Fixed VHF without a console

[C-NUMB]

Originally Posted by Stoo

Yowsers! That's a long trip in a wee rubber boat!

In fact we did it twice. Full credit for the crew, on the westbound leg had the 13 Y daughter as crew and on the eastbound the 15 y daughter. Pretty rough weather on the first trip, 12-15 m/s during the day, even tough selected inshore routes, fairly bumpy from time to time. Holding on to the boat with one hand and to the tiller with another, considering more than 200 way points, not practical to navigate with paper-charts, plotter was really needed and the location of the table was working well. Later in the evening wind was not an issue but spent close to 9 hours in the boat, one refuelling stop ashore. Stiff like an old dog after the trips but still best days of this summer,would not change a minute.

Mobile pictures, taken during swapping fuel tanks at midnight.

[Delta 15]

Just to close the loop on this thread, I ended up making a bracket for the VHF radio and antenna that is bolted to the transom (see pic).

It's a sheet of 1/8" stainless bent at 90 degrees and is fixed to the transom with the U bolt that was already there (no new holes drilled).



I haven't finished the wiring but it should be pretty simple to wrap it up.

[Pikey Dave]

You might pick up a lot of interference having the radio & antenna so close to the engine, just a thought.

[Jizm]

Originally Posted by Delta 15

Does that not get in the way when steering?

[Delta 15]

You might pick up a lot of interference having the radio & antenna so close to the engine, just a thought.

Yes, I considered that but since having a fixed radio is first and foremost for safety/emergency use, I'll kill the engine if I get any interference.

Does that not get in the way when steering?

I checked before I installed and even with the tiller hard over, there's a couple of inches of clearance between the cowling and the plate.

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions -- I'll let you know how the radio works in the real world as soon as I take the boat out.

[willk]

Originally Posted by C-NUMB

Crew is sleeping on the air floor, hand on bow line. We made 105 nm that day, my neck started to propose console steering over tiller.....

If RIBnet did medals, this bloke should get one

Originally Posted by Stoo

Yowsers! That's a long trip in a wee rubber boat!

Yowsers? That's interesting, is it a common expression over there? I ask as I've heard it here (after a fashion)...