In the near future I will be required to rework the wiring on my '78 33 for the tri-color,steaming light,spreader lights, etc. The previous owner had routed the majority of his wiring along the shrouds while bringing the wiring through the port chainplates. I would like to run the wiring through the mast but I have a few questions. 1. Has anyone routed the harness directly through to the compression post? 2. Any negatives with interference regarding halyard chaffing etc.? 3. Can this be done without unstepping the mast? 4. Any other suggestions? Thanks.
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Ken Palmer
Interesting
They must have built the 33 differently in 78 than in 81. All of my mast wiring enters the compression post at the base. Up the post, through the cabin-top, to the whats-a-ma-call-it the mast sits on. There are connectors there for the coax,lighting, and masthead wind/direction "windex". I have not re-wired any of the above, so have no experience on how it is routed. I am sure that you would have to take the mast down to perform this task. Good luck with other responses. Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty H33 #449, Rochester, NY
They must have built the 33 differently in 78 than in 81. All of my mast wiring enters the compression post at the base. Up the post, through the cabin-top, to the whats-a-ma-call-it the mast sits on. There are connectors there for the coax,lighting, and masthead wind/direction "windex". I have not re-wired any of the above, so have no experience on how it is routed. I am sure that you would have to take the mast down to perform this task. Good luck with other responses. Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty H33 #449, Rochester, NY
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Bob G.
Stuck mast wiring
I am in the process of replacing my steaming light on my h33. The wiring is shot and I am leaving 12/30 for a New Year's cruise. There will be some night traveling and I will need the steaming light. Last weekend I tried to pull a new wire to the light but the old one would not budge. I am doing this with the mast in place. It would not pull from top or bottom. I was told that the wiring runs in a conduit inside the mast but I don't understand why the wire will not come out. Due to lack of time to have the boat ready for the trip I am going to mount the new steaming light tomorrow and just run the wire down the outside of the mast.(Ugly!!) In the spring I plan to pull the mast for some other work so I will deal with the stuck wiring then. If anyone has done a complete mast overhaul I am open to any hints or problems they may have incountered. Bob Graham S/v Carpe Diem
I am in the process of replacing my steaming light on my h33. The wiring is shot and I am leaving 12/30 for a New Year's cruise. There will be some night traveling and I will need the steaming light. Last weekend I tried to pull a new wire to the light but the old one would not budge. I am doing this with the mast in place. It would not pull from top or bottom. I was told that the wiring runs in a conduit inside the mast but I don't understand why the wire will not come out. Due to lack of time to have the boat ready for the trip I am going to mount the new steaming light tomorrow and just run the wire down the outside of the mast.(Ugly!!) In the spring I plan to pull the mast for some other work so I will deal with the stuck wiring then. If anyone has done a complete mast overhaul I am open to any hints or problems they may have incountered. Bob Graham S/v Carpe Diem
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Ken Palmer
You must take the mast down.
I am surprised that you have never had your mast down. I do mine every winter. As I mentioned in my previous post, there are connectors at the base of the mast. How do you expect to pull the wire up or down with a connector at the ends of the wire? Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty
I am surprised that you have never had your mast down. I do mine every winter. As I mentioned in my previous post, there are connectors at the base of the mast. How do you expect to pull the wire up or down with a connector at the ends of the wire? Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty
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Jay Hill
If not connectors, then worse...
...you may have butt connectors, electrical tape, caulk, you-name-it. At the mast step, inside the mast, the wires go through the deck. Whether connectors or splice, the cables will be heavily sealed with some type of caulk-type substance. If they weren't, you'd get a river flowing into your boat. With these connections in place, you cannot simply replace the wire in the mast. Even with all the sealant, I still get water pouring into the boat from the mast, down the middle of the compression post and out the hole at the bottom where the cabling exists into the cabin sole. I strongly recommend you do this with the mast down and completely reseal everything. I had my mast down in September and just did an "inspection". Wish to heck I'd replaced EVERYTHING (wires, connectors, sealant, etc.) while I had the chance. Will do it next year for sure. Jay
...you may have butt connectors, electrical tape, caulk, you-name-it. At the mast step, inside the mast, the wires go through the deck. Whether connectors or splice, the cables will be heavily sealed with some type of caulk-type substance. If they weren't, you'd get a river flowing into your boat. With these connections in place, you cannot simply replace the wire in the mast. Even with all the sealant, I still get water pouring into the boat from the mast, down the middle of the compression post and out the hole at the bottom where the cabling exists into the cabin sole. I strongly recommend you do this with the mast down and completely reseal everything. I had my mast down in September and just did an "inspection". Wish to heck I'd replaced EVERYTHING (wires, connectors, sealant, etc.) while I had the chance. Will do it next year for sure. Jay
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Bob G.
