Installing a Garmin Radar on a Lagoon 38 

Yes you would want to tab them. Machine screws are threaded like bolts. Not hard to do in aluminum at all. use some Tuff Gel on the scres when installing. The rivets I use were stainless (and a bear to break off!) Corrosion is not a big issue but the Tuff Gel will help that as well. Wayne

Thanks, Wayne. With machine screws would you still have to tap? Or would a pilot hole be sufficient? I would imagine that the advantage of rivets is that they can be made of aluminum so you don't have to worry about galvanic corrosion.

Hi mark sorry to take so long getting back on this. No there was no internal conduit. I would have preferred that but without taking the mast down we just dropped the wires down. The owner plans to drop the mast in a couple of years and that would be a good time to fix that. The shavings are not an issue as they fall to the bottom and aluminum shavings are pretty soft anyway. You want to keep holes to a min and as small as possible. Just watch the they are not in high stress areas. Wayne

I used the rivets because they came with the mount and seemed easy. my original plan was to trill and tap. I think drilling and tapping would not have been much harder. Some 10-25 machine screws would work well. Keep them short so they don not snag anything inside the mast and use something like tuff gel when putting them in.

Thanks for showing your error on running the wires. We've all done it!

Hi Chris The mast is deck stepped with a small tube thru the bottom. That is where I used the coat hanger to snag the string and pull it thru the tube into the boat. Sorry that was not clear space was so tight I could not get my camera in there to show it.

Wayne, thanks for posting this clip! I didn't note whether you found an internal conduit to run the cables down, or whether you simply had to drop them to the mast base. Also - any concerns about metal shavings falling into the mast and fouling sheaves or damaging running rigging? I've been trying to sort all this out on my own (new to me) boat. What amount of spar drilling is OK to not weaken the spar?

Thanks for posting. I'm getting ready to add radar to my Gulf 29 and this is very helpful. It's not clear from the video if the mast is mounted on the keel or the deck. I'm wondering how the lead weight got from inside the mast to inside the boat. Also, is there another option besides riveting? Can you bolt the radar to the mast?

Mr. Canning: Your videos are impressive and inspirational. What type of boats did you build and where? I am awaiting your rewiring video as I am about to rewire the panels in my boat. Thanks!

sorry meant 10-24 machine screws

if you turned that music Off perhaps you could be heard as to what you are saying!

Hi. Could u pls advise spec and brand of ascender/ descender? Thx for the great vid!

Looking at the existing breaker panel...Why is it everything looks loose and unorganized..? I saw another sailboat video and it was a wiring nightmare. What's the deal? Then you see other boats and the wiring is so neat and clean, it's looks like a circuit board. It pisses me off to see spotty wiring because as a boater I know when you are at sea, with no help, you need things to work reliably.