Mega Yacht Radar Domes

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

whitenemesis

MB Club Veteran
SUPPORTER
Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
19,889
Car
Lexus RX450h F-Sport with Takumi Pack 2020
Could any one explain why they need so many? Some had eight in various configurations.

68787767.jpg
 
They won't all be radomes.

We had one in the yard for a bit ( stripped it off a boat what wouldn't go under a bridge and the owner never came back for it ) ...

When we took the cover off there was basically a satellite telly dish inside that swivelled round on a mount..

So some will be for TV , some for internet etc
 
Radar Domes ?

White Nemesis...

They are not all radar domes, maybe none of them are actually radar.
Satellite TV and satellite phone/internet use similar dome designs - they are deliberately designed to match the "radar domes".
So there may be multiple sat comms channels. If you are posh (and rich), you may need several sat links for internet, as the Inmarsat links typically give a max of 4mb/sec and usually less.

Can't see it in your pic, but would be surprised if there were not a "normal" rotating horizontal scanner for the usual med range radar - even on a mega-yacht. Such scanners are technically more efficient for most uses - unless one needs veeeery long range (maybe this is Dr No's vessel ???).

The four on the mast look usual, if a bit over the top - not sure about the four lower ones ... the two on the upper cockpit roof and the two aft of the cockpit. They are very low for radar (lower height restricting range, parts of boat obstructioning scan, odd reflections, etc) - and that applies to a lesser extent to the sat comms uses also.
So, maybe these lower ones are just willy-waving.

P.

[Howard got there first, must improve typing speeds]
 
Ah , but you explained it better. :eek:
 
Philnix,

Yes there appears to be two horizontal scanners in addition to the domes.

f0450003.jpg
 
My brother works on one with five domes + scanners:

He project managed the build, so will find out what they're all for - they dropped the mast on as soon as it was wheeled out of the shed I recall
 

Attachments

  • Silver Angel.JPG
    Silver Angel.JPG
    52.8 KB · Views: 88
ShinyF1,

It was fascinating watching people handing in what we assumed to be CVs to each yacht almost as soon as they moored up.

Just curious but what sort of experience is needed to work on these mega yachts? We observed a group of ~ 12 applying to "Sea Force One"
 
My bro is skipper on his - crews are fairly transient from what I can gather. He ended up in that business after bailing out of the London job scene and a therapeutic ski season working in a hotel.

He started as crew on a 50m yacht with no experience - I think he got in because he's also a qualified PADI instructor so in addition to a lot of graft, he took the 'boss' or charter guests for personal dives. It is very hard work [something he is not averse to], but he likes it and is now a qualified skipper after 8 years in the game [with an AWFUL lot of money and time spent getting the ticket].
 
A bit more ...

Well, thanks Howard - I tries me best.

Thought there would be normal horizontal scanners, there might be a couple of reasons why there are two scanners. Most usually, one is medium (50-70nm range), and the other longer range (why would even a mega-yacht owner need 200nm+ range ? - answer... defo this vessel is a James Bond villian's toy !).

The other possibility would be if the mounting position meant the mast blocked some arc of the scan, so could use two in tandem to provide 360 degree coverage - but usually you just put a single scanner up as high as you can, to get uninterupted "line-of-sight".

The two domes on the cockpit roof (the middle pair on the first pic ) look "odd". Silly place to put them, and the bases are unusual. I think maybe they are matching domes covering wi-fi or 3G antennae/ transceivers for wi-fi and mobile phones around the boat ? Posh or what ?
Could also be similar for fast land links (mobile phone band, not vhf) to base station at home port.

That's my two'pennorth anayway.

P.
 
I used to sell SatCom systems for yachts, you may want seperate connections for data (web/email) and another connection for IP telephony . plus one spare for redundancy. Also similar looking domes are used for TV. if you have $200,000,000 yacht you may want the same data connectivity as your land based office. So a 6 figure installation of comms hardware is neither here or there to ensure the world can still come to you to make more money. or to download adult material 3000 miles offshore :eek::eek: I wont get into LAN's WAN's VLANs and V-SAT contracts :ban::ban:

cheers

Paul
 
Qualifications....

