A cheaper and more useful intercom solution is a set of cordless phones, such as those with bluetooth from Panasonic. Thus you can have them throughout the boat, and pair your cell phone to the system as well. Ours have the ability to name each station, making the intercom function a breeze, not to mention it is duplex.
Panasonic's "Link2Cell" does indeed work, we have a
KX-TG9581 base station in use at home with cordless extensions throughout the house (system supports up to 12 handsets, and active pairing with two cell phones). At home the cell phones tend to be 20-30' away from the base station and things still seem to work ok.
Panasonic does make a 'rugged' handset that could work. I'd wonder how well it stands up to the marine environment? The reviews on it don't seem to have good things to say about the audio quality though. Doesn't appear they make a secure mount for it, at least not one I'd use up on the flybridge. The
TGTA61B does appear to at least have screw hole mounts on the back. I could probably fabricate some sort of spring clip to put above it to help hold it down into the charging cradle. I've got a small cabinet door that's into a dry spot. Close enough for easy access but not out in the elements.
The added challenge would be their AC adapter supplies 5.5vdc, so I'd have to either use that with an AC circuit or try to find a way to power it from 12vdc. A did a few searches and came up empty on any boat/rv options for powering them from 12vdc. It's never easy, is it?
The added benefit here would be making it easier to keep tabs on cell calls, especially when coordinating rafting up with friends and calling ahead for transient slips.
I may order one but I'm uncertain if it'll work with my existing base station. Because if it isn't great on the boat it'd be nice to be able to use it at home.