Association Forum - Mast Wire Chewed Up!

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

Mast Wire Chewed Up!

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

LeighMarie
Navigator

Member Avatar

USA
188 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/19/2004 : 23:46:13

My brother-in-law came over tonight to help me trouble shoot why my mast lights didn't work. Someone on this forum said rarely does the mast wires actually have to be replaced because not much happens to it - it's usually just the connections. I must be one of those rare situations!

First of all, whomever rewired it at some point got it all goofed up and it was not hooked up correctly. We could have just rehooked it all up at the base, but there were splices just before both the steaming light and the mast head light, so we wanted to eliminate splices there. Also, there was a splice right at the bottom of the base to a connector that ran outside the mast to the deck, so we wanted to eliminate that one too.

So we decided to bite the bullet and just pull all new wire. As we pulled the old wires out we pulled out a huge glob of debris that must have been a bird's nest at one point. Right where that debris was, both wires were chewed through exposing bare wire! That was probably about 4 - 5 feet inside the mast. At some point when the mast was lashed down over the winters or something birds must have gotten in there and built a huge nest - or a couple of them. It was a very good thing that we pulled it all out.

We didn't get it done tonight as it was a bugger to pull the wires through with pieces of sponge every few feet to eliminate banging inside the mast. Tomorrow night we'll re-hook up the light fixtures and get it all set. But, I'm glad I decided to re-run the wires!

Dave & Sharon on "Leigh-Marie"
Hull #5128

Edited by - on

Buzz Maring
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1774 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2004 : 00:22:58

<font color="blue">... At some point when the mast was lashed down over the winters or something birds must have gotten in there and built a huge nest - or a couple of them. - Dave</font id="blue">

Hi Dave,

I'd bet it was mice instead of birds. When I went to pick up my boat after I bought her, I found the trailer sitting in a field ... mice had eaten away the insulation from all the wires ... it was a mess.

Congratulations on getting the project done ... that's something you won't have to worry with again for a long time!

Edited by - on

RichardG
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2004 : 14:11:45

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">rarely does the mast wires actually have to be replaced because not much happens to it - it's usually just the connections. I must be one of those rare situations!<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I don't believe it's that rare. The problem is that there are several required "connections" or splices along the route of the system (e.g. inside cabin wire to the deck connector, deck connector to the mast wire, common ground wire which splits to the masthead anchor light, spreader light and the steaming light, etc.) where water at each connection can often over time wick up the wire, inside the insulation, causing corrosion problems in the wire. Even if possible, cutting the bad wire back to good wire doesn't allow enough wire to complete the circuit -- thus new wire is needed.

Edited by - on

LeighMarie
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
188 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2004 : 09:07:36

We finished up the job last night of hooking up both lights. I also replaced the deck connector. We tinned all of the ends - and that makes a HUGE difference in getting good connections! We then moved the mast back to the tabernacle, hooked up the connectors, threw the switch and there was light! Both the steaming light and the anchor/masthead lights worked, and they worked independently! Way cool! After 3 years of them not working right it's just really, really nice to have them working. (I know, it's the simple things that make us happy!)

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.