I have a H34 84 that I de masted and I changed the rigging and mast lites and wiring. I decided to continue the wiring through the compression post instead of joining the wires at the deck step. Problem once I removed the caulking from the 1 inch pvc pipe and pulled the old wires up I noticed that the wires went to the starboard side of the pvc about one inch into the pvc instead of going through the center of the pvc down. I tugged on the pvc and it only went down inside 1 .5 inches and it protruded 1.5 inches vertically above the deck. I took a screwdriver and hammer and tapped down through the pvc and it felt like I was driving into wood!! My thoughts are someone has made a repair the the horizontal support on top of the compression post and re routed the harness to the right or starbird side of the pvc? Now I have to get access to the support beam and the area behind the white board aft in the bathroom it would appear this is where the wires may be? They still end up coming out under the galley seating where the waste tank is at the bottom of the square pillar in the door jamb!!! Ant suggestions where I start my demolition? Help!!!
H34 compression post mast wiring
- Thread starter hunter healer
- Start date
Here is what the 34 originally looked like.. Dunno about the 31. Wires (lightning ground, steaming light, anchor light,deck light, wind instrument) go down thru the post.. coax antenna goes to port inside the fiberglass channel.
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Hi, thank you, I was wondering from what focus point did you take that photo from? I'm going to take a photo from the entry point of the harness on deck and post it! I'm wondering if I should drill out what's blocking the pvc pipe? Or if even the pvc pipe goes all the way down because now all of the wires except the coax go in the fiberglass channel
There seems to be some different ways this wiring was routed. Mine goes through the short piece of PVC ( filled with bedding compound) then to port and through the channel top the bulkhead to the space below the ports and runs back to the power panel.
Here are a couple more photos from mine. Wires for the lights (anchor, steaming) disappearing straight up Wire for the coax VHF feed plus a pull string routed through a piece of water pipe. That was laid into a hogged out channel in the wood transverse piece and off to port. After my repair I ran the light wires (now tricolor, steaming, spreader) down to the settee to a terminal strip. If the mast comes off again I can disconnect down there and pull the entire wire bundle up and out. I taped all those together to make it easier. The coax still goes to port and so I still have a connector inside the mast with enough slack to get to when the mast is raised about a foot.
By the way, its not a straight shot down into the post. It turns out the mast is slightly aft of the compression post, so you have to fish around to find the path. He is my attempt to diagram how mine looked after I made my beam repair. You can see the dogleg in the wire path down to the post. When I replaced the PVC I made it about 6 inches above the deck to prevent future water intrusion allowing for a drip loop in the wire loom.
Hi, thank you for the photos and explanation. A few questions, what do I have to remove to get to that channel in the top photo? I tried drilling out the expiry resin that someone filled the 1 inch pvc pipe at the deck, I had a 1 inch diameter drill bit 12 inches long and I still could not get to the channel but I either need a longer drill bit or the channel is not directly below the pvc pipe? I did find a 1/4 inch hole 45 degrees forward that I managed to put a 36 inch long wood do well down. My dilemma is I have reworded the mast with 14 gauge 3 wire loom and a 14 gauge 2 wire loom and a new vhf coax r58 and a new black negative ground wire. So I need all this to pass down through the compression post! Any ideas
When I pulled the old wires up the seemed to come from port side of the pvc but that channel only had 4 --12 gauge round wires coming up
It sounds like the dilemma that Hunter wired these boats in different ways as Richard has indicated in his previous post.
Look at the very bottom of the compression post inside the settee where the holding tank is. Do (or did) the original wires emerge down there? I found a picture after I routed the new wires similar to what you are doing where you see them coming out near the bottom and going to my terminal strips.
If so, you can use them to fish the new wires down the PVC and through the post. If you don't see the wires down there then all of yours may follow the same route as my original VHF coax by making a sharp turn and heading to the port side. The expanded size of your new wires may not fit that way if they are trying to squeeze in that grooved piece of wood. I don't like that route as they may eventually get pinched. That happened to my coax when everything compressed down and necessitated my compression post repair project.
The best choice then is to get the wires down to the bottom if they have never been routed that way before. The channel in the post is behind the teak head door jamb. Remove the head door and hinges. Then look for the wooden plugs hiding the screws that attach the strip of teak to the front side of the post. Once you pop those plugs out and remove the screws, the jamb piece can be removed. It may reveal the channel in the compression post. Or, if the bulkhead still extends far enough to cover the channel you can pull the post revealing everything. I think (20 years ago at least) that the door jamb screws are what holds the post up against the bulkhead. Once they are removed the post is loose. You might have to push up on the cabintop and it will fall away. At that point you can poke upwards through the hole in the bottom of the beam and emerge out the PVC on top.
Rather than using a straight drill bit, get one of those four fingered flexible pick up tools and poke around. Its very springy and should follow the path between the top and bottom of the cabintop. It is true, the hole on top (PVC) is not in a straight down path to the hole in the channel.
Look at the very bottom of the compression post inside the settee where the holding tank is. Do (or did) the original wires emerge down there? I found a picture after I routed the new wires similar to what you are doing where you see them coming out near the bottom and going to my terminal strips.
The best choice then is to get the wires down to the bottom if they have never been routed that way before. The channel in the post is behind the teak head door jamb. Remove the head door and hinges. Then look for the wooden plugs hiding the screws that attach the strip of teak to the front side of the post. Once you pop those plugs out and remove the screws, the jamb piece can be removed. It may reveal the channel in the compression post. Or, if the bulkhead still extends far enough to cover the channel you can pull the post revealing everything. I think (20 years ago at least) that the door jamb screws are what holds the post up against the bulkhead. Once they are removed the post is loose. You might have to push up on the cabintop and it will fall away. At that point you can poke upwards through the hole in the bottom of the beam and emerge out the PVC on top.
Rather than using a straight drill bit, get one of those four fingered flexible pick up tools and poke around. Its very springy and should follow the path between the top and bottom of the cabintop. It is true, the hole on top (PVC) is not in a straight down path to the hole in the channel.
Ah hah! My wires came down to the floor out the side of the compression post where the holding tank is! I pulled the wires up but the cord I attached got chewed up topside when I attempted to drill out the pvc pipe. This means I will have to remove the teak strip behind the bathroom door jamb and then I will see what lies there. Thank you ! I'll keep you posted. This is a job for this Tuesday when I am back home!
Back again new update re my wiring coming downthe post! I arated removed the teak strip from the bathroom inside door jamb. And found the wiring channel and now easy access to run my loom. I found it dry and no signs of water. But I want to mention the wood post is a tight fit and how would I know if it needs replacing?
