mast light wiring

[rmdakine]

I have a O'Day 30 that has some bad wiring for the mast and spreader light, I troubleshot it down to the wiring inside the mast somewhere, I would like to replace the whole length, but when I tried to pull the old wiring out, it would budge, is there somewhere along the mast where its clamped from the outside? the mast is down right now and dont know of anyway to run new wires except tying to the end of the old run and pulling thru the new run, but I cant seem to get the old wire out, it's very definately clamped to something on the inside somewhere, I tried pulling from either end, wont budge, anybody know where it might be clamped? thanks Rob.

 

[Gregg F]

I replaced the wiring in the mast of my 35' O Day several years ago. There was nothing clamped anywhere inside the mast but the wirinng was run inside a thin walled pvc conduit and was very tight and difficult to pull out. That may be what you are dealing with. I actually had to pull the wiring and the conduit out and replace them. If you have to do this, make sure you use a thin wall pvc and small gauge wire in a round cable.
Good Luck

 

[tomstein]

Expanding Foam

I am currently rewiring an 1989 30 footer also and have the mast down.
On mine I thought they were clamped also because I could not pull them and it was a VERY solid feeling.
Pull the top off (two bolts) and shine a flashlight up the mast.
If you you cannot see all the way up it, then there is probably some expanding foam squirted in a whole right about where the mast passes through the deck as it was on mine (I think it was about seven feet up).
I have no idea way O'Day or someone else did this but the only reson I can think of is to stabalize the wires to keep down abrasion??
I got about a 3/4 inch auger bit and really taped it good to a piece of rod and then jammed it into the plug of foam and then screwed it in some and yanked. After about two hours of this I got it all out.
I am completely rewiring so I was not careful to not damage the other wires.
If one is bad then the others might not be so hot either?
Good luck.