Stop antenna cable clang?

[Osprey]

This is something we didn't think of while the mast was off and we were getting the boat ready to launch, now she's is in the water and the cable clang is quite audible when wind and little wavelets are just right, (often). Has anyone come up with a solution to silence the cable in the mast when the mast is already stepped? The family in the house near the boat is having a fit over this, "can't sleep, can't enjoy their deck, ruining their life", even though they moved into the "nuisance area" when they rented the house on a canal filled with boats we want to get it quieted down and restore some peace and harmony. I was thinking of drilling a test hole to see if I could put a wire through, bent into a hook at the end, to snag the cable and then try to attach the cable in some way through the hole, and if it works then do this maybe every ten feet or so on up the mast. Another thought was to push a balloon into the hole and fill it with expanding foam, but will the foam cure inside a balloon? I need some help here right a way... Thanks!! Gary "Osprey" Triton # 624, Florida.

[Quetzalsailor]

Bite the bullet.

No fix that I can think of, or that you suggested for yourself, would be easier; and none would not make undue mess. Lots of ways to do the job right, with access to the open foot of the mast.

[Osprey]

What proceedure do you recommend if the foot of the mast is open? Thanks Gary

[Rachel]

Here is one solution I have done and one I have read about:

1) This one I used when cables in the mast were driving me crazy at sea *after* we had re-riveted the cable conduit inside the mast. (As it turned out later the PO had not run the radar cable in the conduit...oops.)

In this case the foot of the mast was open. We chose the materials used because we had them aboard.

We took a fastener out of the mast from as high as we could easily reach (if I remember correctly we stood on the boom and there was a convenient fastener hole there). We then dropped a string down into that hole until we could catch it at the foot of the mast, and then we tied a large sponge to it (going for a Nerf ball effect). Then we pulled the sponge up as far as we could. I can't remember if or how we tied off the string at that point. Anyway, that shut the clanging cable up for the duration. Blessed peace! (Well, except for the 1,327 other sounds, but the cable was by far the most annoying - for some reason sounds that are supposed to be there are not nearly as annoying, even if they are also repetitive.)

2) I read about this one in a magazine. These folks did not have access at the foot of the mast. They drilled two holes, I think on the after side of the mast, a couple-three inches apart (so, one on each side of the apex of the section). Okay, I'm a little foggy on the details now, but they reached into one of the holes with some kind of homemade wire hook, and pulled the bundle of cables aft until they were by the holes. Then I think they put a U-bolt in there to hold them permanently. So the U-bolt was inside the mast and the two legs came out and had nuts on the outside of the mast. I think they made their own custom U-bolt that was more like a "J" shape so that they could get it through the holes. Or maybe only one leg came out and was nutted and the other just pressed up against the inside of the mast (but you get the idea, anyway).

They had made the fix in desperation mid-season but then I think it lasted a long time satisfactorily. I read this one in a sailing magazine, but I don't remember which one.

Rachel

[mobilchuckje]

Please don't use expanding foam. I'm dealing with that right now trying to replace the wiring in my mast. You (or the next owner) will regret it in the future.

[Quetzalsailor]

Don't do something you cannot undo.

The 1968 LeComte literature brags that they foamed their sticks full to quiet the wiring and for who knows what other reason. By 1970, they had quit that. (I don't know what's in my 1970 mast but there are external halyards and internal wiring for instruments, lights and antenna. I think the wires are mechanically affixed with no foam.)

The 1972 Morgan 27 had random chunks of foam rubber taped to the wires and had external halyards; I generally replicated that system but used pipe insulation. I made up all the wiring, complete with the things that ended at the spreaders, all neatly cabled and insulated and set up messengers so that the wires terminating at the spreaders were served simultaneously with those going the whole distance. Strain relief was provided at the spreader exit as well as at the masthead. Pull the messengers and feed the wire and Voila!.

I've read all sorts of accounts of pop-riveting, sheet metal screwing and other clamping systems for conduit. A neighbor's boat had an extruded wireway and covers that were slid in behind the integral sail track: very clever but not a retrofit for someone else.

Bottom lines include: not damaging things or leaving unsealed or un-isolated fasteners, not stopping drainage down the mast ( I would not want to trap water somewhere and find out later that the mast had been badly corroded - like dad's wooden blocks clamped to the M27 mast which supported his salon table -what a mess!)

Certainly, there are few things as annoying on a boat as something loose in the mast or whacking it. So much for the romantic slapping of hemp on wood!

[Ceasar Choppy]

I can attest that the cable tie method works well and is the easiest-- at least when the mast is down. I've several slip neighbors that have clanging mast wires and it is NO FUN to listen to them clanging all night.

[Robert The Gray]

I imagine an open 1/2" hole on one side of the mast would not compromise the structural capacity of the spar. Place a hole halfway between the spreaders and the step and between the spreaders and the mast head. The cable tie method is great, the problem is how to get the tie around the wires. Single 12 awg wires could be pulled out through the hole. The VHF coax is more difficult, I think if you tape several wire ties to a wire hook, the hook should look like a fish hook with the clasp end at the point and the tail along the shaft, the ties should be able to be tightened and the tape should break. I imagine that hand skills and tool selection skills will determine the success of the project, but a craftsman should be able to get 3 wire ties around a set of wires through a half inch hole. Leave the hole open after the ties are in place. No harm, no foul. Having a degree of control over the tension of the wires would help limit the slapping that comes from excess slack, (KISS) nylon string with a barrel hitch around the wires tied to a screw eye.

get the wire ties around the wires through two access holes using a wire tool and small bits of tape.

just an idea.

r

[Figment]

Don't go poking holes in the mast for something that can so easily be properly addressed next time the mast comes down.

For now, ballast the boat to induce a bit of a list to one side.

[One Way David]

Being new to this sailing and boat thing, take this for what its worth. If one could access the top in a climbing harness, disassemble the top and slide water pipe insulation over the wire (that stuff you use on the hot water pipes in homes) assuming the stuff has a relatively straight shot to the bottom without obstruction and reassemble. Lotta ifs there.