All of my maritime mobile activity has been done using low power. My rig was the FT817 and I always used a dipole made of wire or aluminum tubing or even a couple of telescopic antennas, usually fixed in one direction as dictated by the available supports. This measly set-up provided some amazing contacts over thousands of kilometers. Virtually all my operations were on the six metre band, which benefited from the peak of solar cycle 23.