[Public-List] Drilling holes in fiberglass and coax runs.

[Greg Roberts]

I'm adding a stern mount VHF antenna this weekend and needed to drill  
a hole for the coax pass through. The unit is a female-female fitting  
and needs a 5/8 hole which is bigger than any of my twist drills.  I  
bought an expensive stepped drill ($34) and, on a whim, a 5/8 paddle  
bit ($3.80). The sacrifical paddle bit worked beautifully.

The fitting is from ancor. I'm a little concerned that a wet deck,  
especially with salt water, is going to degrade my SWR. On the other  
hand, how different is it from soaked radials? Any fellow Hams out  
there with experience on this one? I've borrowed an SWR meter and will  
post the answer when I get everything working.

Greg