All my safety equipment is in place except for an EPIRB. Mine is a 228 but seeing that Grady's are so similar in design, where would you guys recommend mounting a Cat I EPIRB so that it can float freely if ever needed?
Where to mount an EPIRB on a Grady?
- Thread starter GulfSea
- Start date
Gman25
GreatGrady Captain
I have mine bolted on top of my hardtop on the stbd side.Where ever you decide just make sure you can get to it without an issue if you had to manually deploy.
'05 300 Marlin F250's
'05 300 Marlin F250's
I agree with Gman, put it on the hardtop but where it can be manually deployed. The Cat 1 feature to automatically deploy may not work with our boats given the depth needed to activate the hydrostatic release. I went with a Cat 1 figuring it gives me one more possible scenario to get rescued if things go bad in a hurry.
Thanks for the feedback guys, you just saved me some $$$'s and mistaken security. I mis-read how the auto deployment operates so given my hull is designed to float, it's very questionable whether the CAT I would even get deep enough to deploy from the bracket. Just so I clearly understand, the auto release bracket must be 4' plus to deploy? But a CAT I EPIRB would begin operating if manually pulled out of the bracket and thrown in the water? My intent is to have something that anyone onboard could reach and deploy with little thought or instruction.
I installed mine like Fishtales, although my boat is a CC. Although I originally thought I wanted a Cat I, I decided on a ACR Global Fix Pro cat II after a lot of research. It sits within reach at the helm and whenever I go out, I give my passengers instructions on how to activate it. Hope we never need it but it gives me peace of mind. At the end of the day its easy to remove and bring inside. The bracket also has a retainer so you can loop the antenna and it isn't in your way at the helm.Fishtales said:
GulfSea said:
The best explanation of how Cat I and Cat II EPIRB's work is contained in the ACR manual http://www.acrelectronics.com/media/pro ... -0233F.pdf
Jump to page 11 "Activating your beacon" and dive in. For a relatively small 228 Grady that won't sink, I cannot fathom a situation in which putting your EPIRB in a Cat I bracket would be of any value. Larger Grady's may be a different story.
I can't fathom not adding an extra layer of security for a few bucks. If you can't deploy your Cat II for WHATEVER reason, wouldn't you want at least a chance of having a Cat I deploy automatically? Does anyone think the Cat I LESSENS your chances of survival?
Only if the Cat I mounting position would be in a MORE DIFFICULT TO REACH location than its Cat II counterpart.
lgusto said:
Actually yes if I had mounted a Cat I not realizing what it takes to deploy from the bracket. One source I read directly from the user guide stated a depth of over 10' was required. I don't believe my hardtop would be 10' deep if the boat were to capsize. So there's the real possibility the EPIRB could still be in it's bracket with the boat capsized. IMHO, a false sense of security is worse than any other scenario. I'm getting a Cat II to go in the ditch bag. Thanks very much for all the information!