In mast wires

[Bob.Sardo]

Hello all,

I'm a newer member that just purchased Hull# 369. This is our second time around with a P323. We previously owned Hull# 361 during the late 1990s. We came back to the P323 because we believe it was the best boat we had owned. We are happy to have that stout hull under us again. We are naming the new boat "Deja vu" for obvious reasons.

My question is about running a wind instrument wire down the inside of the mast. This boat, and our previous one, has never had an electronic wind instrument installed. Can anyone offer insight into getting the wire down to the mast step?

Thanks for your help.

Bob Sardo

[Rusty Pelican]

Go buy a BIG wire snake at Home Depo

[Bob.Sardo]

Thanks Rusty P. for the reply. Have you used a wire snake on your mast wiring?

Would you recommend sending the snake down and pulling a messenger line back up to pull the new wire down?

Where do I need to go to place our boat on the owners listing?

Thanks again,

Bob

[selene]

Have you inspected near the spreaders?  Many boats have a hole in the mast there for decklights or other fixtures.  Also any old unused wires can come in useful - if you get lucky!

[Dolce_Vita]

In mine (1978), there was a wire conduit in the mast, although the previous owners had not used it (the banging of the wires inside the mast used to drive me crazy at anchor!).  When we rebuilt the mast a year ago, that was on of the things I made sure to fix.

If you're doing this with the mast down, here's a real easy neat trick for getting a messenger line thru that long conduit.

Get a long ball of twine.  Tie a small "flag" of paper to the end.  Hook a shop-vac to one end of the conduit to provide suction, and feed the twine into the other end.  It'll suck it all the way through, neat as can be!  Then use the twine to pull a stouter 1/4" line through to use for the actual pulling. 

When I pulled the wires, I put in an extra pair for future additions, and I also included a piece of twine to use as a messenger again in the future if and when its needed.

[Vantage]

I refinished the mast and boom on our boat last summer (not a project to be undertaken lightly if you plan on doing it correctly).  I had new sheaves made by Zypherwerks and ran all four new lines internally. This made it critical to keep all the wiring out of the way. Our mast did not have any type of internal conduit. I solved this problem by riveting a 1" id PVC electrical conduit inside the mast to the forward part of the mast where the radius is tightest. Using a Klien Tools 50' steel fish tape (Home Depot about $25 and worth it's weight in gold) I first pulled,one length of Anchor 14/2 AWG to the opening for the deck flood light above the spreaders (I had pre-cut a hole in the conduit at the correct length for this). I then pulled the wire for the Raymarine wind combo intrument, a length of RG213 (very large diam mil-spec VHF cable) and 2 lengths of Anchor 14/2 AWG from the masthead down all in one pull planned very carefully and not skimping on the good black electrical tape. Again, one pull with the fish tape, everything.

I have room for more. Any suggestions? Cat-5 or similar wire perhaps? The stick will be going back into the little hole on top of my cabin deck in 2-3 weeks.

Using a good fish tape it would be no problem pulling wire up a standing mast. Buy good wire and don't skimp. You will pay one way or another.

Mac

[need low boom]

Hello, I am a new member. I was on a previous 323 site but can not find it now after a 2 year absence.
I  am not to sharp on computer and can not determine how to make a new post on this site so I am tagging on to this one.
I have problem with mast wiring. Mast light wires bad when I got boat in 2007. Mast is  now down and I tried to feed new wire using a fish tape. Tape is now hung up in the mast about 30' in and with in 17 inches of mast head light. Can not go forward of back. Next problem I now have a short in the anchor line wires. I plan to redo electrical in the mast. I have several questions and would appreciate any help.

1How is original wiring supported? It appears it is held up by the carrier which is stretched tight to prevent slapping, not sure of this.

2Conduit verses wire ties. I have heard two was to hold wires, one is a conduit and the other is oversized wire tights that are not trimmed. I question if the untrimmed wire ties would get hung up on the in-mast hyards.

3 Previous owner removed spreader lights because he never used them. I have not seen a need for them in my 30 years of cursing boat ownership. What is experience of group.

I feel I will have more questions as I proceed with this task