Association Forum - running mast wire

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

running mast wire

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Brooke Willson
Admiral

Member Avatar

USA
983 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/06/2002 : 15:21:37

Dear gang:

I decided that the wiring in my mast should be replaced every seventeen years whether it needs it or not. Having installed a steaming/deck light combination at the spreaders, now I need a four prong connector through the deck at the base of the mast. Well, one thing leads to another, so now I need to run those four wires down through the deck and ultimately to the panel.

Unlike the VHF antenna cable, the mast light wiring is routed in the head compartment from the port side up between the liner and the deck. Those of you who have replaced/modified this wiring:

Do you recommend just drilling stright down through the liner and running the wiring over to the bulkhead, or should I spend $ 40 for an official fish tape so I can run the wire down between the liner and the deck? Is there any significant reason to avoid the hole straight down (assuming that I do a good job sealing the base of the deck connector)?

Thanks for your wisdom!

Brooke Willson
SKTR # 5050 "Even Chance"
docked in Urbanna, VA

Edited by - on

OJ
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2002 : 15:59:52

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>one thing leads to another<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>

Nice pun there Brooke <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle> !

I've tried pulling the wires that run between the deck and the liner and it feels like they're pinched in there pretty tight - so I don't think a fish tape is going to work. I purchased a deck plug that is gasketed and have had no leaks. I drilled the the hole so it came through just to one side of the bulkhead so I could tuck the wires in behind the vinyl piping.
Just don't nick any remaining wires that you'll still need!

Edited by - on

Peregrino
Deckhand

Members Avatar

USA
17 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2002 : 16:32:08

I posted almost the exact same question....

Please explain how the mast wires are running from the port side eventually through the hole in the deck (where the 4-pin connector is installed).

Do I get to those wires by pulling-back the wooden wall by the head? Sounds like you're talking about drilling a new hole in the deck (yikes). Is that the only way to replace those &^%*ing wires?

Steve Teeters
Cat25 '87, SK

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2002 : 16:38:35

We did this last year. What we did was run the wire along the compression post ( I wish I did it instead of Harvey cuz I would have noticed that dry rot last season) through a hole in the settee (if you have a dinette. and from there brought it back. We then took a piece of shoe molding, routed a groove in it and put it right up against the post and the bulkhead to hide the wire.

One suggesstion, Drill Upward!!!!

Duane Wolff
"The Flying Wasp"
C-25, #401 std,sk
Chief Measurer C-25/250 national Org.
<img src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b2dc20b3127cce9cd2f45b211a0000004010" border=0>

Edited by - on

Brooke Willson
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2002 : 16:52:50

I don't know about drilling upward, Duane -- I plan to use the existing hole in the deck and drill down through the liner. It sounds to me like it's ok to do the easy thing. I'll poke a hole through the liner and run the wiring over to the top of the bulkhead, along the seam between bulkhead and ceiling to the hole between bulkhead and the side of the boat. My wiring runs in the groove kinda under the gunwale (what there is of a gunwale!) and back behind the bulkhead where the fuse panel is.

Brooke

Edited by - on

frich
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
418 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2002 : 16:58:11

Must be an epidemic on mast wiring<img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

Anyway I too must replace my wiring, only up the mast. I have external halyards, is this a big job? Can I solder the old wire to the new and pull it through?

What shall i look for in marine grade wiring, are there advantages in using this over typical wire?

Thanks to all

Frank Rich
84 C25 SK

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2002 : 17:29:42

Brooke,

The reason I mentioned Drill upward is that we drilled down from the original hole and were smack dab on the bulkhead. If you are going to try and run through liner, I wish you the best of luck.

dw

Duane Wolff
"The Flying Wasp"
C-25, #401 std,sk
Chief Measurer C-25/250 national Org.
<img src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b2dc20b3127cce9cd2f45b211a0000004010" border=0>

Edited by - on

Brooke Willson
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2002 : 18:14:52

Ahhhh, NOW I see. Come to think of it, the plug is dead abeam of the mast, which sits on the compression post, which is bisected by the bulkhead. As Arte Johnson used to say, "verrrrrry interrresting!"

