We initially placed the radio just below the steering wheel because there was a good flat area for the flush mount.

What we hadn't counted on was the low power of the radio speakers. In this position, it was virtually impossible to hear the radio clearly, even on full volume, if we were standing up behind the wheel.

We relocated the radio (which is JIS-7 rated) externally to the side of the console. We got this idea from Mike Lewis, owner of Western Eagle Boats, who has a similar mount on his personal WE18 skiff. We covered the hole in the dashboard with a binocular holder tray.

On our first attempt at mounting the radio externally, we ran the wiring through a cable clam into the console. The idea was to protect the connectors on the power and NMEA cables by placing them inside the console. This later turned out to be too tight a fit (the radio-side cables were too short), so we simply ran the cables under the bottom edge of the console. A drip loop protects the console from water running down the cable.

VHF Radio Antenna
(Sorry! No picture for the first pass)

We do a lot of fly fishing, so we originally got a 3' whip antenna and put it on a rachet mount on the console rail. The idea was to allow us to swing the antenna straight down to provide clearance for casting.

We replaced it with a fiberglass 8' 6dB antenna (Shakespeare 5225XT). Range is now great.

Standard Horizon FF41 Fuel Flow Meter

We originally located the transducer vertically, on the transom in the bilge. This was the only place we could find downstream of the water-fuel seperator filter where we could mount the transducer vertically.

Performance was erratic at best, sometimes good, sometimes waaaay off.

We tried a number of things (see the Project Boat Scorecard), ultimately, it turned out that locating the transducer vertically inside the transom, above the filter completely fixed the problem. Now the FF41 is accurate to within 3% or less.

This would not have been possible, had we not repowered. By repowering, we were able to clear out a mess of engine harness adapter wiring that was in the transom for the old motor, freeing up space for the fuel flow meter transducer.

Cannon Unitroll HP

Our original install had the downrigger on a small platform which fit into a gunnel rod holder.

The stock rod holder on the back of the Cannon Unitroll HP was too small to accomodate any of our ocean-going rods. The plastic mount point also looked too weak to retain a 30lb class trolling rod on the strike.

Because the downrigger mount was in one of the gunnel rod-holders, there was no other place to set the rod if we were trolling another rod on that side.

We added a permanent downrigger mount on the starboard stern corner, and removed the rodholder from the downrigger. The downrigger rod now goes into the closest gunnel rod holder (visible behind the cleat).

We originally placed the battery switch facing inside the console, in an effort to protect the switch from the elements.

Unfortunately, this also made it very difficult to turn the switch on and off. Opening the tilt console to access the switch was difficult at best.

We were going to spin the single switch around and have it face outward, but decided to go to three waterproof mini-switches as per a West Marine Advisor. We also turned the trolling motor circuit breaker outboard as well.