Another question: Most antennae seem to come with about 20 feet of wire.
Mounted on a console with the radio right there, I could get by with about
3 feet of wire. Is all the extra wire necessary?
No, but I was told that unless you know someone who can do a new
connection as good as the old connection, (which I was told will not be
done by the average DIY or boat mechanic) I was told it was better to
just wind it into a ring use some velcro to keep it out of the way.

Well, I know (?) Shortwave! He could probably tell me what to do.

Shortwave doesn't know sh*t.

On the serious side, it isn't knowing how to do it, it is having the
skills to be able to do it well. Now if you fly SWF down, he might be
able to splice it for you. But it might be cheaper to buy a short ant.

I can't remember who told me this, or where I read it, but I think it
was in the instructions that came with my Horizon VHF. The question I
asked my installer when I heard this, was there any problem to wind it
up. I was told no, but they said a bad splice job can make a good VHF
worthless.

Needless to say, this will prompt a long discussion on the correct way
to splice or how stupid it is to splice an ant. wire