Mast Wiring Harness

[FourPoints]

looking to add spreader lights and a windex light (I do a bit of late evening sailing) to my boat this spring, and trying to figure out the best way to wire the mast. Mast is deckstepped, a Z-Spar / US-Spar, and is roughly 38 feet tall from the deck. Also all 3 halyards go up inside the mast

I've already got 2 circuits there, one for the steaming light the other for the anchor light.

Has anyone added additional circuits to a similar type mast?

 

[Barnacle Bill]

You just run the additional wires down the mast like the ones that are in the mast do. You can add an additional plug to accommodate the new wires. You will want to switch the spreader lights separately, but the windex light can be wired into your running light switch since you will use that only while sailing at night anyway. The steaming light is used only when under motor.

 

[FourPoints]

I intend on wireing to the nav light circut for the windex light, and having a seperate circut for the spreader lights.

I called Hunter yesterday and they suggested I talk to US Spar as they actually do the wireing of the mast, not Hunter (to my surprise).

I talked to them and they were able to give me some details about how it's done at the factory, any they are going to give me a quote for the wire, but I'd still really like to hear from anyone who has pulled new wires through their US Spar / Z Spar mast before

 

[Tim R.]

Depending on the extrusion you may already have conduit. My Z-Spar 700 series does and I have pulled wire through that. One conduit goes to radar/steaming light/hailer and the other goes to the top of the mast.

Why would you want spreader lights when sailing at night? Great for when you get back to the mooring or dock though. A simpler method of lighting the deck would be to use a combination steaming/deck light like the Aqua-Signal 25404. 3 wires in place of the two already there. I also think you will have to exit the mast to get to the spreaders. Wire exposed to UV does not last too long.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

I wired my mast recently ...

My mast is Kenyon but I doubt it matters what you are working with as long as there is room and you organize it. I replaced wiring recently. Are you talking about doing it with the mast up or down?

With the mast down, I removed the old plastic conduit (because it was in shambles) and replaced it in-kind dimension-wise(1" dia., I believe), but I might have chosen a thicker-walled plastic conduit to stand up better. I fixed it to the inside of the mast at the leading edge with aluminum pop rivets as it was done originally. Obviously, I had to cut a hole in the conduit for the steaming/deck light combo where they are mounted to the mast just above the spreaders.

With the conduit dedicated for wiring, I have plenty of room for as many halyards as I want and there is never any worry of interference or snagging with the wiring. Besides that, the wiring is confined and there is no noise from wiring slapping within the mast.

Inside the conduit, I have the VHF cable, the wind instrument cable and wiring for the anchor light, steaming light and deck light. My deck step mast does not have an access port at the base for wiring harnesses to be routed outside the mast and through the coach roof, so instead, I have a hole through the mast plate assembly (and yes, water management is a problem when rainwater gets in the mast). I have 3 plugs that get stuffed inside the mast at the base ... the VHF cable, the wind instrument cable, and a 4-prong wiring harness plug. 3 prongs are for the 3 positive leads and the last prong is for a common ground. I splice the 3 grounds above the plug and have the common run from the plug to the panel. The common ground is #12 AWG and no I don't worry about it because never are all three lights being used at the same time (or even 2).

I have a few comments on your choice of options (not that they are welcome ). Use a wind instrument, you will be so much happier with that rather than a windex. There will be no need to crane your neck any more and it makes life so much easier for anybody who might like to steer, but doesn't necessarily know how to read the wind. Besides that, what is a windex light and what is it needed for? And why use spreader lights? Do you really intend to put a light on each spreader rather than a simple deck light which can be mounted to the mast? They come in combos with the steaming light. There is no need for spreader lights.

 

[FourPoints]

I don't want to use one of the combo steaming / deck lights as they don't light up anything other than the foredeck. I'm looking for something to light up the boat (and maybe a few feet around the boat) at night when at the dock or at anchor / mooring. We often go out in the summer, drop anchor and go swimming after dark.

