On my recent trip to Alaska, I encountered a lot of fog. Our "buddy boat" Skylark II was equipped with radar, but we were not. We have an AIS receiver so we could see large ships, megayachts and the bigger tugs on our chartplotter. But, could they see us?
Our boat had a permanently mounted radar reflector, above the upper spreader, attached to the rigging. It is a Mobri, a sort of plastic tube with metal reflection elements inside. When travelling near Skylark, they remarked that they could not see us on radar unless we were withing 1/4 mile or less. They pointed out some other boats that they could see well, and we observed all had the common spherical reflector made of flat aluminum plates.
At the first opportunity, I removed the Mobri completely. Skylark reported that our radar image was exactly the smae, neither better or worse without the reflector. In other words the MOBRI IS USELESS!. Worse yet, it gives a false sense of security and thus is more dangerous than no reflector at all.
When we reached Prince Rupert I flew back to Vancouver for a family wedding, and while there I purchased a new reflector, a Davis Echomaster. It fitted flat in my duffel bag and I brought it North with me.
It was easy to rig and in a few minutes I had it hanging (in the "catch rain" position) on the Port flag halyard, just below the lower spreader.
When next we were cruising with Skylark, they verified that we now are highly visible on radar at distances of several miles at least, a huge improvement.
The Davis Echomaster sells for around $75, much less than the Mobri. Don't waste your money and risk your life!
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