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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Wires in the mast

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Greg Jackson
1st Mate

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84 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/18/2002 : 22:53:25

Every once in a while this needs to be mentioned again. It appears we are due once more since the discussion on mast wiring had some discussions on foam or other junk in the mast to keep wiring from slapping.

The proper way to keep wires and cables from slapping is to use plastic wire ties (AKA: cable ties) and do not trim the tails off the wire tie. By putting 4 or 5 cable ties right next to each other on the wire, and by having the tails each face a different direction, the tails act as cat's whiskers. They will keep the wire in the center of the mast while allowing free movement up and down. One alternative of this is to daisy chain the wire ties.

G. Jackson
S.V. Compass Rose

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Bristle
Admiral

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USA
834 Posts

Response Posted - 03/18/2002 : 22:56:22

Cool! Great info! Thanks!

Dave Bristle, 1985 C-25 SR-FK #5032 "Passage" in CT

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ltenny
1st Mate

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35 Posts

Response Posted - 03/19/2002 : 13:10:09

Seems like the only problem with the cable tie system is that if you need to add a new wire you have to remove all the existing wires and ties and redo the whole thing - I guess planning ahead should solve that though...

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John Mason
Admiral

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687 Posts

Response Posted - 03/19/2002 : 18:52:54

And what about internal halyards?

John Mason - Ali Paroosa
1982 - FK/SR #3290

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 03/19/2002 : 21:50:25

Not sure which mast wiring thread to respond to, so I'm sticking this here. (Too lazy to write separate posts.<img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>)

Greg is right about not putting misc. loose stuff in your mast to quiet the wiring. I must be the only person who's had bad luck with the long-tailed zip tie method. I did that on a previous boat, and the wiring was rattling and clanging again within a year.<img src=icon_smile_dead.gif border=0 align=middle> Maybe I didn't use enough zip-ties. Quite a few other people have been very pleased with that method.

John Mason, re: "And what about internal halyards?" On my Catalina 25, I used the very same method As Eric Werkowitz mentioned elsewhere (right down to the forestay snake<img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>):<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>You may want to install conduit if you don't already have it in the mast. It's really needed if you want to convert to internal halyards. I think I worked out a good method. First, I drew straight lines down the mast and the conduit where I wanted the line of pop-rivets to hold the conduit. I put the mast on saw horses and drilled the holes for the pop-rivets through the mast. I turned the mast so these holes faced down. Then I used a small sand bag, pushed with a piece of plastic pipe, to weight down the conduit while I drilled holes (upward) through the mast holes and into the conduit. To get the conduit in position I used an ice pick throught the hole, moving it until the line on the conduit could be seen. Then I pop-riveted the conduit to the mast and drilled the next hole. By the way, the forestay makes a good snake to fish wires through the mast. <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>The sandbag, by the way, is key. I used a wad of foam rubber on the end of a stick to do the same thing, but you need to do something to back up the PVC while you drill and rivet it. I also considered sliding a big steel rod, like concrete rebar, inside the PVC close to where I was drilling, but didn't find a piece I could just borrow for a day.

I think the two lengths of thinwall PVC I installed were 3/4" diameter, but if I had it to do over, I'd use the next larger size. The wiring bundle, which included a coax for the VHF antenna, was a very tight fit. I used marine grade 14ga 5-cond. from the circuit breakers up to the spreaders, and 14ga 3-cond. from the spreaders to the masthead. Those five conductors are used for: common ground, foredeck floodlight, steaming light, anchor light, and a spare at the masthead for possible future use by a windvane light or masthead tricolor.

Where the internal halyards rub past the hardware around the spreaders, I wedged a piece of thinwall PVC a couple of feet long in front of the spreader base thru-bolts, and routed the halyards through that.

-- Leon Sisson

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