Done!
(continued from above post)
Loudspeaker / hailer. It is powered by the VHF, is ridiculously loud, and was only about $40. When I say loud I mean loud enough that we beat an adjacent mega-yacht in a hail-off contest.
With this particular set up the loudspeaker switches to "listen" mode after the mike key is released. This lets someone on the bow (or a nearby boat) yell a response into the speaker that can then be heard at any position on the boat connected to the system. For example if it's particularly windy and noisy during anchoring it is useful for communicating between the cockpit and the bow. Or if we're in the cabin and happen to see a boat about to hit us we can quickly sound a loud alarm followed up by some gentle "guidance."
Pacific Offshore Rigging added a small piece of spectra to prevent line from catching on the speaker.
One mistake we made was using non-shielded wires. When we're in areas with AM radio broadcasts we pick up some signals when the speaker is in "listen" mode. I was ready to just leave it (the install is so clean!) but Pacific Offshore almost argued with me to be allowed to run new wires. They simply like to do things the right way and it bugged them having something not perfect. We need more of that attitude in the boating industry...
Speaks for itself!
Silver dollar siliconed under the mast. Possibly the most important thing we did.
All wires and coax now run out the base of the mast. A friend modified the floorboards so the wires run cleanly to the conduit leading to the nav table.
If all goes well this mast has some incredible adventures ahead...