I use an insulated backstay. It's a bit tricky because the main
backstay is split about 20' above the deck, like a big inverted Y. I
ended up using three insulators, 1 at the top of the backstay about 6'
short of the mast, one at the Y to isolate 1 leg, and another at the
base of the other leg of the Y above the deck. The whole thing is like
an inverted Y with one leg of the V portion cut off. (Hope that makes
sense.)

The rig itself is an ICOM 706 MkII with their AH-1 random wire antenna
tuner. I have a dynaplate on the outside of the hull that forms part of
the ground system, and the enclosed lead keel acts as a counterpoise.

I've had excellent success with this setup, and so far no maintenance at
all (only been a year). Even with the sunspot cycle at its low point
I've made contacts throughout Europe and Russia, Africa, etc.

purple_stars wrote:
for those who use HF on their boat, i'm curious what antenna choices
you have made. did you go with an insulated backstay or something else
entirely ? how do you have it all set up on your boat ? i've read
that some people just hoist a wire up with some line and hook it to
their antenna tuner (with a ground of course). are you doing anything
more or less fancy ? if you're using an insulated backstay do you
trust the insulators to keep the mast up ? how much maintenance is
involved in your HF antenna setup ? i'm just curious in general what
solutions people have found since i'm researching it now.

thanks in advance.