Catalina 25 mast wiring

Nov 1, 2014
1
catalina C25 1987 merritt island
I am needing to replace my mast vhf antenna and wire. I will also replace the lighting wires while the mast is down. My question is, how are these wires secured to the inside of the mast? The old vhf wire is loose and slaps constantly at night. I have internal halyards and I don't want the wiring to interfere with them. The mast has some rivets visible from the outside, so I guess the lighting wires are secured at the factory, so replacing the wiring means re-securing them also. How do you hold the wiring holders in place while re-securing the wire holders inside the mast? The rivets are unreachable by hand for sure and deep inside the mast.

Next I am planning on adding a second jib halyard. I see if you use internal wire halyards, you can replace wide rope pulleys with two thin wire type pulleys and split them in the masthead. Is that the only way or can I still use rope halyards? Catalina Direct recommends rope and not wire.
 
Nov 9, 2009
69
catalina 25 wing keel rutledge tn.
I have a catalina 25 and am going to add a masthead crane from catalina direct. The crane will allow me to add a block for a spinnaker. You could add a masthead crane and block and then use your existing spinnaker block for another halyard.With rope as strong as it is today I would not use wire. I would ask catalina direct about the wiring. You may have to use the old wires for messengers and replace the wires one at a time.
 
Feb 26, 2004
23,049
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
The mast has some rivets visible from the outside, so I guess the lighting wires are secured at the factory, so replacing the wiring means re-securing them also. How do you hold the wiring holders in place while re-securing the wire holders inside the mast? The rivets are unreachable by hand for sure and deep inside the mast.
The very best description of this is in Don Casey's This Old Boat book. Borrow or buy the old 2nd edition (don't need the newer 3rd edition).
 
Dec 25, 2014
84
Catalina 27 Pasadena, Md
I looked in my Catalina 27 manual and it seems to show a tube running down the mast for all the wires, might have that in your mast also.