C30 AIS Box Placement

[RobMcClain]

This question is for C30 and C32 owners who have installed an AIS transmitter. Specifically, where have you placed the transmitter box? I’d like to put it in the small cabinet behind the helm, the one accessible by opening the mirror in the head, but that limited space is already so crammed full there is no room in there. I would like to keep wire runs to a minimum and have the installation be something I can do. I have yet to make the purchase because I want to determine what I am facing, but I am a bit flummoxed at this point. Any feedback out there on placement and wiring?

Rob

 

[Full_O_Fish]

Factory mounting location for my vessel was in the cave, outboard above the removable ceiling panel. If using the existing vhf antenna, placement there would require running a section of coax cable from the vhf at the helm back to the AIS unit. Usually there's some of the nmea2000 backbone in this area anyway so that cable run is quick and easy, and there usually is decent gps reception available there. Alternatively an external gps antenna can be either run all the way up to the roof/mast or can be run to the helm cabinet and be placed above the head compartment roof liner.

 

[SJI Sailor]

I put ours in the cabinet behind the helm. That was extremely convenient for power, nmea, and antenna split as noted.

To find room, what I did was to mount it on the forward side of the compartment, i.e. on the fiberglass rather than the plywood. The compartment was deep enough to allow that with no problem with the existing equipment.

That presents the question of how to mount it to that fiberglass. I figured "Velcro might work" as an initial try and if it loosened, it would be gradual and detectible, and the box wouldn't have anywhere to go anyway, just droop down. And I could reassess then. That is not a tactic I usually like on a boat! However, after using "industrial" Velcro on a cleaned surface, I can say that it held perfectly for the next 3.5 years that we owned the boat. Sometimes things work out 🙂

Now that I think about it, I think I'd still do that for the simplicity ... but add a backup such as a strap that screws into the plywood just in case. No evidence it is needed but I think (almost) everything should be hard fastened.