Starlink Mount

[Newtrawlerowner]

I recently purchased Starlink for my loop trip. I made a temporary mount using a 1 1/2" pvc pipe, a few hose clamps and some rope to keep it secure. I am on the loop now and bought the system while underway. I would love to see where other MS 400 owners that have mounted their Starlink dish. I have the Gen.3 dish that mounts at an angle and did purchase the Starlink pole mount. I included a picture of my temporary mount.

 

[SeaDogAK]

Seaview makes a variety of stainless steel mounts for different use cases. They’re available from the usual marine outlets. I used one of these to mount it on my radar arch, worked great:

Starlink Gen 2 Adapter & Fixed Base

SV114STLKFB - Seaview 316L stainless steel Starlink Gen 2 / Standard Actuated adapter to mount to a 1"-14 threaded post & S.S. Fixed Base 316L stainless steel Starlink adapter with a 1"-14 threaded fixed base Bottom of the adapter has 1”-14 threads and comes with locking nut Top of the adapter...

www.seaviewglobal.com

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

Thanks. I'll take a look

 

[Dougcole]

We got the Trio pole mount, with an adapter that necks it down to accept a 1" diameter stainless VHF antenna extension. Bought a very simple VHF antenna base, bolted it to the plate on the mast behind our radome, and screwed on a 2' extension.

The starlink dish sits behind, and just above the radome. I ran the wire down the mast, through the summer kitchen into the FB benches on the port side, then under the helm and down the stb side benches. I then cut a hole in the floor inside the the stb aft bench and dropped the wire down into the main cabin behind the fridge. Mounted the router and power supply behind the fridge. I also bought a trio DC power brick, and wired it to a breaker on the DC panel.

It's a bit of a project, but it works great and is a very clean install. I can give you more details if you are interested.

 

[tiltrider1]

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

We got the Trio pole mount, with an adapter that necks it down to accept a 1" diameter stainless VHF antenna extension. Bought a very simple VHF antenna base, bolted it to the plate on the mast behind our radome, and screwed on a 2' extension.

The starlink dish sits behind, and just above the radome. I ran the wire down the mast, through the summer kitchen into the FB benches on the port side, then under the helm and down the stb side benches. I then cut a hole in the floor inside the the stb aft bench and dropped the wire down into the main cabin behind the fridge. Mounted the router and power supply behind the fridge. I also bought a trio DC power brick, and wired it to a breaker on the DC panel.

It's a bit of a project, but it works great and is a very clean install. I can give you more details if you are interested.

Thanks. Your idea may work well for my application. 2 questions.
Did you use the included Starlink cable or buy a longer one?
Can you give me more info about the DC power brick?

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

View attachment 155456

Thank you. Nice installation.

 

[Dougcole]

Thanks. Your idea may work well for my application. 2 questions.
Did you use the included Starlink cable or buy a longer one?
Can you give me more info about the DC power brick?

I used the Trio Starlink flat mount converter, it works great, is a little bit more efficient and since I don’t have a full house inverter is a much cleaner set up. Here is a link to their site TRIO Flatmount Starlink Mounts

I got the mount from them as well.

The standard cable that comes with the dish is a little too short for this application, I used a double female waterproof connector and added another 20 feet of rj45 cable. I got the connector and the cable from amazon, cheap. I think you can order your dish with a longer cable from starlink as well.

 

[Flatswing]

i would definitely spend extra for the Trio pole mount for the Gen 3. The Gen 3 Starlink pole adapter has a very shallow (5/8") attachment area for the pole and only has a single set screw to hold it in place. I had to use a couple of tie downs to secure the antenna on the pole with the Starlink mount after it blew off.

 

[Takoradi]

I recently purchased Starlink for my loop trip. I made a temporary mount using a 1 1/2" pvc pipe, a few hose clamps and some rope to keep it secure. I am on the loop now and bought the system while underway. I would love to see where other MS 400 owners that have mounted their Starlink dish. I have the Gen.3 dish that mounts at an angle and did purchase the Starlink pole mount. I included a picture of my temporary mount.

Not on an MS400 but if you’ve got railing available, I’m using a West Marine clamp and an adapter I got on Etsy to attach to my radar arch. Works great. Very stable.

 

[Captain DJ]

I mounted mine on my radar and paravane support system. I have had great service and a bonus for me is approximately half priced since i ordered it for my Mexican beach house. Prices for service is roughly half price at current exchange rates for Mexican based service plans. Now on mobile North America plan at about $70 per month. Others here gripe and take jabs at Elon. But seriously, if you don't like it, go back to Immarsat at 100x price for crappy service. Or grow up and be happy with the technology we have now. Now don't censor or ding me for being grateful instead of griping.

 

[Dougcole]

Not on an MS400 but if you’ve got railing available, I’m using a West Marine clamp and an adapter I got on Etsy to attach to my radar arch. Works great. Very stable.

That's a Gen 2 dish, which I don't believe is still available. The Gen 3 mount system is completely different, it does not have any sort of post or pole. Stralink sells a "pole mount" for it, but like Flatswing said above, it is not very robust, I would not trust the starlink mount on a boat. I like the Trio mounts, but I am sure there are other aftermarket mounts available as well.

That said, the Gen 3 has some other big advantages over the Gen 2 for boats, it's fixed, more waterproof, has a wider range of view and uses off the shelf cables and connectors. The stock router is also supposed to be better than the Gen 2 router.

There was a good bit of initial internet speculation (here on TF and other places) that the Gen 3 would not work on boats since it does not rotate. That speculation has proven to be false. We have been using our Gen 3 dish in many different spots in the Bahamas, on anchor the entire time, for 5 weeks now and it has not missed a beat.

I am typing this message on our Gen 3 Starlink from the Exumas, on anchor at Shroud Cay.

 

[Captain DJ]

It is gen 2, which I prefer.
The 4 legged base bolts down securely to an aluminum plate and seems quite stable.
I have been told if I lock it looking flat upward, it will work underway up to 8 to 10 knots. However, I really only need it when we anchor out or are at a dock. So I may try it both ways. Maybe my wife will want wi fi while I drive, plus it will give us Wi Fi calling and extend our coverage for cellular reception.

thanks.

Notice the difference the vinyl privacy film makes on the windows and doors? Good before and after shots.

 

[tiltrider1]

The Gen2 vs the Gen3. Really, we haven't seen enough difference in the two to care. Starlink has a habit of pointing some units towards incoming satellites and pointing some towards departing satellites to spread the load. The Gen 3's all lay mostly flat so there is no ability for Starlink to spread the load. Have we seen this make a difference? Yes, but it sometimes works in favor of Gen2 and sometimes in favor of Gen3. So, in the end there is little reason to care if you have a Gen2 or Gen3.

Gen3's due come with a better router but, unless you are hosting everyone on the dock you really won't notice the difference between the two.

So, if you are buying new, feel free to go for cheaper, or for whatever makes you feel better. You won't need to worry if what you have is not good enough. It will be.

 

[Nordlund Xpress]

We pulled our KVH TV5 domes off - no need with Starlink and mounted the High Performance antenna where the starboard dome had been. Despite some possible shadowing by the radar and antenna mast, the Starlink app shows less that 1% interference. We are extremely happy with the performance. Held two simultaneous video calls mid channel to Catalina from San Diego (my son and I both on business calls) without any hick-ups. It's very cool that our iPhones are now Sat Phones. Hard to see as it's very low on the left side of the photo.