My understanding of why you need to use marine tinned wire is because it's much more resistant to corrosion. At least that's what West marine says, which has a vested interest in selling the expensive stuff. Same for Catalina Direct.

West Marine sells a five wire 16 ga. cable. Catalina Direct has four wire cable.

Brooke

Edited by - on

Ed Montague
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
499 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2002 : 21:06:59

I replaced the stock 4-wire plug when we first bought the boat over 5 years ago. It didn't work!! The new plug was also 4-wire. After a very short time the connection was failing to work regularly. I would turn on the foredeck light and then have to walk forward to wiggle the plug to get it to come on. This gets very old very fast. I then decided that I needed a spreader light shining back toward the cockpit for putting the boat away at night. Now I needed another wire and a new plug that would handle 5 wires. There just isn't much wire coming out of the coach top to work with and any more fooling around with it and it would be completely lost in the space-from-hell as discribed. So I abandoned the old wire. I ran a new 6 wire bundle from the power panel behind the galley in the space that is between the hull liner and the hull below the pin-railed self on the port side. There is plenty of room in there for a fish tape. That space can be accessed from the drawers under the stove and on my dinett model from the front seat near the hull. You will still need to go through the bulkhead and route the wire up the compression post. I drilled a new hole up through the ceiling and put my wires through next to the old plug. I then filled the gap around the wires and the hole with silicon and let it set. So far no leaks. If you want to get fancy, purchase a proper thru hull fitting for electrical. The most important goal here is to make the best possible connection between the boat and the mast wires. I purchased snap plugs (photo on page 636, upper left, of 2002 WM catalog) from my local hardware store, pressed them on, soldered them to the wire for security and then snapped them together, be sure to mark them for future. I wrapped them with riggers tape to seal the water out and this setup has worked flawlessly for 4 years. Most of us only drop the mast a few times a year and many never. Why do we need a plug like those found for a trailer connection?? The damn thing filled with water everytime it rained or I washed the boat. I haven't walked forward to wiggle wires once since I installed this setup. Hope I haven't confused you all.

Ed Montague on 'Yahoo'
1978 #765 SK, Stnd, Dinette ~_/)~

Edited by - on

Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 05/07/2002 : 00:03:18

Here's the Aqua-Signal 5-pin thru-deck connector I've used for mast wiring on two boats so far with excellent results.

<img src="http://www.westmarine.com/images/full/03368_f.jpg" border=0>

I'm gonna attempt to hide this long West Marine URL behind a short label to try and prevent the forced wide screen effect I get from really long URLs in posts on this board.

[url="http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=201&prrfnbr=7896&store_num=9&store_name=Electrical&subdept_num=474&subdept_name=Switches,%20Fuses%20%26%20Accessories&class_num=481&class_name=Outlets%20%26%20Plugs&outlet="]West Marine link[/url]

If that came through a mile wide in your browser let me know, and I appologize.

As for routing the wiring, I installed thin-wall PVC inside the mast. Since I've moved my electrical panel to the stbd. side, I ran the new wiring across the top of the head door opening inside the head compartment, along the top edge of the stbd. bulkhead, down to just below the level of the shelf outboard of the settee, and aft inside the settee back.

I think you can forget working a snake between the deck and the headliner. I 'd also be careful about drilling down through the existing headliner wiring on the port side -- you might cut and/or short out the cabin light circuit and common ground (I did!<img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle>).

-- Leon Sisson

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 05/07/2002 : 07:58:39

Nice job on the High Fallutent [sic] programming Leon. Let us know how you did that because that wide browser stuff drives me crazy.

Edited by - on

OJ
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 05/07/2002 : 09:15:42

Frank,
Soldering the new wire to the old would certainly work, although taping it would be quicker.
The advantage of marine grade wire is that all the strands are tinned, making it much less susceptable to corrosion.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.