Anchor well outlet

[Thalassa]

Still on a discovery trip of my '85 32' Erikson Mark III (purchased last year), and came across this outlet in the anchor well. This outlet appears much different from the shore power one located in the cockpit (SB). Any idea what this is for? And was this standard or installed afterwards? Thanks.

 

[peaman]

It looks a bit like a connection for a telephone landline. Anchor well seems like an odd place for it, though. But since it is adjacent to a connector for cable TV, it makes some sense.

A cable with this end fitting can connect to it to bring telephone service from the dock.

Neither connector is standard. Have you looked through the diagrams and descriptions in the owners manual? A copy is available here in the "Resources" section.

 

[Kenneth K]

Zoom in close on the picture and above the inner circle it says "telephone." Good sleuthing on the (corroded) male RG6 coax connector below it. Must have been a live-aboard's boat...

 

[Thalassa]

It looks a bit like a connection for a telephone landline. Anchor well seems like an odd place for it, though. But since it is adjacent to a connector for cable TV, it makes some sense.

A cable with this end fitting can connect to it to bring telephone service from the dock.

Neither connector is standard. Have you looked through the diagrams and descriptions in the owners manual? A copy is available here in the "Resources" section.

Thanks much! Looks like we even got a 'case closed' revelation by Kenneth.

 

[Thalassa]

Zoom in close on the picture and above the inner circle it says "telephone." Good sleuthing on the (corroded) male RG6 coax connector below it. Must have been a live-aboard's boat...

Wow, excellent work Sherlock!

 

[Kenneth K]

Who knows? Maybe back in the day it was a real status symbol to have a land line on your live aboard yacht.

 

[peaman]

Who knows? Maybe back in the day it was a real status symbol to have a land line on your live aboard yacht.

"Back in the day", when our boats were new, you either plugged in at the dock or you scurried up to a phone booth to make a phone call. Or, of course, you could get the AT&T overseas operator on the SSB to make the connection for you, at great expense I think.

If you were high-tech, you could do as I did (in 1995), and connect your notebook computer to a phone booth handset using an acoustic coupler so you could update your Compuserve e-mailbox automatically before heading back to the schooner to read and respond in the comfort of your berth. It would have been a luxury to be able to hardwire a modem to a landline for the same purpose.

 

[Loren Beach]

"Back in the day", when our boats were new, you either plugged in at the dock or you scurried up to a phone booth to make a phone call. Or, of course, you could get the AT&T overseas operator on the SSB to make the connection for you, at great expense I think.

Worthless historical trivia: On one of my first delivery trips, about 1981, IIRC, I used a VHF radio to contact the "marine operator" who patched me thru to my home phone so I could talk to my wife. There was an additional expense on our billing, but I do not recall how much it was.
Not too long after that they started phasing out this radio service. The contact was made on, maybe if my recollection is sort of right, vhf channel 26.
I also recall that commercial vessels used this routinely for ships to communicate with their agent in the port.

 

[Kenneth K]

If you were high-tech, you could do as I did (in 1995), and connect your notebook computer to a phone booth handset using an acoustic coupler so you could update your Compuserve e-mailbox automatically before heading back to the schooner to read and respond in the comfort of your berth. It would have been a luxury to be able to hardwire a modem to a landline for the same purpose.

Interesting. And the fortunate few who were high-tech, forward looking, and financially savvy enough to invest $1000 in Apple in '95 (you couldn't invest in Amazon until two years later), would be sitting on about $390K today. That would be well more than enough keep my used Ericson in parts and equipment for forseeable future, methinks.

 

[Dave G.]

It sure seems like a very dodgy place to put your phone & cable jacks. I don't think the anchor locker would have been on my short list.