Another good day in Dublin to do work outside, this time we need to empty the starboard lockers so I can lay the garden hose I prepared yesterday and also install the antenna tuner in the small cockpit locker. I didn’t take a picture of all my stuff on deck. As it was a Sunday afternoon and not many people were around, I decided not to crawl inside the aft cockpit locker on my own. I got in up to my shoulders but was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get out on my own! The reason I needed to get in there is to drill 4 holes so I could mount the antenna tuner inside, see the photo below:

You may wonder why I wrapped the antenna tuner in aluminium foil but this article from PA9X recommends it. When I finalise the install I may put it in a metal enclosure but this will do for now.

The device is kept in place by the bucket that contains part of the anchor so while I’m not sailing it isn’t going anywhere. I can look for a short or flexible person next Spring to finalise the mounting.

I also needed to connect a wire to the backstay outside:

I laid the 3 cables: the garden hose with the braided ground cable inside, a coax cable and the power+control cable all together through the centre of the boat, under the engine mounts into the cabin.

No photos because I was too tired and dirty to do this and I was racing against the clock: I was ready just before 20:00! Later in the week I will finalise the install.