A couple resolutions
The Radio
I went up the mast. Nothing was wrong with the antenna connection. In a fit of desperation, I noticed a little power switch on the radio: high and low power. I tried a radio check on high power. It responded back with a bit of static.
Then I remembered reading somewhere that the radio might eat the first few seconds of transmission. My handheld doesn't, but my ancient stationary Titan might. I tried the radio check more patiently and slowly... and it worked!
But I still couldn't get my radios to talk to each other. Here's why. In the world of cell phones, I was used to a half-a-second delay between speaking and hearing my own voice in the other cell phone. With the radio, though, there's no delay (beyond the speed of light limitation). My other radio was playing my transmission at pretty much the exact same instance I was speaking it---so I couldn't hear it.
Mandatory cliche
"See? I had my camera with me on the mast!" photograph:
By the way, the reason I'd gone up the mast was to mount a windex. Which I'd forgotten to buy. Only realized it on top of the mast:redface:
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The Rails
Next year, I'll buy and through-bold new teak rails. This year, I decided to keep the ones I have. I'd ripped them out, and stuck <s>chewing gum</s> butyl tape underneath them before through-bolting them the best I could. I couldn't get nuts onto some of the glued-in bolts.
I drilled holes into the cabin all the way through the liner.
Then I made them bigger and dremmeled them to 3/4". The existence of hole saws has occured to me, but I didn't feel like driving all the way to Gloucester's faraway Home Depot.
The little shiny caps you see below came from a nearby upholstery store. They had to special order them for me, which ended up costing me $2 apiece. Upholsterers use them for chairs and the like, when they have to cap the end of at pipe. I don't think any of the previous owners have figured out where these things come from, and the only reason I did was because my marina manager told me to try asking there. Without her, it would never have occurred to me.
Today, I'll replace the ugly rusted ones in the background. I just need to get off my butt and drive to the upholstery store.