R23 broken VHF antenna

[briandunnington]

When we pulled our boat out yesterday, I lowered the mast but got distracted and forgot to lower the VHF antenna. After towing it home down some tree-lined streets, got home and noticed that it had broken right down at the bottom where the fiberglass rod goes into the metal base.

My antenna says 'Shakespeare 5101' and they appear to be available online. But all of the items online appear to be 'side exit' (the cable comes out of the side of the metal base) whereas mine comes out of the bottom of the metal base. Regardless of exit point, is the cable attached via connector inside the antenna? I really dont want to have to re-run the entire cable. Anybody else out there have any similar bad luck with some hard-earned advice to share?

 

[gswearin]

Hi Brian,
Its always a question whether to repair crucial safety items, but on my last boat this happened to me and I was able to fix it. The fiberglass is just housing for the internal antenna and you can pull it off, cut cleanly, and seal it back into the housing and test it.

 

[briandunnington]

Thanks @gswearin - I went up there this afternoon to take a look, but it was raining pretty hard so I didnt make much progress. I will see if I can pull the fiberglass housing off and see if the cable is in tact. If so, maybe I can try to cut it clean and reattach like you suggest.

 

[Texas Tuggernaut]

Shakespeare makes a connector to splice coax cable like the one on your VHF antenna. Part number is PL258-CP-G. It crimps on and doesn’t require soldering. Putting a piece of shrink wrap on before making the splice would allow you to waterproof it and it should work fine. The splice would be outside the boat so the old wire inside could remain in place. Much easier and faster than re-running the entire new cable.

Also, most Shakespeare antennas can route the cable out the side or the bottom. Either would work.


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[briandunnington]

Thanks @Texas Tuggernaut - seems like the way to go if I have to replace the entire antenna. I *really* didnt want to have to reroute the entire cable. Now if it would stop raining for more than 5 minutes I might be able to go assess the situation better.

 

[Texas Tuggernaut]

It isn’t a question of ‘if’. If you broke the old one then you will need a new one. It’s a hard way to learn a lesson but…


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