Thru deck coax connector..............

[Charlie]

I have moved my antenna to the top of mast and pulled coax through the mast, no problems. Just wanted to know the best place to drill hole through cabin top for a coax thru-deck fitting. Also need to know if this part of deck has any aluminium sandwiched in the fiberglass.

 

[Mark Major]

Coax through deck

Mine is a 86H23, and I'm offering this since there have been no responses for your particular model. I drilled through the deck next to the mast foot and found wood as well as metal while drilling, and I recall the thickness was more than I estimated (maybe 3" or so). For a while I passed the connector (RG59) through the hole to the bulkhead mounted radio (yes, a rather large hole) but have since re-wired with a connector on deck for the mast/deck connection. If I were to do this over I would drill a hole only large enough for the coax; you can buy connectors to install without the crimping tool. Good luck. Mark Major, s/v Lesismor

 

[Ken Palmer]

UHF Bulkhead connector

Wow. 3-inches is a lot. If you have a smaller thickness to pass through, I would suggest a UHF thru-bulkhead double female connector such as the type sold at Radio Shack (see link below). I would mount the connector on an aluminum plate, and bed the plate to make it watertight. Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty

 

[Carl]

i have a 23.5 and mine is mounted

it is mounted about 2 inches directly in front of the mast. the cable inside the cabin is run from this point along the curtain track (bow side) then is tucked behind where the headliner meets the hull it then runs the length of the cabin to the radio which is mounted next to the stairs over the aft berth dont know what is in the core as this was installed when i bought the boat

 

[Tom]

Through hull VHF cable idea...

Please see link for solution used on a H260...Every connector between your antenna and radio robs a few DB of signal strength. Minimize the connectors for best performance.Fair winds,Tom

 

[Ken Palmer]

Tom's right

Remember, if you step and un-step your mast, you will need to disconnect any wires from the mast to the cabin. Use connectors sparingly, but Tom's statement of robbing a few dB might be a bit much. Insertion loss is typically less than 0.2 dB at 9 GHz (or something like that).Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty