mast light wiring?

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Sep 18, 2006
18
- - CAYUGA LAKE NEW YORK
my mast light wiring connector disintregrated, 1988 hunter 23; ordered and now have a three plug new connector, there are three wires coming out of the mast, black, white and green, the green is presumably the ground, opened it up yesterday and discovered the old plug is a two plug connector, and not enought extra wire to pull the socket on the deck out enought to get at the connections, could see no ground in the hole in the deck although i could only pick up the socket from the deck a half inch or so, because of short possibly solid not braided wires, am tempted to get a two plug connector and just connect the ground green line to the mast rather than try to replace the two prong socket piece, i replaced the light bulb at the top of the mast before launching this spring, but do not recall what if anything the green ground line was attached to at the top, have no intention of going to the top of the mast until it is down in 6 weeks or so when i pull the boat out of the water am i correct in guessing the mast ought to be grounded to the keel and is that all there is to grounding the wiring on these boats? should the stays be grounded in some fashion, assume the only need to do any grounding is lightening? if so don't understand why grounding to the water is any help, is there a grounding wsire in that impossible tight hole in the deck where the plug sits and if so where does it go? any thoughts? is the mast an adequate ground, and if so why did hunter just not ground the light at the top of themast and skip the ground line entirely? jim
 
Oct 3, 2006
1,029
Hunter 29.5 Toms River
Hmm

I have an '85 23, but my mastlighting consist of only 2 wires(power and ground) for the masthead light. My mast ground is a hevy black wire, connected to the mast step and threaded down, bolted onto a keel bolt. The reason there are seperate wires is because on the 23, there isn't much mechnical or electrical system, so there isn't a "bonding run" connecting the propshafts/engine/refirgerator/thru-holes/etc etc. There is a mast to ground connector, and afew battery-to-whatever wires.
 
Sep 18, 2006
18
- - CAYUGA LAKE NEW YORK
halyards to cockpit replacement ?

rainy lightining humid no wind sunday with 75 miles of ugly colors on the radar to the west of here, i thought i would be sailing so second post of the day i have just ordered but not yet received new halyards to bring them back to the cockpit, pretty critical, since i single hand a lot on a lake where gusty winds and wind direction changes come up frequently somewhat unannounced. I have not yet ordered the cleats or winch to place on the cabin roof, assume i need to reinforce them, have been thinking of building a piece of half inch teak or mahogany, and drilling holes to recess the nuts so i don;t hit my head on unsightly nuts and bolts on the cabin roof where there is carpet glued to the celling, thinking of trying to make the wood reinforcement plate big enough to accommodate both the winch and the cleats which will be a few inches forward of the winch attachement bolts? can i take the existing winch off the mast and us it on the cabin deck? the other thought was to have someone build a 1/4" or 3/8" plate of stainless steel and thread the holes to take the bolts of the cleats and winch? i assume i will do the same thing where i locate the blocks about a foot to the starboard to the mast base. any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Oct 3, 2006
1,029
Hunter 29.5 Toms River
Hey Jim

If you want to come see it, My 23 is set up for single-handing and is in rochester! At the very least(i didn't do it) I can show you what should be different as well. Here's a thought though - the pull of the winches and cleats is going to be purely horizontal, not vertical. Mine has seemed to be fine just through-bolted through the cabintop- it's pretty thick! ps: I was out yesterday on lake ontario. It was incredible! 15 knots or so, 3' chop. reefed main and a 110 up front was absolutley SMOKIN upwind!
 
Aug 9, 2005
772
Hunter 28.5 Palm Coast, FL
Do you also have a steaming light?

If you have a steaming light and an anchor light you need three wires. If only an anchor light you need two wires.
 
Sep 18, 2007
1
- - Magnolia Springs, Alabama
Mast Light Wiring

My mast light on my 86 model only has 2 prong plug and 2 wires but there is a large ground wire that runs from the plug on the inside of the boat to the keel bolts.no ground wires inside the mast.
 
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