Mast tuning and testing wiring before stepping

[Marty Seitzinger]

I have read a ton of posts about stepping and tuning here, but there does not seem to be much about tuning the mast, or testing things before stepping.I have tuned a J-24 before, and that was ok because there were 5 stay connections, not NINE! Any help is appreciated - like a start to finish directions would be great.Also, I bought this bought last year, and have no idea of the wiring history. Who knows if it was fragile and when unstepping it we killed a few wires. I want to verify that I have fully functional electronics. Does anyone know if there are standard female/male connectors I could buy to just attach it as if it were normally connected? Basically, a wiring extension cord. Otherwise, I have to buzz out each wire, map it to every connection, and then manually apply voltage to check everything out!Thanks,Marty

 

[Ed Schenck]

Wiring test.

Marty, how much "stuff" is on the mast to make it so difficult to test the wiring? While my mast was horizontal I used a 6' piece of 2-wire cable to test. Took my little tractor battery and sat it at the end of the mast. I used the 2-wire cable to test the deck light, the anchor light, the steaming light, and the masthead running lights. If you do not have the wires labeled this is an easy way to find them.Any other wires are electronics like radar or wind transducer. For those an ohmmeter should show some continuity between the two wires.As a rig tuning start have you been to the Brion Toss site? See Related Link.