As for the windex light vs wind instrument? it really comes down to cost vs return. The windex light, wire, and misc components will cost around $75, a wired wind meter like the ST-60 is $700-$800, and a wireless unit like the Nexus Wireless Wind Instrument starts about $800 and goes to $900 with extra bells and whistles...

 

[Stu Jackson]

Understand your desire to light up the water around you for swimming at night. If so, and if you pursue the use of spreader lights for that, then you need to be careful about selecting the right lamp to do that. If you go into a hardware store, for instance, you can find a variety of different "bulbs", some are spot lights, some are downlights; they have different names to them which I don't recall right now. Each have different beam widths. It'd be a bear to have selected the incorrect lamp and have to change them after your mast is up.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

I guess I don't understand what lights you have at the top of your mast. Do you have nav lights up there or just an anchor light? Does the windex light have to be dedicated and/or isn't it confusing as a navigation light? Won't the anchor light serve the purpose?

You'd be suprised how useful a wind instrument is. I consider it almost essential. Simrad makes a good one ... I paid less than $600 for my IS-15 Besides that, a windex is useless when you are at the helm with a bimini.

 

[FourPoints]

Stu, I've got 2 of the Dr. LED Kevin spreader lights. The height off deck (16ft) should create a beam of light down over an area of about 25x8 feet, if memory serves. With 2 of them (properly aimed), and my 9 foot beam, it should illuminate a few feet out past each side of the boat.

Scott, the only light currently at the top of the mast is the anchor light. The windex light (once installed) is a super small and dim bulb that won't be visible for more than a couple hundred feet at best, it is supposed to be just enough to make the red stickers glow (its made by Davis specifically for this purpose).

I could use the anchor light to do this, but it is a huge pet peeve of mine to see boats underway, with their anchor light on (normally see a few every time I'm out at night).

As for the use of a wind instrument, I do want one, but its not in the budget for this year, especially as I dont NEED one (I do have a good handheld one already)...

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Ah ... that makes sense.

Scott, the only light currently at the top of the mast is the anchor light. The windex light (once installed) is a super small and dim bulb that won't be visible for more than a couple hundred feet at best, it is supposed to be just enough to make the red stickers glow (its made by Davis specifically for this purpose).

I remember the first time my wife was ever on a sailboat, before we bought ours, when we were visiting a friend. The friend asked if she wanted to steer and she replied that she wouldn't know where to steer to. We were on a lake (Lake Wallenpaupack in Pa) and the wind was very light so the friend told her to just watch the windex and she would know where to go (something like that ... I wasn't paying attention). So after awhile, I asked her why she was so focused on the sky and why were we going in circles? (With the light wind, the windex was just kind of spinning around). The 'friend' was paying more attention to Sue and didn't seem to notice the erratic course ... I guess I was the only one on board that was expecting to sail in one direction! She said she was told to follow the arrow at the top of the mast! I laughed so hard ...

Anyway, with lake sailing, wind shifts are constant and sometimes it can be a nuisance to try to sail in one direction because one minute you can be in irons and the next you have sails set for close haul and the wind is on the beam. With new people on board who want to have an opportunity at the helm, it can be very frustrating and conversations are constantly interrupted by me tellling a new person at the helm to either head up or bear off with every wind shift.

Basically, with the wind instrument, all I have to do is give one instruction. We set sail in a general direction so that I can set the sail trim once and then all I have tell them is to keep the indicater at a prescribed angle (say 35 to 45 if we are beating upwind which is normally the case). It's usually followed by a quick discussion of wind direction and sail trim which is understood so much more readily because the wind instrument is so easily observed and sensitive to every steering adjustment. They keep their eyes forward because the instrument is on the bulkhead right in front and they don't have to look up and interpret (not that anybody can see the top of the mast from the helm anyway, with the bimini). They also quickly learn to make instantaneous adjustments to wind shifts without any input from me. It has been one of the most satisfying additions to our boat (for me anyway).