Does anyone have any experience installing a wind instrument on a hunter 33. I have in mast furling mast. I had a new raymarine E95 installed last fall and I think I under stand hooking the display to the cables at the helm but getting the wind senor installed and the wires to the back of the display I have no idea what path to fish the wires from the mast to the helm and how get the wire down the mast. If anyone has done this and has advise it would be greatly appreciated.
installing a wind instrument on hunter 33
- Thread starter Dannotti
- Start date
Wiring mast
Problem is, your mast is up.
You have 3 choices
Pull spar
Run wire inside mast without conduit
Try to fish in existing conduit
How handy are you with tools and working in a bosun's chair?
There is a conduit in your mast which is used for wiring.
Problem is, your mast is up.
You have 3 choices
Pull spar
Run wire inside mast without conduit
Try to fish in existing conduit
How handy are you with tools and working in a bosun's chair?
You'll probably have to drop the spar.
You cannot get to the top of the wire conduit with the masthead on the mast. Taking it off will be impossible with the mast up.
The slack cable will rattle in the mast, and possibly get tangled up in the halyards, so not ideal.
You cannot get to the top of the wire conduit with the masthead on the mast. Taking it off will be impossible with the mast up.
The slack cable will rattle in the mast, and possibly get tangled up in the halyards, so not ideal.
Not true
The raymarine wind cable is a very light guage 6 conductor wire with no mass.
I would not hesitate to put it into a mast
Here is how to fish it easily.
Firstly, you have to understand that the Raymarine mast cable is hard-wired to the vane mount.
You are going to need to drill & tap holes into the spar masthead. This means working above the masthead, which is a little tricky.
I've done it probably a hundred times.
The problem is aligning the vane fore & aft, which is critical.
Despite the temptation to do so, do not use self-tapping screws to mount the vane block. They must be machine thread.
Now, what you need to do is locate the block on the masthead, and drill & tap one hole only. Install it pretty tight, but not so tight that it can't be rotated around the one screw.
Now, bring up the masthead unit (carefully) on a line that you will drop down to the deck.
Carefully hoist up the MHU, and plug it into the mount.
Now, have someone on the foredeck sight it true fore & aft while you very carefully align it, with the one screw holding the base with a lot of friction.
Now, carefully unplug the mhu, and lower it to the deck.
Now drill & tap the other hole in the mount.
Next step...
Drill a hole in the side of the spar where the cable is going to feed in.
The size of the hole will be somewhere around 1/2" to 3/4".
This is going to depend on the size of rubber or plastic grommet you are going to use to bush the hole so that the wire doesnt get chafed.
The ID of the grommet should be about 3/8"
The best way to drill a clean hole in an aluminum Spar is with a step drill.
It leaves no burrs, and you won't have the drill grab on you, which is very dangerous at the top of a mast.
So, you now have the MHU base mounted, and a hole in the side of the mast.
For reference, drill the hole at about the same height that the VHF cable exits, but on the other side.
At the bottom of the mast, you need to drill the same size hole, for another plastic or rubber grommet.
Ok, now we need to get the cable fed between the 2 holes.
You will need a 50' fish tape. These are really cheap at Home Depot.
Now, the biggest problem that people ever have is finding the fish inside the mast at the bottom.
I will now tell you the best trick in the universe.
Start off by ensuring that the grommet is fed into the mast cable. You don't want to go to all the trouble of running the cable, and then going "oops, forgot the grommet"
Now, while you're at Home Depot, you're going to buy 2 other things:
2 feet of silver bead chain (like what they use on roller blinds)
A small tubular magnet .
Now, tape the bead chain to the end of the fish tape.
Run the fish down the mast.
The person at the bottom will hear it coming down.
Just insert the tubular magnet into the bottom hole.
As soon as the bead chain gets near it, the magnet will grap it.
Fish the bead chain out of the lower hole.
Attach a light guage (1/8") fish line, and pull it to the masthead.
Now, attach the wind cable to the fish, and thread it back down.
Insert the grommet into the upper hole, and put 2 cable ties around the mast cable to strain relief it.
Voila! One installed mast cable.
Option #2
It is possible that your VHF cable is in the conduit.
This is a little tricky, but I've done this many times.
At the top of the mast, start to pull the VHF cable out of the existing hole.
Have the person at the bottom start to push some VHF cable in.
Between the 2 of you, figure out if the cable is running fairly smoothly back & forth.
If so, you can use the VHF cable as your fish, which will feed the wind cable into the conduit.
You will need to cut off the plug on the lower end, and re-attach it afterwards.
Note: you need to be very patient and careful with this technique. You don't want to lose your VHF cable in the mast feed.
The only trick part on this technique is you will need to cross-feed the mast cable into its new hole at the mast head.
This can be easily done using bead chain & magnet technjque
Good luck!
I've put countless cables into masts without conduits
The raymarine wind cable is a very light guage 6 conductor wire with no mass.
I would not hesitate to put it into a mast
Here is how to fish it easily.
Firstly, you have to understand that the Raymarine mast cable is hard-wired to the vane mount.
You are going to need to drill & tap holes into the spar masthead. This means working above the masthead, which is a little tricky.
I've done it probably a hundred times.
The problem is aligning the vane fore & aft, which is critical.
Despite the temptation to do so, do not use self-tapping screws to mount the vane block. They must be machine thread.
Now, what you need to do is locate the block on the masthead, and drill & tap one hole only. Install it pretty tight, but not so tight that it can't be rotated around the one screw.
Now, bring up the masthead unit (carefully) on a line that you will drop down to the deck.
