Standard dish mounted in the rear of the coachhouse
|
StarLink has taken the cruising community by storm in 2023. We regretted not getting on the bandwagon in Columbia in Dec 2022, but we could not resist the "regional deal" for A$199, which was available in Australia when we got to Tahiti. We were fortunate to get it through customs before they started cracking down on its importation and also our Australian residential address meant a regional roam plan was available for us in the Pacific.
My mum kindly activated it locally (she is 80...) and sent it over to Papeete. Below are a few pictures and video showing how we mounted our SL dish and led the cable to give us a neat installation. |
The standard dish is sitting in a fishing rod holder which is clamped onto our handrail on the coach house, port side aft. It is well clear of the mainsheet, even with the traveller all the way out.
|
The rod holder is open at the bottom, with just a bar across the end so we could easily pass the cable and plug through the bottom of the rod holder, attach it to dishy and then lower the dish and post down so it sits on the bar. We have not secured it to the rod holder and it has been fine in some pretty strong winds and bouncy conditions.
|
Rod holder from underneath
|
Running the cable
Cable passes under the edge of the coach house roof and into the conduit.
|
We used a 2 part conduit or cable ducting to hide and protect the cable. One part is self adhesive and sticks to the roof of the coach house, just beside the track for the clears. The cable is laid into the other half and the two parts clip together with the cable inside, so no need to be threading cable through.
|
 Wall between the cockpit and oven cabinet
|
Before installing the cable we drilled a hole in the wall of the cockpit, to come out just above the oven cabinet. The hole needs to be large enough for the cable and dishy's plug to pass through. We thought it was a good idea to cover the hole to avoid any unwanted visitors getting in. I will let you guess what spare boat part we used as a cover... Never throw anything out! |
Heading inside...
The cable enters the boat above the oven, towards the rear of the cabinet (port side) so you can't see it at all from inside the boat. Excess cable (there is alot) is fed down into the space behind the cabinet. (The white cable is from our sensor light.)
Cable along the top of the oven cabinet
Down to the router
1. Corner of the saloon; Vertical panel
|
2. Cable hidden behind corner panel
|
3. Router and power board behind the nav table
|
The cable is tucked under the ceiling panel that runs along the side of the saloon above the window. Its not attached, just tucked underneath and it stays in place. It comes down behind the curtain (Picture 1 above) and then is tucked in between the vertical corner panel and the window (Picture 2 above), before it reaches the router. The router is just sitting on the shelf behind the nav station (picture 3, left), where we also have a 4-slot power board, where the router is plugged in. Its partly hidden behind the nav station so looks quite neat.
In rough seas the router may fall over and rest on the back of the nav station, but no harm done and it still works! |
