For the trip to Indonesia, we have bought Starlink hardware while we had access to shops in Cairns, and have an account for use while under way at sea. We turned it on for crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria, and just sat the antenna outside on the deck while in use. This worked ok in the calm conditions of our crossing, but we needed to do something better but still temporary, as the long term plan is to obtain the smaller more efficient mini antenna.

I designed and built these plastic chocks on the 3D printer. The front two chocks have a lip on top so the antenna can not lift up, and one of the back chocks has a length of bungee cord that secures the panel down, but still allows it to be removed.

We noticed on the Gulf crossing that the antenna is sensitive to overhead obstructions, and the location of these chocks on the turret roof could cause the boom to obstruct the antenna when sailing deep downwind with the boom out wide. To overcome that, I have mounted a set of chocks on both sides of the roof, so the antenna panel can be moved to the other side if obstructed. It’s all of a bit of an experiment at this stage, but at least this provides a secure mount for the panel for our trip to Indonesia.