Wire Up Mast Without Dropping it

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Nick_ander
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Wire Up Mast Without Dropping it

Post by Nick_ander »

My mast doesn't have an anchor light on top. It has a little rig that is pulled up on a halyard. I would like to move the vhf antenna from the mizzen mast to the main as well. What is the best way to do this without pulling the masts? I am sure I could figure it out but it's nice to hear what others have done.


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markwesti
Almost a Finish Carpenter
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Re: Wire Up Mast Without Dropping it

Post by markwesti »

We don't have an anchor light either . Although my anchoring at night , nights are pretty much over , if I need to , I have a rechargeable LED lantern I can just hoist . Also the last time in the yard I rewired the mast . There was a lot of stuff going on at the mast head , I got rid of it all except the VHF antenna . This would have been nearly impossible had we not had the mast craned off . And we are tabernacled , I suppose we could have done this with the tabernacle but I had issues at the base I needed to fix also . I'm blessed with a close by DIY yard , and I know my post does not answer your question . Please tell us more , are you tabernacled ?
Nick_ander
Bottom Paint Application Technician
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Re: Wire Up Mast Without Dropping it

Post by Nick_ander »

Not tabernacled, but deck stepped. I thought of dropping a line from the top, down the inside and fishing it out at the bottom. I would then use the line to pull up electrical and coaxial.
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atomvoyager
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Re: Wire Up Mast Without Dropping it

Post by atomvoyager »

I've used 1/8" line with a small bullet shaped lead fishing weight to drop from the top of the mast as a messenger and then pull out with a bent wire. If your mast has internal halyards it's risky to run wires inside while the mast is up in case you get a wrap around the lines that hangs up later during use. Also, wires that are not in a conduit slap around as the boat rolls and are too noisy to live with. Think of it like living inside a giant guitar as it's being constantly strummed. If you have clearance you can attach three zip ties oriented 120 degrees apart every couple feet but you'd have to drill a large enough hole for clearance. If it can wait until you drop the mast then it's easier to use a rigging wire to pull the wires through and you don't need large holes since you can get the cable ties fed through the bottom of the mast and then run the wire out a small hole near the bottom.
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