Thanks for the suggestions. Life raft is in
cockpit locker along with ditch bag, which contains a Cat II EPIRB. I could mount the Cat I on the forward side of the
stainless steel arch adjacent to the life raft locker. In that location there is some chance the EPIRB could get trapped by the
bimini top/dodger if the
boat sinks stern first, but there is still the option of deploying it manually if there is time, and we'll have the backup in the ditch bag, again assuming we're able to grab it and deploy the life raft.
All that said, mounting at the
mast would pretty much assure that it would deploy and float freely to the surface, but could make manual deployment more difficult in a scenario where the
boat is badly disabled but not sinking. However, there is the Cat II in the ditch bag. OK, now I'm leaning this way.