ACR Pathfinder AIS SART with Bulkhead Mounting Bracket

When something goes wrong offshore, the clock starts and it doesn't stop. The Pathfinder AIS SART is built for exactly that moment. It's a manually activated Search and Rescue Transponder that puts your exact GPS position on the screen of every AIS-equipped boat within about 5 nautical miles. No radio call, no reading coordinates aloud off a handheld while you're trying to keep a life raft upright. You switch the unit on, and it starts broadcasting.

Here's how it works out there. Once activated, the Pathfinder transmits eight position messages per minute on the marine AIS frequencies, 161.975 and 162.025 MHz. It uses the same Class-A position reporting that commercial traffic already watches, so your distress signal shows up as a dedicated SART icon on any plotter or AIS display in range. There's no pairing and no fumbling with menus in the moment. Nearby vessels see you, get your GPS fix, and can steer straight to it. That's a real step up from a radar-only SART, which only paints on radar screens and struggles in heavy rain or fog. AIS positioning doesn't care about the weather the same way.

The unit is sized to live in a grab bag or on a bulkhead and get grabbed in a hurry. It's 8.94 inches tall and 2.56 inches across, and it weighs about 0.69 pounds with the battery. Waterproof to 10 meters and drop-proof onto water from 20 meters, so if it goes over the side with you or gets tossed into a raft, it keeps working. The lithium battery is rated for 96 hours of transmit time at -20°C, which means once you switch it on, it'll keep calling for help for four full days even in cold water.

Deployment is manual, and that's on purpose. You decide when it's a real emergency. There's a telescoping pole option, sold separately, that threads into the base and lifts the antenna up to about 3.3 feet for better range from inside a life raft, or you can hang the unit up inside the raft for hands-free operation. Antenna height matters a lot with AIS. The higher you get it, the farther your signal reaches, so if you're rigging a ditch kit, plan for that pole.

Who's this for? If you run offshore, cross open water, or your boat falls under SOLAS and GMDSS carriage rules, this handles the mandatory SART requirement in a modern way. Sailors doing coastal and bluewater passages keep one in the grab bag. Power cat and trawler owners running long legs often carry two for redundancy, one per raft or one as a backup. It's certified to MED, UK MER, GMDSS, and FCC standards, so it satisfies the paperwork as well as the practical need.

A couple of real-world install notes from folks who've mounted these. On fiberglass, back the bracket with a proper backing plate. The stock screws hold fine for storage, but you don't want the bracket working loose in a seaway. Secure the bracket latch on rough passages so the unit doesn't pop free and false-trigger. And if you wire the optional 12V test pigtail, give it its own feed rather than sharing the VHF circuit, so you don't see a voltage dip when it keys up. Near Field Communication is built in for quick registration and self-test, so you can confirm it's healthy without a full live transmission.

One honest note on the battery. It's a sealed lithium pack rated for a 5-year service life, and it's meant to be replaced by the factory, not swapped at the dock. Mark the expiration on your maintenance calendar right alongside your flares and other safety gear. This isn't a gadget you set and forget. It's life-support equipment, and it deserves the same check-up rhythm as the rest of your offshore kit. Treated that way, it'll be ready the one day you truly need it.