one of the legs and fished the wiring there. I drilled the hole at an angle so that the wires come out in a downward direction so as not to allow water into the tube. The fit was spot on and I would recommend Atlantic Towers highly.
 
I installed this top on my 315 commander from Atlantic Towers about 3 years ago. Got a couple of friends to hoist the top on the boat. I used pipe holders to level and temporary hold in place and then marked the mounts on the side and drilled and installed the mounts on the side. Then hoisted top back on and set on mounts. Was not really that hard just make sure you got it in place where you want it before you drill your mounts. Drilled hole where light wiring was to go and used shop vac to pull string for pulling wire. Pulled the wire threw for lights and antennas.Use the clam shell vents to make wiring entrances and exits look nice. You can see the top in the classified section 1983 315 commander.
http://www.boatered.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=81661
 
We put an Atlantic Towers arch on our '97 Bayliner 2355. All went well. Used a step ladder over the engine compartment to hold it up. Have radar and a number of antennas on it. Drilled about a 1" hole on the insides of the rear starboard leg (big enough to get the radar connector through there) just above the solid mount. Then an entry hole into the boat with one of the chrome covers that protects aginst water getting in the boat. Ran the wires up the starboard side above the Cave into the cockpit. Used a wire fish thing that electricians use. Later went back and put on the swival mounts on the rear legs. Allows us to drop the arch back and keep the height down to around 10.5' on the trailer. We are 13.5' to the top of the radar dome with it up.
For our install, we had to make sure the arch would not interfere with folding the bimini back and putting on the boot.
Also need to make sure that the though bolts come in in an area that you can get the nuts on inside the mid cabin. The locations are accessible on our boat via two removable ceiling panels in the midcabin. We missed on our location by about 1/2" and had to cut away part of the rear bulkhead up there. We had to move the "Ciera" logo. Used a hair dryer to get it off, then glued it back on between the forward and aft arch legs.

I think now the arch comes in pieces. Makes the width owner selected and probably easier to ship.
Very happy with the result. The brushed Aluminum has stood up very well and it is light weight.

For the wiring, recommend you put extra coax's and 12 v wires through the arch before you install. It is much easier to fish them threough before you screw the legs into the mounts. We did not use the sealer on the screws to the mounts so we could get it apart if we needed to. We found we had to counter sink the solid mounts as well as the aluminum tubes in order to get a tight fit.

Don
 
Installed one on my Grady White last summer. Easy enough just take your time and don't rush it. Fishing wires through is not hard. All in all I was pleased. I also installed the optional kit that allows it to fold back for trailoring and it worked fine.

However, I warn you - the arch I received was either defective or a return. The back legs were not the same length. On closer inspection one appeared to have been cut. Luckily I based my placement on the short one (didn't notice the cut until later) but it took quite a while to figure out why it didn't line up. Obviously the expectation is uniform lengths from the factory. Had I based placement on the long leg I would have been screwed. I informed them about this issue and they basically told me I was crazy that they do not send out returns as new and that their manufacturing process doesn't allow for those types of mistakes. So, I think it is a good product but check it carefully before installation. Based on their response to my complaint (I didn't ask for a refund, discount, anything just was letting them know) if I had a serious issue (like basing placement on the long leg) I'm not sure how helpful they would have been.
 
I'd like to keep the look as close to OEM, and the OEM arch for my boat has rolled tubes that match the curve of the side glass. The OEM forward mounting point is also way forward (near the front of the windshield. I think that the shape of the side of the hull might give me some difficulty mounting a standard aftermarket arch.

Atlantic Towers is supposedly working on a new type of arch that features rolled tubing and might fit my boat better. But one thing I still concerned me was the wiring. If I mounted say, a GPS antenna, VHF, and a couple lights, that's minimum three and maybe 4-5 wires coming out of the arch leg and into the boat. In the interest of a clean installation, I wasn't too sure how to route and bundle those wires. Especially if I want to keep the antenna wire separate.
 
I installed one of Atlantic Towers arches on my Silverton. Not hard to install, measure twice cut once. Comes with basic directions and suggestions,height, set back, drill size and so on.
As far as running wires, if possible I would run before mounting. You have to take into account how much wire you have to run and then divide that up between the four legs of the arch. I ran all mine through the two front tubes (legs). Always a good idea to run extra wire or ribbon so you can pull harness' through in the future.
I am very happy with the Quality and have ordered a hard top conversion from them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top