Ken P. Mast wiring
My boat stays in the water year round, one of the reasons I live in Florida. We sail 12 months a year down here. As for connectors there are none, they fell off years ago. Maybe my wiring is run a little different than yours. The wiring exits the mast at the bottom and plugs into recessed deck plugs (the primary cause of the deck leaks and compression.)There are weep holes in the bottom of the mast to drain the water out. I do plan on pulling the stick in Feb. to replace the VHF ant., coax, anchor light, windex, spreader lights and all associated wiring. While the mast is down I will also tackle repairing the rotted out core under the mast step. I need a working steaming light for next weeks cruise that is why I tried to pull wire with the mast up. For now the new light is installed and the wire runs down the side of the mast, not my way of doing things but I'm legal. Thanks for the tip, I'm sure there is something inside securing the wire in place. Bob Graham
My boat stays in the water year round, one of the reasons I live in Florida. We sail 12 months a year down here. As for connectors there are none, they fell off years ago. Maybe my wiring is run a little different than yours. The wiring exits the mast at the bottom and plugs into recessed deck plugs (the primary cause of the deck leaks and compression.)There are weep holes in the bottom of the mast to drain the water out. I do plan on pulling the stick in Feb. to replace the VHF ant., coax, anchor light, windex, spreader lights and all associated wiring. While the mast is down I will also tackle repairing the rotted out core under the mast step. I need a working steaming light for next weeks cruise that is why I tried to pull wire with the mast up. For now the new light is installed and the wire runs down the side of the mast, not my way of doing things but I'm legal. Thanks for the tip, I'm sure there is something inside securing the wire in place. Bob Graham
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Edward Brennan
great info!
I posted the original expecting all H33's to be wired the same. This might not be true but it looks like I may have to remove the mast. Like Ken however, I live in Florida. Unstepping the mast anually is not an option. Thanks to all for your comments. I'll put them to work. Great forum!
I posted the original expecting all H33's to be wired the same. This might not be true but it looks like I may have to remove the mast. Like Ken however, I live in Florida. Unstepping the mast anually is not an option. Thanks to all for your comments. I'll put them to work. Great forum!
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Sam Lust
Mast rewire
My 33 is a 1983 with a Kenyon mast stepped on a black aluminum pulpit with sheaves to guide the halyards out. I rewired the mast completely last winter; antenna,(the heavier low loss RG 8 U), masthead, steaming light, deck light, and a spare for possible spreader lights. It all fit in the plastic conduit, apparently schedule 20 PVC which is riveted inside the front of the mast. With the mast down I used the old wire to pull the new through. The original setup had connectors at the base of the mast which the previous owner had hanging outside in the weather where the mast met the pulpit. After the connectors the wire originaly went through the pulpit, deck, and down the compression post where it exited in the bilge. I changed that by bringing the wires out the side of the base of the mast through a few 1/2" holes to port and epoxying the deck where they went through. I set up a "U" elbow next to the mast made from a piece of sink drain 1 1/2" "J" or "P" trap. It passes through the deck via a 2" bronze through hull mounted upside-down in the deck and sealed just like a sink at home. The connections are made inside at the top of the compression post, where they then go down inside and into the bilge. The antenna wire continues unbroken to the nav station along the cieling in plastic stick-on conduit. (Panduit) Doing it this way I've eliminated sources of water leaks and losses, (My antenna wire is one piece all the way from the antenna to the radio, eliminating losses from connectors) and made maintenance easier. As usual, pictures are available if you want to see what it looks like. samlust@monmouth.com
My 33 is a 1983 with a Kenyon mast stepped on a black aluminum pulpit with sheaves to guide the halyards out. I rewired the mast completely last winter; antenna,(the heavier low loss RG 8 U), masthead, steaming light, deck light, and a spare for possible spreader lights. It all fit in the plastic conduit, apparently schedule 20 PVC which is riveted inside the front of the mast. With the mast down I used the old wire to pull the new through. The original setup had connectors at the base of the mast which the previous owner had hanging outside in the weather where the mast met the pulpit. After the connectors the wire originaly went through the pulpit, deck, and down the compression post where it exited in the bilge. I changed that by bringing the wires out the side of the base of the mast through a few 1/2" holes to port and epoxying the deck where they went through. I set up a "U" elbow next to the mast made from a piece of sink drain 1 1/2" "J" or "P" trap. It passes through the deck via a 2" bronze through hull mounted upside-down in the deck and sealed just like a sink at home. The connections are made inside at the top of the compression post, where they then go down inside and into the bilge. The antenna wire continues unbroken to the nav station along the cieling in plastic stick-on conduit. (Panduit) Doing it this way I've eliminated sources of water leaks and losses, (My antenna wire is one piece all the way from the antenna to the radio, eliminating losses from connectors) and made maintenance easier. As usual, pictures are available if you want to see what it looks like. samlust@monmouth.com
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Ken Palmer
No coax connectors?
You will get the best results using a single coax (RG-8U or RG-213) between radio and antenna, but what do you do if you step your mast? It sounds like you have to disconnect at the radio end and feed all that coax out the opening. Coax connectors, if added properly, won't degrade the signal much. The secret is to buy good connectors, and solder them on according to instructions. These instructions are well documented in the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Handbook, available at most libraries. Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty
You will get the best results using a single coax (RG-8U or RG-213) between radio and antenna, but what do you do if you step your mast? It sounds like you have to disconnect at the radio end and feed all that coax out the opening. Coax connectors, if added properly, won't degrade the signal much. The secret is to buy good connectors, and solder them on according to instructions. These instructions are well documented in the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Handbook, available at most libraries. Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty
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