My Trip Down the VHF Antenna Rabbit Hole

[Bluewater272]

Mount appears to be in-stock (quantity: 7) here:
https://www.marine.com/products/11-...ainless-steel-fold-down-mount-w5m-black-cable

 

[Bluewater272]

Amazon too (not prime): https://www.amazon.com/PACIFIC-AERI...D=31TGhY2Sz%2BL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

[Bluewater272]

Just for comparison, I had bought a 6159B on eBay because it was pictured as Mainah's (and the seller swore it was the new model), well it wasn't. Here's a side by side:

 

[Bluewater272]

I'm thinking about installing it on the next crossbar down (below, but starboard side). I'll lose about 12" of antenna height or so, but I'm pretty sure I lack the talent to cut/polish the bracket as well as Mainah did, and should be a bit easier to fish. Does anyone know if that crossbar is solid, too? I don't want to start drilling a hole to tap it and find out it's hollow - that would be no bueno.

 

[Sbrown]

I drilled and tapped the holes for the mount into the top aluminum cross piece of the tower (1/4” 20 TPI ¾” deep threads in 1” solid aluminum)

I installed my antenna mount on my 2017 AR240 in the same place as you only my cross piece is not solid, it is hollow. Maybe something to note for owners of similiar boats to check before they drill.

 

[Bluewater272]

Interesting that yours would be hollow. Didn’t think that there was much of a difference between towers besides the securing mechanism.

Following up from my prior post, the second crossbar down on the limited S is solid. Soft aluminum, really easy to drill/tap.

 

[BBottoms]

I thought the AR tower crossbars might be hollow based on the tried and true 'tap on it and see what it sounds like' method. Is the material thick enough to tap and hold a screw reliably? I'll be doing mine soon in the same location, hopefully.

 

[Sbrown]

I thought the AR tower crossbars might be hollow based on the tried and true 'tap on it and see what it sounds like' method. Is the material thick enough to tap and hold a screw reliably? I'll be doing mine soon in the same location, hopefully.

Yeah, the walls are about 1/8 inch or so. I used 1/4-20 screws installed with an impact wrench and they didnt strip out. I used a 7/32" drill bit to make the holes. They sounded hollow when I tapped on them, but I was hoping my ears were wrong and my experience would be similiar to @Mainah's. Thats why I thought I would post about mine being hollow.

 

[BBottoms]

Juat a heads up for anyone looking to do this mod on an AR240, the Pacific Aerials mount appears to be just a little too big to fit on the AR240 towers. Even if you trimmed the corner like @Mainah the long edges would hang over the flat of the crossbar and the screws may not go into a flat surface. Apparently the crossbars are not only hollow, but a little smaller on the AR boats compared with the Limiteds. With that said Shakespeare makes a similar quick connect mount, the QCM-S, that has a smaller base plate that appears it will fit with no trimming. I believe this is the mount that @Sbrown is using in his picture above. Only downside to the Shakespeare mount is it's not as sleek looking (lever vs knob for ratchet mechanism) and the antenna options are more limited (white only and no 6' option).

I found dimensions of the mounts online and printed out to-scale templates. Pictures are taken on the upper crossbar:

Here's the Pacific Aerials P6759


Here's the Shakespeare QCM-S

 

[Bryan Martini]

Juat a heads up for anyone looking to do this mod on an AR240, the Pacific Aerials mount appears to be just a little too big to fit on the AR240 towers. Even if you trimmed the corner like @Mainah the long edges would hang over the flat of the crossbar and the screws may not go into a flat surface. Apparently the crossbars are not only hollow, but a little smaller on the AR boats compared with the Limiteds. With that said Shakespeare makes a similar quick connect mount, the QCM-S, that has a smaller base plate that appears it will fit with no trimming. I believe this is the mount that @Sbrown is using in his picture above. Only downside to the Shakespeare mount is it's not as sleek looking (lever vs knob for ratchet mechanism) and the antenna options are more limited (white only and no 6' option).

