Batboard

We are presently outfitting a Boston Whaler that was donated to us by a law enforcement agency. They had a GE system (110 watt) trunk mount unit installed in the boat. They used the Marine band fiberglass antenna for the radio. It is rated on the antenna for 156-162mhz.
I want to install a CDM1250 unit in the console ( weather proofed ).

Can I use the installed antenna? We would not be transmitting that much.
I will be programming the Marine freqs into the unit also.

Has anyone had any luck installed LED heads such as the Whelen 500 series in a water enviroment. I want to install 2 heads on the rear of the boat.

Sorry for not including. but our main freq is 155.6175 ....

Lash out and buy a XTL2500 motorcycle version.
Comes with waterproof control head, speaker and mike. Just mount the box in the top of the console and the rest works fine.

I have used motorcyle radios from Spectra/Astro spectra and now XTL series in fire and police boats and they work and last (helps with a little extra caulking around the seams.

Its should do fine , but as always, putting on a wattmeter and checking everything is always reccomended. Also take a real good look at the connectors, clean them and if you have extra cable, snip back a couple of inches and put a new connector on.
If you really wanted to go the full path, Shakespeare makes wideband fiberglass antennas, that cover the 136-174 range.
We use to do custom installs and besides the radio being certed for Marine use by the FCC, a factory marine radio was always installed to allow for dual monitoring and so as not to miss marine calls. Also with the new Digital call and distress system, it may behoove them to add the radio since your commercial rig will not do it. This also is for the safety of the users. It does require GPS in order to utilize the full features. Heres a link for interest http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/dsc.htm

i've even put those fiberglass marine antennaes on atv's, they work great. they don't need a ground plane and they are usually around a 6db gain antennae. and i agree with the above post, use the weatherproof 2500.