Installing a manual antenna tuner on a sailboat

[Chuck Losness]

My SGC 230 auto turner is not working again and I don't want to spend what SGC wants to repair it. SGC repaired it once at a cost of over $300 including shipping and it only worked for a couple years before it again failed. It has been suggested to me to try a manual tuner and that in any event I should carry a manual tuner as a backup.
I get excellent signal reports. So I know that my installation is good for use with an auto tuner. My radio is a Kenwood TS50. The difference between an auto tuner and a manual tuner is that the auto tuner is mounted at the base of the backstay whereas the manual tuner will be at the nav station approximately 10 feet from the backstay. The auto tuner has an RF ground on the bottom of the tuner to connect to the RF ground. A manual tuner does not have this.

So my question is: How do you connect a manual tuner to the RF ground? I have searched and search on this and the only thing that I found is one brief reference that the shield on the coax that runs from the tuner to the antenna attaches to the RF ground. Is it really this simple?

 

[gonzo]

What kind of manual tuner is it? I have used manual tuners that are controlled remotely so they are installed at the base of the antenna. Ultimately, all grounds are connected together. Is this a stationary station connected to a ground rod, a marine installation going to a ground plate or do you use ground elements (wires radiating at the antenna base)

 

[Chuck Losness]

It will be installed on a sailboat. As I said in my post the manual antenna tuner will be at the nav station with about a 10 foot run of wire to the backstay. I already have a excellent RF ground system installed in the boat. Just trying to find the different ways to connect the tuner to the existing RF ground.

I have not yet picked out an antenna tuner yet. It will be one of the less expensive ones designed to be used in mobile applications.