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To provide the groundplane against which your antenna works - the counterpoise.
Copper foil about 3" wide provides a good groundplane when run below the waterline picking up anything grounded, such as keel, watertanks etc. It then connects to your antenna, ATU and radio ground connections.
Flat conductors such as copper foil provide a counterpoise whereas round wires don't.
I had this system, recommended by the radio guru Gordon West, and it worked very well.

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I completely agree with you although I do not feel you need to connect to water-tanks and the like unless you don't have a CI keel or sintered plate. This is the way I, and many others I've helped over the years have installed their rigs. I think CS's method is unnecessarily complicated. I don't see the need to use anything other than the (CI) keel or sintered plate and would definitely connect the ATU to either of these with a 75mm wide copper tape (it's not very thick so be careful as it can tear) which can be laid along the bilge or adjacent bulkheads and impact glued into place. A coat or two or Danboline (bilge paint) will prevent corrosion.

FWIW, I would always use two insulators on the backstay. If you omit the lower one, you run the risk of salt water crystals creating a problem. The insulators have fins to reduce this risk.

Demonboy, the installation above is very simple and works extremely well.

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