Inspired by a true first-person story, one that probably should have ended badly, http://www.offshoreonly.com/articles...ore-without-it. From the OSO home page.

my hand held has been handi a few times , as I pulled into harbor one day heading to the gas dock , I ran out of gas , wind blowing me towards the rocks . there was a sheriff boat at the gas dock I called on 16 and he was on me before I was on the rocks . would not have been as fast if I had to go in the cabin and they would not have heard or seen me without the hand held. I never leave the dock with out it being freshly charged

Great read , although I don't spend much time offshore like most on here , I once had an opportunity to tread water while my buddies boat burnt to the waterline. Other than being blown out when I raised the hatch to get the fire extinguisher we came out fine.
DON'T forget to use the blower in the bilge!!!, it's there for good reason.

I mounted my handheld on the dash. It charges while the engine is running and cycles it's own battery when key is off. A handheld and fixed radio in one. Great for communicating with marinas and it's there for an emergency too. The belt clip locks it into the holder/charger.

Running down the Houston ship channel the vertical shaft on my Bravo twisted off, I should have been warned by the smell of hypoid gear oil boiling out of the reservoir but I was approaching the ExxonMobil Refinery and in those days the smell wasn't unusual in that area.

I am now unable to move and drifting towards the center of the channel with a huge car transporter coming upstream and a tug pushing 3 barges down. This is a corner in the ship channel and there are not many options for traffic to make changes in their course.

Literally only had a few minutes to act and abandoning was not favorite, not only because it would put us in more danger, but because I had my wife and 3 month old aboard.

I got on the vhf and hailed all vessels in the vicinity of the Exxon fuel dock. Went on to explain my predicament. Judging by the smoke both vessels attempted to slow but to no obvious effect. There were a couple of tugs idling against the side of a large tanker at the Exxon fuel dock and one of those came on the radio and hailed us and told us to hang on. He backed out and came about 1/2 a mile and came along side with a line which was too big for my cleats so I threw him one I had ready and he pulled us tied to his port side out of the way of both vessels with less than a minute of so to spare.

You can not imagine my relief. The tug boat skipper slowed and let us get two more lines on then towed me upriver for about 30 or 40 minutes until a neighbor was able to take over. Where we were tied was adjacent to an engine room hatch and the blast of hot air was unbelievable. We suffered in silence and counted our blessings. To this day I always turn on my vhf as soon as the boat is in the water.

The lower unit had a small impact near the prop shaft bearings, we assumed that was the cause of the bearing failure. There is always a chance that the big ships will stir something up in front of you, but never really knew for sure as I had not been over 40 mph that day. I wanted to make sure wife and baby had a peasant ride. Needless to say Wife ruled out bringing the baby for a long time. Baby is now about to turn 15 and she loves the boat (same boat), loves horses and show jumping more though.

And I thought my tale was harrowing. That's an incredible story, Wobble. Thanks a ton for telling it.

Try pulling that off with a mobile phone.

Great article Matt. Being the marine electronics business I see a lot of things LOL.
One thing to make sure is that your VHF antenna is mounted properly as they transmit line of sight. All antennas must be vertical to work to their full potential and mounted outside the hull. I have seen many mounted inside horizontal etc. This may work boat to boat in poker run or race but not if you need to call long distance.
Maybe leave some extra coax in order to remove the antenna and bring it outside the hull in the event of emergency.

Just a couple of thoughts.

I keep a handheld on board. ...and we only do lake or river boating, but you just never know when you may need help.

Or be able to offer help!

What brand and model of handheld would you guys recommend ?
Looking for something that works but won't break the bank.