Pulling new cable up Mast

[Night Watch]

A storm recently damaged my genoa and steaming light which is mounted on the mast just above the spreader bars. The light was lost and the duplex cable fell down the mast. I had no problem pulling the duplex cable out of the mast at the bilge. I intend to replace the steaming light next week and was wondering if anyone out there has had a similar problem, how you tackled pulling "up" new duplex w/o demasting the boat.
I should mention the previous owner rewired the mast and there is no plug at the mast step on the top deck. All wire runs internal to the mast and exits in the bilge.

 

[colemj]

I've done this before. Attach a weight like a nut to the end of string and drop it down from the hole the wire will come out. Fish it out at the bottom and attach the wire to the string and pull it up. Two people are better - one feeds the wire into the mast while the other pulls. This way there isn't a lot of tension on the wire resisting it being pulled up.

Mark

 

[shemandr]

Yeah I would say it's a matter of feeding a messenger down to pull a wire up. I've heard from a friend who does this stuff that a sinker and some monofilament line works too. Since there are probably wires and or halyards in the mast it may take a bit to get a messenger line to drop all the way. Sometimes a fish tape can bruise its way down when line can't poke thru (The second law of physics - you can't push a rope!).

 

[dlochner]

Instead of a nut or bolt, use a short section of small steel chain. It will be longer and easier to find hanging in the mast. A magnet can be used to fish it out of the mast. When it retrieved, the chain will come out of the hole at the top more easily than a nut or bolt.

 

[Night Watch]

I appreciate all the responses so far. One thing I've tried, so far, was to push a metal (electrical) fish tape up from the bilge but it kept getting hung up at the cabin top/mast step interface. No luck that way. There's a VHF cable and a single duplex wire already in the hole but my metal tape wasn't limber enough to flex into the constriction at the step/base interface. Maybe coming "down" from above will work. Thanks again.

 

[jssailem]

Welcome @Night Watch to the SBO Forum.
Going through the deck will be problematic if your Catalina mast is deck-stepped. Images of the mast base on boats built in the 80's show wires coming out of the mast near the deck and then plugging into a fitting going through the cabin roof. How is your mast configured?

 

[Night Watch]

Welcome @Night Watch to the SBO Forum.
Going through the deck will be problematic if your Catalina mast is deck-stepped. Images of the mast base on boats built in the 80's show wires coming out of the mast near the deck and then plugging into a fitting going through the cabin roof. How is your mast configured?

I'm glad you mentioned that. The current situation is, Yes, it's deck-stepped, however, the previous owner "rewired" the mast so there is no plug to deal with, just raw wire.

 

[jssailem]

I have a deck stepped mast. I know water seeps down the inside of the mast. There are weep holes on the step and mast base to let water escape out onto the deck. To stop water from leaking down into the boat on the wires I installed some raised tubes.


When you indicated the wire fell down inside the cabin it got me to wonder. How is the wire configuration to let it go through the deck so that water does not leak in?

Knowing that it might clarify why you experienced an issue trying to run the fish tape.