If the SH is on special again, buy it! It is US made, good quality, reliable gear.

I rang the Mona Vale store and got them to put one aside for me.

samsturdy said..
By the way, I'm going to mount the radio in the same place as the other but I've decided to demount it when I leave
the boat and put it in a plastic bag. I've noticed every time I open up the boat humidity is 100% and this is what got
to the previous radio so I'm now putting items such as multimeters etc in plastic bags to keep them safe. My mate
on the Bavaria has lost his very expensive Nikon camera to humidity because it was constantly left out in the cabin.

I would suggest keeping the radio installed. Install at least 2 of these www.theboatwarehouse.com.au/deck-fittings-hardware/vents/ventilator-seabird/ and also a vent down near the stern to let the air escape. I have 5 on my cabin top! Laptop has survived for at least 5 years.

Yes ventilation is a must. I've only got a 28 footer remember, but I have a solar vent (working ) on the
front hatch and a healthy gap between the cabin hatch and the storm boards plus a boom tent. So
it's not air tight by any means, but it still gets humid in there.

shaggybaxter said..
Hi Sam,
Nearly all skippers I know in Brisbane with a keelboat have one of those household portable dehumidifiers sitting inside the boat running all the time it is at dock.
I wasted a couple of years trying to find a 12V version, till I swallowed my pride and asked around.
Turns out you buy the 240V versions and run it on shore power as you're at the dock anyway.
You just run the drain into the sink. Makes for a hot boat when you first open it up though.
Cheers,
SB

Hi Shags. I'm on a swing mooring mate so no shore power for me. We do use hippo's in the boat but they
don't last all that long, although they do help, we have about three on the go but when they're done then
it's back to humidity until the recharge.

This works for me in Melbourne, but might not in Brisbane.

On my swing-moored 28 footer, I have a snorkel vent in the forehatch, with a 4" computer fan blowing through it, and a gap at the top of the washboards to allow air in. The combination of induced flow from the backward facing vent plus the fan maintains a constant airflow whether windy or not. The boat always smells very fresh and humidity and mould are kept way down.

I'm sure it is more complicated in a berth, with wind from varying directions.

Cheers, Graeme

LC, if you are right - and you might be - l am grossly disappointed in the blurb l read about SH products.

Bunnings sells some fairly good moisture absorbant products. Buckets or bags.

saltiest1 said..
Something with my vhf too
Every time I depress the button to talk the thing shuts down. Anyone seen this before?

Undo the microphone plug, clean and re install.

Trek said..
Bad power wiring or fuse. When in receive current demand is very low and a high resistance bad connection not much problem, but switch to transmit and need 20A instead of 0.1A bad wiring causes such a big voltage drop radio shuts down. Unless transmit half of radio is actually faulty suspect the power wiring.

HI Trek,
As a troubleshooting step, would switching to low TX power prove anything? If it wiring related?
I still get confused with this weird electricity thingammy.

Trek said..

shaggybaxter said..

Trek said..
Bad power wiring or fuse. When in receive current demand is very low and a high resistance bad connection not much problem, but switch to transmit and need 20A instead of 0.1A bad wiring causes such a big voltage drop radio shuts down. Unless transmit half of radio is actually faulty suspect the power wiring.

HI Trek,
As a troubleshooting step, would switching to low TX power prove anything? If it wiring related?
I still get confused with this weird electricity thingammy.

Yes. If radio works OK on low power but not high it even more indicates the wiring back to battery.

The physics is ohms law. Say for example the power wiring has an 1/2 ohm bad connection. (ie Corroded crimp terminal or similar). When the radio is receiving and say its current demand then is 0.1A, the voltage loss caused by faulty terminal is volts = ohms x current which is 0.5R x 0.1A which is a voltage loss of 0.05V. Not too bad and radio works. If the current is 20A when transmitting voltage loss is 0.5R x 20A which is 10V. So in a 12V boat you only have 2V left. Not good! It can get worse if the faulty connection heats. Of course the transmitter part of the radio could be faulty. A crook antenna can destroy the output part of a radio. They are designed not to but thats not guaranteed. Depends who designed the radio and how important they thought that was at the time. The antenna can get tested for that with an SWR meter.