Shakespeare 5225-XT 8' Galaxy VHF Antenna, 6dB

I was replacing my previous Boat Antenna that I accidentally left up and broke it through an overpass as I was transporting my boat on a trailer (first time I put the Boat Antenna up since recently bought my first boat). One thing I noticed right away is that this Antenna is much more rugged than the previous antenna that was on the boat (I believe it was a Shakespeare 5101). I was sweating it since replacing the Antenna was one thing but re-routing the cable and then attaching the PL-259 Connector on the end was having me nervous. It turns out, then Shakespeare 5225XT comes with a more robust cable and an SMA (or SMT) style connector on the end of it and the kit includes an SMA (or SMT) to PL-259 adapter that you simply screw the SMA (or SMT) connector into. I did have to drill a slightly bigger hole through my T-Top but this wasn't a big deal. Also, I taped the new cable to the old cable so I could snake it through the cabinet and down the pipe and to the VHF Radio. This turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. The longest step in the process was waiting for the Silicone caulk to dry on the T-Top before I lowered the new Antenna (I simply came back the next day to lower the Antenna). I left enough slack that it wasn't tugging on the Silicone caulk. The connection to the back of the VHF Radio using the PL-259 Adapter was quite and painless. So far, I'm really impressed with this new Antenna and glad that I had the mishap that led to this purchase.