Cabling in Hunter 37.5 mast

[aybabtme]

Hey there! This might be a dumb question but I'm fairly new to boats.

I'm wondering what I should be aware of when thinking of passing cables in the mast of a Hunter Legend 37.5. In term of, how much space is there, what diameter can I bring up, what length should I get?

I'm thinking about coax (LMR400) and cat5e cable for antennas and things like a wifi adapter (Bullet M2).

 

[senang]

I have a 2005 Hunter 38 with a Selden mast. It has a round aluminium tube inside the mast on the front side. Most cables run through it. You can see on the outside if this is installed, there are pop rivets every 2 metres going up the mast.

 

[BrianH]

You cannot just string the cable down the center of the mast, you will need to make sure that you have something that secures it every few feet. If you don't the cable will bang against the inside of the mast every time the boat rocks.

Don't ask me how I know....

 

[bamabaxter]

You cannot just string the cable down the center of the mast, you will need to make sure that you have something that secures it every few feet. If you don't the cable will bang against the inside of the mast every time the boat rocks.

Don't ask me how I know....

Just put two or three 4" zip ties on the cable every few feet and not trim the ends. The zip ties will stick out and "hold" the cable in place inside of the tube/mast to keep it from banging.

 

[Scott NIelsen]

I have a 37.5 so am somewhat familiar with the internals of the mast. If your mast is similar to mine you should be able to look through the opening for the topping lift and see if there is a tube installed in the mast for electrical cables. If not I would say you are dancing with the devil to run any new wires. If your mast is like mine all halyards run through the mast as well as the topping lift. It is my opinion that sooner or later any unsecured electrical cableing will end up being parted by the internal halyard lines. I wish I could tell you if there is a cabling tube but, at present I have not had a need to discover that. I do know that all my mast head wiring at present runs throught the mast into the interior of the boat at the mast step.