Most long distance boaters tune into the ‘nets. These are predefined times and frequencies, where several cruisers congregate and talk about weather, their travels, and anything else of interest. Nets are the original chat rooms, and can be a great source of timely information.

"Chum’s" has an Icom M710RT Single Side Band on board. It is a 150-watt radio, with a remote display head and a large digital display. We installed a 23-foot Shakespeare antenna and an extremely efficient copper grounding system. A proper grounding system will assure the best performance from a long-range radio.

Telephone service will be provided with both long-range satellite and standard cellular systems. We installed a KVH Tracphone, which will cover continental North America at a reasonable $1.19 per minute. When the boat is near home port, guests will use standard Motorola cellular phone service. Each system is tied in with a Charles Industries C-Phone system, so every room is connected by an intercom as well as the outside lines. The C-Phone also serves as the boats loud hailer and is connected to a 40-watt hailer horn.

Of course boating doesn’t have to be all work. The entertainment system on "Chum’s" will provide satellite television underway throughout North America. It’s a technological challenge to stabilize a satellite dish at sea. The dish must be constantly pointed at a precise location in the sky, all the while being rolled around by unpredictable motion. Sea-Tel produces a sophisticated gyro stabilized dish, which provides DirecTV as well as many other service providers. The system is run through the four TV’s on board, which are, in turn, run through a Sony audio system. The boat has digital quality video and sound on Sony televisions, at all times, in all but the worst conditions.

At Alcom Marine, we believe electronics are safety products. They are there to give the boat owner a level of confidence, which makes boating more enjoyable. We also provide Emergency Inflatable Liferafts, as well as Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBS). Both of which we hope you’ll never need to use, but strongly believe should be on all ocean going vessels. "Chum’s" has a Switlik MD2 dual tube, 6-man liferaft. It is packed in a hard plastic canister and mounted to an aluminum cradle using a hydrostatic release. It will deploy unattended and automatically should an emergency occur.

A Northern Airborne Technologies EPIRB is also mounted on board, near the liferaft. This next generation EPIRB is interfaced to the GPS system, and, in an emergency, will transmit the Latitude and Longitude of the vessel to a satellite, and on to the proper authorities. EPIRBs transmit, on a regular basis when deployed, your position, vessel particulars and personal information. The Coast Guard will be alerted to the exact location of a vessel in trouble, and will take action immediately. Click here to continue

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