Carefully hoist up the MHU, and plug it into the mount.
Now, have someone on the foredeck sight it true fore & aft while you very carefully align it, with the one screw holding the base with a lot of friction.
Now, carefully unplug the mhu, and lower it to the deck.
Now drill & tap the other hole in the mount.
Next step...
Drill a hole in the side of the spar where the cable is going to feed in.
The size of the hole will be somewhere around 1/2" to 3/4".
This is going to depend on the size of rubber or plastic grommet you are going to use to bush the hole so that the wire doesnt get chafed.
The ID of the grommet should be about 3/8"
The best way to drill a clean hole in an aluminum Spar is with a step drill.
It leaves no burrs, and you won't have the drill grab on you, which is very dangerous at the top of a mast.
So, you now have the MHU base mounted, and a hole in the side of the mast.
For reference, drill the hole at about the same height that the VHF cable exits, but on the other side.
At the bottom of the mast, you need to drill the same size hole, for another plastic or rubber grommet.
Ok, now we need to get the cable fed between the 2 holes.
You will need a 50' fish tape. These are really cheap at Home Depot.
Now, the biggest problem that people ever have is finding the fish inside the mast at the bottom.
I will now tell you the best trick in the universe.
Start off by ensuring that the grommet is fed into the mast cable. You don't want to go to all the trouble of running the cable, and then going "oops, forgot the grommet"
Now, while you're at Home Depot, you're going to buy 2 other things:
2 feet of silver bead chain (like what they use on roller blinds)
A small tubular magnet .
Now, tape the bead chain to the end of the fish tape.
Run the fish down the mast.
The person at the bottom will hear it coming down.
Just insert the tubular magnet into the bottom hole.
As soon as the bead chain gets near it, the magnet will grap it.
Fish the bead chain out of the lower hole.
Attach a light guage (1/8") fish line, and pull it to the masthead.
Now, attach the wind cable to the fish, and thread it back down.
Insert the grommet into the upper hole, and put 2 cable ties around the mast cable to strain relief it.
Voila! One installed mast cable.
Option #2
It is possible that your VHF cable is in the conduit.
This is a little tricky, but I've done this many times.
At the top of the mast, start to pull the VHF cable out of the existing hole.
Have the person at the bottom start to push some VHF cable in.
Between the 2 of you, figure out if the cable is running fairly smoothly back & forth.
If so, you can use the VHF cable as your fish, which will feed the wind cable into the conduit.
You will need to cut off the plug on the lower end, and re-attach it afterwards.
Note: you need to be very patient and careful with this technique. You don't want to lose your VHF cable in the mast feed.
The only trick part on this technique is you will need to cross-feed the mast cable into its new hole at the mast head.
This can be easily done using bead chain & magnet technjque
Good luck!
Not a Bad Job ................
As shown, the Selden mast has two wire conduits and if you're lucky, there may still be a "fish line" coming out at the bottom of your mast.
Follow Art's instructions for getting a fish down the conduit (if you don't have an existing one) and remember to be sure to leave a fish in place for the next unexpected project.
Also, don't do this in extremely cold weather as you'll have your legs wrapped around an excellent conductor and "shrinkage" becomes a major issue
.
............................... if you enjoy working at heights on a swinging mast. And if you have a Selden mast, you're almost finished. I've run cable for a wind meter and then for fun, ran cable for a mast light. Really quite easy, just time consuming and remember "safety all the way".
As shown, the Selden mast has two wire conduits and if you're lucky, there may still be a "fish line" coming out at the bottom of your mast.
Follow Art's instructions for getting a fish down the conduit (if you don't have an existing one) and remember to be sure to leave a fish in place for the next unexpected project.
Also, don't do this in extremely cold weather as you'll have your legs wrapped around an excellent conductor and "shrinkage" becomes a major issue
.Attachments
Speaking of safety
Always tie the halyard through the chair rings with a bowline, and then snap the shackle onto the ring.
You should always go up on 2 halyards. Practically, the topping lift & main work well, as they both go to the masthead.
NEVER rely on the winch self-tailer.
I once saw some complete idiot attempt to hoist his kid up the mast using a fender as a chair.
I went over to the guy and put my arm around his shoulder. I told him if he even tried to do that, I was throwing him in the drink.
When using a bosun's chair, NEVER suspend it by the halyard shackle................................ if you enjoy working at heights on a swinging mast. And if you have a Selden mast, you're almost finished. I've run cable for a wind meter and then for fun, ran cable for a mast light. Really quite easy, just time consuming and remember "safety all the way".
As shown, the Selden mast has two wire conduits and if you're lucky, there may still be a "fish line" coming out at the bottom of your mast.
Follow Art's instructions for getting a fish down the conduit (if you don't have an existing one) and remember to be sure to leave a fish in place for the next unexpected project.
Also, don't do this in extremely cold weather as you'll have your legs wrapped around an excellent conductor and "shrinkage" becomes a major issue
Always tie the halyard through the chair rings with a bowline, and then snap the shackle onto the ring.
You should always go up on 2 halyards. Practically, the topping lift & main work well, as they both go to the masthead.
NEVER rely on the winch self-tailer.
I once saw some complete idiot attempt to hoist his kid up the mast using a fender as a chair.
I went over to the guy and put my arm around his shoulder. I told him if he even tried to do that, I was throwing him in the drink.
Thanks a lot. This is great info. Should you try and still the hole so it lines up with the conduit portion of the mast?
I forgot to mention...i don't have a hard wired wind anemometer. I use a hand held Kestrel, and am installing the sailtimer.