I found dimensions of the mounts online and printed out to-scale templates. Pictures are taken on the upper crossbar:

Here's the Pacific Aerials P6759
View attachment 75074

Here's the Shakespeare QCM-S
View attachment 75077

I was able to use the pacific aerials mount on my AR. You have to be extremely careful about your placement but the screw will bite in before the cross bar rounds over. I measured 10x before I tapped my 1st hole.

 

[Bryan Martini]

 

[BBottoms]

Good to know it'll work. Thanks!

 

[Dean P]

@Mainah @seanmclean What size hole did you drill in the tower for the cable? Did you cut the cable connector off to fit thru a smaller hole? What size grommet did you use? Getting ready to do this install and this is the last piece to the puzzle. Thanks!

 

[Bluewater272]

@Mainah @seanmclean What size hole did you drill in the tower for the cable? Did you cut the cable connector off to fit thru a smaller hole? What size grommet did you use? Getting ready to do this install and this is the last piece to the puzzle. Thanks!

Sorry, I don't recall the details off the top of my head. The beauty of the Pacific Aerials cable is that you can take the big fat end off of it when you run the cable, and then reconnect at the radio. The hole size is only slightly larger than the diameter of the cable. I don't recall the grommet, I just bought a few that looked like they'd be about the right size and picked the one that was the closest. Only a few cents each at most hardware stores anyway, but you could always bring the cable with you.

You can see in the pic below that the large connector is removable, so you only need to fish the smaller connector through the tower. It's not much larger than the coax, and I would not attempt to cut and reconnect.

 

[Dean P]

Sorry, I don't recall the details off the top of my head. The beauty of the Pacific Aerials cable is that you can take the big fat end off of it when you run the cable, and then reconnect at the radio. The hole size is only slightly larger than the diameter of the cable. I don't recall the grommet, I just bought a few that looked like they'd be about the right size and picked the one that was the closest. Only a few cents each at most hardware stores anyway, but you could always bring the cable with you.

You can see in the pic below that the large connector is removable, so you only need to fish the smaller connector through the tower. It's not much larger than the coax, and I would not attempt to cut and reconnect.

Thank you! I was not aware the screw on connector came off. I need to check that out.

 

[rkim808]

Juat a heads up for anyone looking to do this mod on an AR240, the Pacific Aerials mount appears to be just a little too big to fit on the AR240 towers. Even if you trimmed the corner like @Mainah the long edges would hang over the flat of the crossbar and the screws may not go into a flat surface. Apparently the crossbars are not only hollow, but a little smaller on the AR boats compared with the Limiteds. With that said Shakespeare makes a similar quick connect mount, the QCM-S, that has a smaller base plate that appears it will fit with no trimming. I believe this is the mount that @Sbrown is using in his picture above. Only downside to the Shakespeare mount is it's not as sleek looking (lever vs knob for ratchet mechanism) and the antenna options are more limited (white only and no 6' option).

I found dimensions of the mounts online and printed out to-scale templates. Pictures are taken on the upper crossbar:

Here's the Pacific Aerials P6759
View attachment 75074

Here's the Shakespeare QCM-S
View attachment 75077

Is this on all AR240’s, I have a 2015. So is the tower the same size?

 

[swatski]

Is this on all AR240’s, I have a 2015. So is the tower the same size?

Yes, all 2015+ AR240s have the same tower.

—

 

[BBottoms]

Is this on all AR240’s, I have a 2015. So is the tower the same size?

I have a 2015 AR240 which is what is in my pictures. As @swatski mentions all '15+ AR240s have the same tower.

 

[rkim808]

View attachment 75101 View attachment 75100

That’s a ?install, that’s on the list of things to duplicate haha lol.

 

[Dean P]

My $0.02: If the area you're mounting to is too small, you could put a sub-plate behind the mount and the frame. I'm contemplating that right now.