MrMoose
Jetboaters Admiral
- Messages
- 1,579
- Reaction score
- 2,278
- Points
- 267
- Location
- Calgary, AB, Canada
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2015
- Boat Model
- AR
- Boat Length
- 24
I'll start by apologizing for the long post. Last year, I installed two Bomb Wake flag holders on my wake tower. My tower tube diameter is 1 7/8". I purchased 2" brackets and lined the bracket with bicycle tire tubing so that the tower paint does not get damaged. The flag holders worked great. I used 1/2" diameter aluminum tubing as my flag poles (from Home Depot). Running at speeds of over 50 mph eventually caused the aluminum rods to bend 
, so I'm going to replace the flag poles with stainless steel and see if it works better.
I boat on a small lake and have no use for a vhf, nor a chart plotter, but I purchased both for last year's Bimini trip. The chart plotter is removable, and currently stored away, and the vhf radio is a portable one.
@Bruce was strongly, yet politely, suggesting that I install a real vhf radio in the boat as a safety measure for this year's Bimini trip, but I just couldn't bring myself to do a permanent install for something that I'll only use once per year. Although my handheld is only 6 watts, compared to 25 (I think) watts for a real vhf radio, some of the reading that I did suggested that antenna height was just as big of a factor when it came to effective working range. So, as a compromise I decided to hook up a 4 foot Shakespeare marine antenna to my handheld. I wanted to take advantage of the height of the wake tower, and I'd say that there's a perfect spot to install an antenna mount near the navigation light on the tower, but I didn't want to do anything permanent, and I didn't like the idea of drilling holes into the wake tower for something that I'll only use once a year.
The antenna mounts that the antenna screws onto have a 1" diameter 14 TPI thread on them. My Bomb Wake flag holders have a 1" outer diameter, so I bought a tap and die set for around $90 and used the 1" 14 tpi die to add threads to the outside of the flag holder.
Here's a pic of the die and the non-threaded flag holder:
When cutting the threads, it's really important to make sure that the die is perfectly perpendicular to the flag holder. Cutting the threads was pretty easy because the flag holder is made with aluminum.
Here's a pic of the threaded flag holder mounted on the tower (being used as a flag holder... with the bent flag pole):
Here's a pic of the flag holder mounted on the tower, showing how the antenna screws onto it:
Here's a pic of the overall install:
It's all easily removable. My radio hangs from the bimini support bar using a snap d-ring. I didn't need any straps to hold the antenna cable because it's well supported in the bimini sleeve. I hooked up a headset to my radio, so I can listen and talk while seated, or standing.
It takes about 3 minutes to install: screw on the antenna, thread the cable, attach the cable to the radio, clip the radio onto the bimini frame. I effectively raised my antenna by about 10 feet, and I assume that it should help. At this point, all I can say is that in my driveway, the weather channel sounds the same regardless of which antenna I use. Although I don't plan on using it without the bimini installed, the radio can be mounted to the wake tower using velcro without the bimini installed. I'll have to take it for some rough water sea trials to make sure that the flag holder can support the heavier antenna. I assume that since the flag holder is strong enough to handle forces that bent the 1/2" aluminum flag poles, it should be ok with the antenna. I don't plan on flying flags from the antenna, yet.
As a side note, if you're looking to install flags on your tower, I highly recommend the Bomb Wake. They come in different sizes and are reasonably priced for the quality. I bought mine from Mike at Action Ride Co. It's best to contact him directly because I'm not sure that their website is up to date: mike@actionrideco.com
Happy boating!
, so I'm going to replace the flag poles with stainless steel and see if it works better.I boat on a small lake and have no use for a vhf, nor a chart plotter, but I purchased both for last year's Bimini trip. The chart plotter is removable, and currently stored away, and the vhf radio is a portable one.
@Bruce was strongly, yet politely, suggesting that I install a real vhf radio in the boat as a safety measure for this year's Bimini trip, but I just couldn't bring myself to do a permanent install for something that I'll only use once per year. Although my handheld is only 6 watts, compared to 25 (I think) watts for a real vhf radio, some of the reading that I did suggested that antenna height was just as big of a factor when it came to effective working range. So, as a compromise I decided to hook up a 4 foot Shakespeare marine antenna to my handheld. I wanted to take advantage of the height of the wake tower, and I'd say that there's a perfect spot to install an antenna mount near the navigation light on the tower, but I didn't want to do anything permanent, and I didn't like the idea of drilling holes into the wake tower for something that I'll only use once a year.
The antenna mounts that the antenna screws onto have a 1" diameter 14 TPI thread on them. My Bomb Wake flag holders have a 1" outer diameter, so I bought a tap and die set for around $90 and used the 1" 14 tpi die to add threads to the outside of the flag holder.
Here's a pic of the die and the non-threaded flag holder:
When cutting the threads, it's really important to make sure that the die is perfectly perpendicular to the flag holder. Cutting the threads was pretty easy because the flag holder is made with aluminum.
Here's a pic of the threaded flag holder mounted on the tower (being used as a flag holder... with the bent flag pole):
Here's a pic of the flag holder mounted on the tower, showing how the antenna screws onto it:
Here's a pic of the overall install:
It's all easily removable. My radio hangs from the bimini support bar using a snap d-ring. I didn't need any straps to hold the antenna cable because it's well supported in the bimini sleeve. I hooked up a headset to my radio, so I can listen and talk while seated, or standing.
It takes about 3 minutes to install: screw on the antenna, thread the cable, attach the cable to the radio, clip the radio onto the bimini frame. I effectively raised my antenna by about 10 feet, and I assume that it should help. At this point, all I can say is that in my driveway, the weather channel sounds the same regardless of which antenna I use. Although I don't plan on using it without the bimini installed, the radio can be mounted to the wake tower using velcro without the bimini installed. I'll have to take it for some rough water sea trials to make sure that the flag holder can support the heavier antenna. I assume that since the flag holder is strong enough to handle forces that bent the 1/2" aluminum flag poles, it should be ok with the antenna. I don't plan on flying flags from the antenna, yet.
As a side note, if you're looking to install flags on your tower, I highly recommend the Bomb Wake. They come in different sizes and are reasonably priced for the quality. I bought mine from Mike at Action Ride Co. It's best to contact him directly because I'm not sure that their website is up to date: mike@actionrideco.com
Happy boating!
