My wife and I just acquired a 30' sailboat that came with an
SSB transceiver (Icom M600) complete with AT-120
antenna tuner. The
boat is fundamentally sound and originally sailed on its own bottom across the Atlantic in '93. Now it has a number of deferred
maintenance issues including needing a re-do of the
electrical system. Some components are slightly antiquated (radar/plotter from '99 along with this
SSB radio), others are offline, and there are basic problems with
batteries,
lighting, and
wiring.
My question is about whether it would be worthwhile to keep/re-install the SSB system when I gut and re-wire the
electrical system. Is this system worth the initial effort along with the space,
power, and complexity for casual cruisers in the
pacific northwest? Who uses SSB in this region and for what purposes? What would be the benefits to us of keeping it?
We are based in
Seattle and plan to use the
boat for light coastal cruising--a few weeks each summer in
Puget Sound and the San Juans and in future years further north within the inside
passage. We are unfamiliar with using SSB and are not sure what we might be missing.
Thanks,
Eric
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