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Post by carsky on Feb 12, 2021 8:49:18 GMT
I am re-posting. I am new to the owners forum, and believe I initially posted this in the wrong place. My apologies if this is redundant.
I am considering mounting a spotlight on my 795 NC Sport. I believe my options are to either mount it on top of the pilot house, or somewhere on the bow. I have heard that I will experience glare if I mount it on top of the pilot house. Does anyone have experiences they can share with regard to this?
Thank you
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Post by ihsan on Feb 27, 2021 10:22:32 GMT
Almost all the MF series come with only a small navigation light on the roof. This is the begining of the problem if you think you want to mount some items on the roof. This may be the spotlight, horn, fm and vhf antennas, extra navigation lights, (like bow and stern lights) radar, radar reflector, tv receiver, a place to put your flag, and finally a rack. I think a rack is being supplied with the 2021 models. However this rack supplied does not help much to your mounting problems mentioned.
What I have seen the usual practice is to put the spotlight to the front on the roof. This means if you have a 360 degree turning spotlight you will have to restrict yourself with front and side views with no back view. The second practice is to place a radar mounting base back of the roof near the small navigation light. These are all working practices but at the end you may find yourself with items scattered around the roof in different places here and there.
I tried to solve the problem by a custom made stainless steel structure which can house almost all these items. But this is difficult to apply, because you have to reinforce the roof, and the small round place of your cockpit light under the roof does not give you enough working space.
So if you think you are going to need improvements, the best approach would be to find a combined solution. My option would be a system that is a part of the rack which extends back and houses all your needs. Because it will be part of the whole rack you probably would not need extra support from below like I have done.
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Mikeh
Full Member
Posts: 44
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Post by Mikeh on Mar 4, 2021 8:28:09 GMT
I tried to solve the problem by a custom made stainless steel structure which can house almost all these items. But this is difficult to apply, because you have to reinforce the roof, and the small round place of your cockpit light under the roof does not give you enough working space. So if you think you are going to need improvements, the best approach would be to find a combined solution. My option would be a system that is a part of the rack which extends back and houses all your needs. Because it will be part of the whole rack you probably would not need extra support from below like I have done. What kind of support did you apply inside the roof? Did you manage to do it through the roof light aperture? Could you provide a picture of your steel structure? I’m going to need a mount for the radar, and the mount could as well be a structure where I could also put the VHF antenna and anchor light + horn and search light, if I want to add those.
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Post by ihsan on Mar 5, 2021 18:45:30 GMT
The cockpit lamp hole is too small to the extensive work and depth there makes work from below painful. The roof above this area, especially the part extending over the cockpit is not solid enough. Reinforcment means matel plates cut with corresponding holes to hold and meet the nuts from above with bolts from the bottom. This is not easy if you dont open a larger hole to work there. We were able to put two bolts only from the small hole after extensive labour. The extra speaker holes opened port and starboard side did help but not much. Perhaps you may think of opening a larger hole near or around the lamp hole. Time was short and we did not have a second chance then. Another way of simple support may also be to push in triangular pieces or square pieces of wood inside to make the roof more rigid.
My solution works but in rough weather the structure does move. This can be rectified with more support of course.
I did put pictures earlier in my threads but they are out by now. I am having difficulty to put pictures, and lately my I phone does not communicate with my lap top. You can see it faintly from my profile picture.
I have seen other solutions and the one I like is a rack system made from steel bars and both serving as a rack in front and at the back carries your radar etc. In this compound structure which distributes weight to a large area, support from below may not be necessary at all.
As we are mentioning support, I found out that the cleats at the stern dont have any kind of support from below, they are simply on the hull. This I found out to my suprise when we had to open a hole there for some improvements. I hope the cleats at the bow are not like that. May be the boat builder knows better. The swimming platforms are strong with small pieces of metal pieces embedded.
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Mikeh
Full Member
Posts: 44
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Post by Mikeh on Mar 6, 2021 8:33:17 GMT
I have seen other solutions and the one I like is a rack system made from steel bars and both serving as a rack in front and at the back carries your radar etc. In this compound structure which distributes weight to a large area, support from below may not be necessary That is what I had in mind, a rack. The problem will be how to secure it inside the roof. This is already very much off-topic, sorry. But: The manual says those cleats should withstand forces of up to 14.4 kN (1469 kg / 3237 lbs) without snapping. I wouldn’t like to test it. I’ve noticed that in wavy conditions the rear starboard side part of the hull flexes 1-2 cm on either side when moored, although I’m using mooring springs. It’s very likely going to develop cracks in the gelcoat sooner or later.
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