I own a new 21 foot boat, and will probably get a marine radio since
some of the lakes in Minnesota are big enough, and a few times a year
I'd like to tour near-shore Lake Superior and Michigan, e.g. Apostle
Islands and general lakeshore.

Questions:

1) What brand radio is a reasonable feature/price ratio? A personal
communication from a rec.boat-er recommends Standard Horizon.
2) Do they pretty much all have weather radio?
3) What's the consensus on handhelds? Ones I have looked at do have 1
& 5 Watt switches so it seems transmitting power is good.
4) What other uses are there when there's no emergency and you will
seldom if ever need to talk to a bridge operator or use ship-to-ship
or marine telephone?
5) Should I be able to find someone to install it for me in the
Minneapolis/St. Paul area? I'm squeamish about cutting holes.
6) Is there an antenna that is easily removed or bent down to get it
out of the way of the cover?

Mitch