Such a yacht would have a permanent crew (deck crew, officers like enginneers, chef, and Skipper of course)... but it would not be unusual to take on extra local hands at a port if staying some time in the region.

These locals would be anything from deck hands, waiters & cleaners, assistant cooks, interpreters for the local lingo, etc. Anyone needed for the extra entertaining that a boat like this is likely to do whilst in port or local cruising.

Maybe also, some of the people handing in their CV's would be local suppliers for food, chandlery, local concierge services, etc.

As to qualifications for the "sailors" .... you could be a deck-hand with little experience or qualifications on such a vessel... but it isn't likely.
Most crew- even locally hired - will have some experience and cruising qualifications. There are deck-hand/crew qualifications for such boats.
Permanent crew/ Officers will have at least ICC (International Certificate of Competence) or the like. The top bods on a 70m+ mega yacht will certainly have something like a YachtMaster certification, which is gained by both study and experience.

P.
 
At least one of them must be a GPS? Possibly paired for fail-safe?

GPS domes are tiny size of a coke Can. The bigger the dome the faster the DATA connection can be to the yacht along with a greater ability to track satelites at narrow angles befor handover to the next satelite.
 
Its known as the "My Yacht's got more domes then yours" syndrome.:p
 
At least one of them must be a GPS? Possibly paired for fail-safe?

Corned, Well could be GPS. It isn't usual to put the GPS "short-stick" or marine "pancake" antennae in a dome, unless it is for aesthetic reasons. GPS is relatively low powered and the dome might significantly affect signal strength in remote coverage areas, particularly high north or deep south oceans.

Multiplicity of domes allows several sat-channels, either comms or TV. Each dome being specific for a particular satellite, as this will be a vessel travelling globally, so it needs to hook several different satellites. Multiple domes allows a fixed tune for each dome to a particular satellite, rather than re-tune a single dome as the vessel moves between satellite footprint. As earlier poster said (sorry can't se ename while typing this ) an expensive solution but that isn't likely to worry the owner of such a vessel !

Most mere mortals wouldn't need such a facility, just to cruise around the Med !

A big cruise ship might only have two (big ! - high gain) domes for Sat TV - because they ply the same route pretty often so usually use the same satliite most of the time.

For the data-comms ? Well maybe only one dome needed (at most two) for the Inmarsat phone/internet/data worldwide - unless you want to add capacity over that given by a single link, or add redundancy.

P.
 
There was plenty of WiFi on those yachts. Sat in the our hotel room I could detect at least one from each along the habour side.

"Sea Force One" was very popular and had many visitors, including a film crew! It looked striking in it's black and grey colours. Apparently the captain is quite eccentric, dressing in leather and chain mail and wearing a "Phantom of the Opera" mask! You can just see a representation of the mask on the stern of the yacht. Not to mention the Samurai sword ..

1ce94ca5.jpg


"Moneikos" I believe belongs to Italy's 2nd richest man. Leonardo del Vecchio, wo heads Italian luxury goods company Luxottica , with brand such as Dolce & Gabbanna, Moschino, Prada and Versace. His crew were extremely smartly dressed at all times.

4dca1350.jpg
 
Last edited:
whilst in port they would hook upto a wired ISDN DSL connection in the same way they would for shore power. Some marinas have wifi with wireless access points dotted around for the further way vessels, my guess would be your berthing fee would include the password for data connectivity.
 
The power hook-up cable was massive. You can just see the one for Moneikos attached to the extending walkway. It must have been approx 3" diameter.
 
ha ha the funny thing about these vessels is fuel capacity. I was drinking in the Blue Lady in Antibes ( a known drinking hole for skippers and crew) and two guys were talking about fuel bunkering (buying fuel off shore from fuel barges that are just sat in international waters to gain tax free fuel) and they didnt refer to gallons or litres, they were buying in tonnes for their respective yachts!!! some fill ups taking half a day or more.

different world
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom