Just finished a sail on Saturday p.m., started the motor and was
standing in the cockpit with my back facing the bow when I heard a loud
noise, what sounded like a 12 gauge gun go off behind me......felt
something hit me in the back, turned around and saw 5 - 6 square pieces
of aluminum on the deck and on the cockpit sole.....scared the heck out
of me.....for a moment, had no idea what had just happened.
Looked up to check things aloft and noticed my radar reflector (cylinder
shaped) which I had attached to my lower shroud with four (4) zip ties
(2 each top and bottom)......had been doing that for a dozen years with
no issues....and it was gone....all gone....nothing left attached to the
shroud.....not the two black end pieces of the reflector or any of the 4
plastic zip ties.....only thing(s) that remained were 6 pieces of the
aluminum from inside the reflector that fell down.....the rest must of
went overboard.
I have never heard of this happening, ever......the radar reflector
simply exploded. And it was not full of water which might have
expanded because some years ago when I took it off the boat in the Fall,
there was a little water in it so I drilled a 3/16" hole in one side
which always then became the 'bottom' when attaching to the shroud in
the Spring.
Has this ever happened to anyone else?
Can anyone explain how a cylinder type radar reflector can explode like
mine did?
Rob Abbott
AZURA
C&C 32 - 84
Halifax, N.S.
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