Salty John

[Silkie]

He's absolutely wonderful!*


















*Apparently




















Any chance of a wee discount?

[Arghiro]

Talk about kicking a man when he's down. Worst recession in years & you want a discount!








Sounds good to me!

[Silkie]

Just a wee discount. A small token to show his appreciation of the fact I haven't accidentally deleted him.

[aquaplane]

Good customer service wins everytime. You can't beat personal recommendation as a form of advertising, especially if you can get it spread all over an on topic web site.

[Silkie]

[pleading poverty]Let me know what she says; I want to replace my aerial and everthing between it and the radio but times are tough, as you probably noticed.[/pleading poverty]

[aquaplane]

Pleading poverty my, ,,,,goodness.

And they say Yorkshirmen are Scotts with the generosity taken out.

Let the man have his oats and be done with it, or was that a different thread????

[Clyde_Wanderer]

[pleading poverty]Let me know what she says; I want to replace my aerial and everthing between it and the radio but times are tough, as you probably noticed.[/pleading poverty]

Silkie, if your aerial is at the mast head its going to cost a fortune to "replace it and everything between it and the radio"
A mast alone will be at least 2k then there's the deck head, galley, head linning,,,,,,,,,,,,
John its going to be a bumper year!

[Rowana]

Silkie, when you're ready to do it just give me a ring - I'm sure we can work out a mutually satisfactory deal.

I'm hoping that it's no just Silkie that gets "a mutually satisfactory deal" as I'm also needing to renew everything from Aerial to radio.

What I THINK I need is -
Aerial
About 15 meters of cable
Plug to go into back of VHF.

At present there is a plug/socket on deck to allow the mast to come down, but I'm thinking of removing the socket and replacing it with one of these gland thingies and having the connection down below. I'm sure this is where I'm having the most bother with VHF operation.

I will therfore need -
Suitable gland thingie
Plug/socket for down below.

Is this all I'll need, or have I forgot some vital component, apart from the instructions to put it all together !

What's your BEST price for this lot, John

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Silkie, when you're ready to do it just give me a ring - I'm sure we can work out a mutually satisfactory deal.

I'm hoping that it's no just Silkie that gets "a mutually satisfactory deal" as I'm also needing to renew everything from Aerial to radio.

What I THINK I need is -
Aerial
About 15 meters of cable
Plug to go into back of VHF.

At present there is a plug/socket on deck to allow the mast to come down, but I'm thinking of removing the socket and replacing it with one of these gland thingies and having the connection down below. I'm sure this is where I'm having the most bother with VHF operation.

I will therfore need -
Suitable gland thingie
Plug/socket for down below.

Is this all I'll need, or have I forgot some vital component, apart from the instructions to put it all together !

What's your BEST price for this lot, John

Rowana, My advice would be to forget the deck gland thingy and fit a swan neck which will take all your cables through, this way you can have a continues cable from aerial to radio, no joints, and any other cables from mast can have their connections inside.
I made a swan neck and have the above direct line, it eliminates any scope for problems.

[Rowana]

How do you get your cable and plug out of the swan neck when you want to drop the mast? The one's that I've seen certainly aren't big enough to feed everthing through.

My present set-up is 3 plugs by the mast -
1 - Tri-colour and anchor light (combined fitting on top of the mast)
2 - Steaming light
3 - VHF

The VHF cable is hidden behind things in the cabin, and would be a bit of a bu99er to remove in total each time I drop the mast, so I think a connection in the dry is the best compromise.

[aquaplane]

As Aquaplane is set up for trail sailing and the mast is up and down several times a season I fitted one of these on the radio lead
http://boats.letsgoshopping.co.uk/p-210 ... t-kit.aspx
The pic may be a bit small


I'm going to have a go with one of those rubber compression fitting jobs so there is no break in the wire in future. The only person I know who has this system has to take the fitting off the end of the wire to get it through the deck gromet, obviously it's not soldered on isn't the arial plug that goes in the back of the radio.

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Rowana.
This winter I had to cut the aerial cable as you describe, it is well hidden and impossible to withdraw it all to the compression post.
I just cut it inside the cabin where it enters from the swan neck, and will have to fit a straight connector in spring when I restep the mast.
Basically you would have all your mast cables running down through the swan neck, and have any joints inside your cabin just below the deckhead, this way you dont have any electrical plug/sockets etc in an exposed position above deck.
C_W

[DaveS]

At present there is a plug/socket on deck to allow the mast to come down, but I'm thinking of removing the socket and replacing it with one of these gland thingies and having the connection down below. I'm sure this is where I'm having the most bother with VHF operation.

Are you sure there's a problem with your deck plug / socket, other than possibly poor cable terminations? I've used these (similar to Auaplane's picture above) on 3 boats over 20+ years and never had a problem. OTOH I have had problems with deck glands which I have often found to leak; if not when first installed, then some years later. I also dislike the whole business of disconnecting cables from connectors each year (probably more common for lights than VHF): apart from the general faff, there is a tendency to lose strands each time a pinch screw is done up, and unless the loose cable end is very well taped up, there's always a chance of getting moisture in over the winter.

I've posted on this subject before, here and elsewhere, so apologies for repetition, but I cannot think of anywhere other than yachts which uses this system. Anywhere else there is a need to regularly disconnect cables (think military, oil rigs, wherever), a proper system of waterproof plugs and sockets is fitted. Now it is just possible that the "yotty" method is best and the rest of the world wrong, but frankly I doubt it.

[Rowana]

The deck plug/sockets for the lights are ok, and when I put the mast back up and plug them in, I then seal the whole arrangement with self amalgamating tape to keep the weather out. So far it's worked well.

The deck socket for the VHF has been there for goodness knows how long, and I suspect that it's not in the best of health. I have the mast down at the moment, so I'm going to renew everything from aerial to radio anyway, as I've no idea of it's condition. One of the reasons I want to have the connection down below in the dry is that I'm of the strong opinion that a really good secure connection is essential for good VHF operation.

I know all about working on oil rigs, having worked offshore for years. Almost everything must be hard-wired and Ex certified, IP compliant and so on. Plug/socket connections were reserved for very temporary stuff, and even then had to meet stringent specifications.

[sahona]

So what's the best offer on a good quality masthead VHF antenna then ?
I've decided mine is too crumbly to risk another season.