Loose wires in mast ok?

[BAD ORCA]

Pulled mast yesterday and original wire conduit looks like its entirely plastic. From what i can see it is pretty brittle and decomposed so really not useable again. Whats everyone else do in this situation, just run loose wires up the mast and call it a day? I do have in-mast halyards.

I thought of maybe running a long length of pvc pipe up the mast and run the wires through that, but then i have a loose pvc pipe slamming around inside the mast. Didnt seem like a better option. Is there any other method of keeping wires tidy and secure in the mast with halyards in there or am i good to just let the wires run loose?

 

[capta]

Over the last couple of decades I've found myself anchored near (not even next to) a few boats that had the wires no longer attached inside the mast. I honestly don't know how they could live with the racket! It made sitting in our cockpit quite unpleasant, if there was the tiniest swell running.

 

[dlochner]

Install a new conduit. Remove the old conduit and the fasteners, look for rivets on the mast where the conduit lies. If you can find it, use Schedule 20 PVC pipe. This is thinner and lighter weight than Schedule 40. Rivet the new pipe in place. This can be a bit challenging you'll have to look for a way to hold the pipe in place while the hole is drilled and the rivets installed. Look for access points, such as spreader bases, halyard exits, etc. If the mast can be positioned so gravity is working with you and not against, it will be a bit easier.

Good Luck.

 

[colemj]

How was your old conduit attached? Some mast extrusions have a "track" running through them that a conduit connects to. "Track" isn't the right word, but it is a raised T-shaped ridge and the conduit has a split in it that rides on the ridge. If yours is like that, then just cut a split in PVC pipe and run it up.

If yours was pop-riveted in, then it is possible to do this with PVC pipe too. Kind of finicky getting the pipe to lay in place and enough pressure to drill it, but if your mast is down you can just rotate it so the pipe lays where it is needed.

I wouldn't run free wires in a mast with internal halyards. Any free conduit will bang badly.

Mark

 

[BAD ORCA]

Thanks guys. I'll take a closer look today when I get to the boat. I'm still working on the mast step so haven't looked at it that closely yet to see how it was attached.

 

[BAD ORCA]

Over the last couple of decades I've found myself anchored near (not even next to) a few boats that had the wires no longer attached inside the mast. I honestly don't know how they could live with the racket! It made sitting in our cockpit quite unpleasant, if there was the tiniest swell running.

Yeah i hear ya. I suspect some of my wires had broken free because my boat was a hell of a racket even in small waves. Its even louder inside. Makes it tough to sleep some days. I need to secure them somehow. I want to spend a lot of time at anchor.

 

[dlochner]

If there is a track inside the mast, it may fit a mainsail slug. If it does, then bundle the wires together with zip ties to the slug and hoist the bundle up the track. That would be the easiest solution. Of course the engineers would never think of such an inelegant and simple method.

 

[jssailem]

With my mast down, The rigger and I inserted a thin-wall PVC pipe to serve the wide conduit.

We drilled holes in the mast and spaced well apart for the aluminum rivets. Holes were drilled in the PVC to match the spacing of the holes in the mast. Then, using a coat hanger as a hook, we placed the hook into the mast and grabbed the PVC Pipe against the mast. Once positioned, we fitted a rivet in an open hole nearby and secured the pipe to the mast. Once one point was secure, the pipe was secure, the other rivets were reasonably easy to attach.

For the first rivet, we needed to rotate the mast to secure it from underneath, using gravity to help with our task.

There is no internal wire slapping as the boat sits in the slip or at anchor.

 

[BAD ORCA]

If there is a track inside the mast, it may fit a mainsail slug. If it does, then bundle the wires together with zip ties to the slug and hoist the bundle up the track. That would be the easiest solution. Of course the engineers would never think of such an inelegant and simple method.

Oh wow i like the thought of that. I believe there is a track thats not being used, but there was so much corrosion gunk at bottom i couldnt make out any detail. Great idea.

 

[BAD ORCA]

With my mast down, The rigger and I inserted a thin-wall PVC pipe to serve the wide conduit.

We drilled holes in the mast and spaced well apart for the aluminum rivets. Holes were drilled in the PVC to match the spacing of the holes in the mast. Then, using a coat hanger as a hook, we placed the hook into the mast and grabbed the PVC Pipe against the mast. Once positioned, we fitted a rivet in an open hole nearby and secured the pipe to the mast. Once one point was secure, the pipe was secure, the other rivets were reasonably easy to attach.

For the first rivet, we needed to rotate the mast to secure it from underneath, using gravity to help with our task.

There is no internal wire slapping as the boat sits in the slip or at anchor.

I may have to do this if i cant utilize the track/slug idea dave mentioned. I wonder if there is some sort of flexible conduit sleeving i could even try hoisting internally? Though i saw some on McMaster-Carr website.

 

[DArcy]

My previous boat didn't have a conduit in the mast and the wire slap was very annoying at anchor. There were internal halyards but they didn't interfere. The main concern is the noise.

I read a description of someone using zip ties to bundle the wires and manage slap. They arranged the zip ties in threes with the tails sticking out roughly 120° to they held the wire bundle in the middle of the mast. I didn't get around to trying this as I wasn't sure how to manage breaking out the steaming light wiring from the mast head wiring. If you are pulling new wires, this might an easy way to manage wire slap.

 

[BAD ORCA]

My previous boat didn't have a conduit in the mast and the wire slap was very annoying at anchor. There were internal halyards but they didn't interfere. The main concern is the noise.

I read a description of someone using zip ties to bundle the wires and manage slap. They arranged the zip ties in threes with the tails sticking out roughly 120° to they held the wire bundle in the middle of the mast. I didn't get around to trying this as I wasn't sure how to manage breaking out the steaming light wiring from the mast head wiring. If you are pulling new wires, this might an easy way to manage wire slap.

Thanks. Yeah i have read of people doing this as well but dont remember if they mention they had internal halyards. I thought of doing this but was not sure if the zip ties would tangle with the halyards inside the mast.

 

[capta]

Yeah i hear ya. I suspect some of my wires had broken free because my boat was a hell of a racket even in small waves. Its even louder inside. Makes it tough to sleep some days. I need to secure them somehow. I want to spend a lot of time at anchor.

If you can pull the mast, it isn't that hard to pop rivet a PVC tube inside the mast. I believe on most masts it is slightly off center on the forward part. Run the wires in the PVC, making holes for needed lights (spreader, bow, foredeck, etc.) and leave plenty of wire outside the PVC, to make fishing them out the wire holes in the mast much easier.