Does anyone know where this connector is located with a deck stepped mast?
320 Deck/mast wiring connection
320 Deck/mast wiring connection
320 Deck/Mast wiring connection
- Thread starter Jwhy
- Start date
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 22,932
Your boat may be factory installed or Previous Owner modified.
There are 2 basic methods frequently used on deck stepped masts.
1. The wires exit the mast at the base and are plugged into a fitting on the deck near the base of the mast.
2. The wires run through the deck beneath the mast and are captured inside the mast.
This is the image of the mast base ready to receive the wires when the mast is lowered on to the base. TH ewires you see in the image are the old wires. We cut them off and sealed them in the base.
This image has the mast suspended above the base and the wires are being inserted into the hose that forms a drip loop to stop water from running down the wire and into the boat. We did this with each of the lines. We then positioned the wires in the mast and lowered it onto the base. This was completed in 2016. No water has been observed dripping down from the mast in to the boat.
Inside the boat the wires are attached to a terminal block. The wiring is then hidden behind a wooden chase.
There are 2 basic methods frequently used on deck stepped masts.
1. The wires exit the mast at the base and are plugged into a fitting on the deck near the base of the mast.
2. The wires run through the deck beneath the mast and are captured inside the mast.
This is the image of the mast base ready to receive the wires when the mast is lowered on to the base. TH ewires you see in the image are the old wires. We cut them off and sealed them in the base.
This image has the mast suspended above the base and the wires are being inserted into the hose that forms a drip loop to stop water from running down the wire and into the boat. We did this with each of the lines. We then positioned the wires in the mast and lowered it onto the base. This was completed in 2016. No water has been observed dripping down from the mast in to the boat.
Inside the boat the wires are attached to a terminal block. The wiring is then hidden behind a wooden chase.
I have a peculiar arrangement in my mast wiring. This is not for everyone but I avoid stepping and unstepping the mast. My mast wiring, including lighting, antenna, and older radar cable runs down through the mast, into a pipe nipple inside the mast base plate at the deck, through the compression post, exits a hole in the compression post in the bilge, runs along the upper edge of the bilge, enters a hole in the side of the bilge under the floor liner, into a compartment under a cabin settee, and terminates on a terminal strip there . The entire bundle of wires is unbroken from the various mast devices to the terminal strip. When I last stepped the mast this wiring bundle which extends about 15' beyond the mast base had to be carefully fed through the compression post while the mast was slowly lowered down to the deck. I know this tries the patience of the crane crew but I do not have to worry about an inaccessible failed connection in the mast wiring. I'm a big tipper so the crane crew tolerates my eccentricities.
On my Catalina 320, all wire and cable connections are above deck and inside the mast. When I had my mast down, I wasn't very happy about it. The feed through the mast base was sealed with a big gob of silicon. I didn't tackle this as a project this time around with the mast down. I don't have any leaks, but I also don't have any access to the connections that didn't look particularly secure to me.
I read some correspondence between the previous owner and Catalina, and it seems that Catalina was not approving of this connection. The previous owner indicated that the boat was commissioned this way. Catalina seemed not to buy that explanation but the matter never got resolved, apparently. I might be misunderstanding the correspondence, but it seems that Catalina intended the wiring connections to be inside the cabin and not in the mast.
Someday in the future, I will need to have a reason to take the mast down, I think, and modify the connections to my liking. I was too busy with other projects when I had the mast down before.
I read some correspondence between the previous owner and Catalina, and it seems that Catalina was not approving of this connection. The previous owner indicated that the boat was commissioned this way. Catalina seemed not to buy that explanation but the matter never got resolved, apparently. I might be misunderstanding the correspondence, but it seems that Catalina intended the wiring connections to be inside the cabin and not in the mast.
Someday in the future, I will need to have a reason to take the mast down, I think, and modify the connections to my liking. I was too busy with other projects when I had the mast down before.