Making the Most of a Minimal Budget. Contact me at: skintsailor@yahoo.co.uk or on Twitter: @skintsailor

Sunday, 21 May 2017

New Home for the VHF

Finally got it all screwed down and sorted. The VHF is now installed in it's new home.

As you can see it doesn't take up much room:


Here's a wider shot:

The horn push button is the black thing nearest the bulkhead. I need to wire it up later at some point.

The thing on the left pointing in to the cabin is the volt meter:



So, another project down, on to the next one.

9 comments:

  1. Good idea... may steal that for my VHF fit this winter.... what direction/depth do the battens go?

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  2. Steve, The batteries aren't mounted in the box, they are in a locker under the front bunk. The wiring will eventually be hidden in trunking when I put the cup and plate rack back in place on the back bulkhead. All that back end is getting a spruce up.

    The volt meter is there just to give me an easily viewed indication of battery status.

    The area below the VHF is a small moulded in table on the Seawych (the port side houses the cooker) so it's dead space really, hence why I went for the ceiling mounted option. You can't sit there so it doesn't affect headroom. The VHF is pretty deep and goes back quite a way, so this is probably the most unobtrusive mounting option. The GPS antenna for the DSC is mounted to the window behind the curtains. I'll eventually use double sided tape for a cleaner installation rather than the duct tape in place at the mo. :-)

    It's actually turned out looking batter than I thought. I'm no woodworking expert, so for me it's pretty good.

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  3. Nah - not batteries, battens - wanted to know how the VHF is attached to the roof.. was guessing wooden battens glassed to ceiling and then VHF box screwed into them???

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  4. Yep, I had some wood left over from strengthening the washboard. It was 1 inch by 1 inch (or 25mm x 25mm in metric) teak or oak. I got it from Wickes or B&Q from the range where you build up staircases.

    Anyhoo, I just have 2 epoxied to the roof at the end with the volt meter and 2 epoxied to the back bulkhead. 25mm x 25mm I feel gives you decent depth to screw into and enough space from the wall so you're not skinning your knuckles when screwing the screws in. :-)

    The worst bit was scraping the foam and old glue off the surface left over from the lining. I made sure I got back to bare fibreglass and cleaned it well before glueing.

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  5. Thanks for that Mark = food for thought...

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  6. If I can, I'll take the end panel off and take a picture inside so you can see most of the battens if you want. The only downside is I wish I'd taken more thought over the dimensions. A little bit longer and it would have been big enough to fit a car radio next to the VHF. As it is, it's annoyingly a cm or so too small.

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  7. Thanks Mark - but no need - I get the idea.. car stereo overkill these days?? I use my phone and a set of blue tooth speakers these days, far better sound than the amplifier and speaker setup I had in the last boat too... which gave me an idea... would these fit??? :o))

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BlitzWolf-BW-AP1-20W-Mini-12V-Hi-Fi-Hifi-Car-Audio-Amplifier-FM-Stereo-Radio-MP3-/322519664515?hash=item4b17ab8783:g:Ps8AAOSwRQlXdjh2

    ..or for REAL bells and whistles...

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HY601-USB-FM-Audio-12V-LED-Car-Stereo-Radio-MP3-Speaker-Hi-Fi-Amplifier-Blue/292084907436?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D44293%26meid%3Dc6f3e4050c3d4f23a4b4f52225f88c86%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D322519664515

    ....and both for a tenner...

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  8. I just use a small cheap LW/SW/FM transistor radio for entertainment, it keeps me happy all day and only uses 2 AA batteries. :-)
    I do like the second unit. Only for the FM radio facility, the disco lights I can gladly do without. :-)

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  9. Ha... you want the first one then, and it's cheaper... they are really natty little units - I had the simple amplifier on the old boat - 20W per channel from a box of electronics no bigger than a packet of fags, and less than a tenner (incl. postage) from China - unbelievable value and a good sound too...!

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