Pulling new cable up Mast

[Night Watch]

I used a sting line, super strong and limber. The type of line you use in the building trades. Tied a fishing weight on the end fished the li e down through the conduit attached to the mast.
Most masts have a coduit so wiring doesn’t clang around inside the mast while your trying to sleep and hanging up on internal halyards.

good luck

Thanks! We'll see how it goes this week.

 

[dlochner]

Mason lines are usually nylon and stretch quite a bit. This becomes a problem if the line or wire snags something. The line just stretches until it breaks or gets thoroughly wedged in place. Use a polyester line. Been there done that.

I've been using a 3mm Robline like this one from Defender, works like a charm. The 2mm size is longer, which may be a better deal for a messenger line.

https://defender.com/en_us/robline-orion-500-polyester-rope

 

[Night Watch]

Ok, after all the helpful comments this is what I had to do in order to successfully pull up a duplex cable for my missing steaming light: (1) I tried using an electrical fish both from the top and up from the bilge. Problem was the metal fish has a memory and doesn't straighten out and run but rather hugs the outside and invariably always snags the lip of the cabin mast step interface. I toyed with the idea of drilling a hole at the base of the mast to remedy the snag but didn't. I purchased a "semi-ridged" chase and an Endoscope (see attached pictures). The semi-ridged chase worked (to a degree) I could push the semi-ridged chase half-way up from the bilge but always got hung up. Couldn't understand why it was always hanging up. I pushed the endoscope down the mast and the mast cavity, and the VHF/anchor light cables were wrapped in foam to keep the cables from banging the inside of the mast and preventing my chase from traveling the full distance when pushing it up from the bilge. So, pushing the chase down from the top I could always get the chase to the cabin/mast step interface but because the foam always pushed the chase to the outside could never get it centered over the access way into the bilge. So, I drilled a 1/2" whole in the flat surface of the mast about 6" off the deck and using the endoscope and an improvised hook aligned the chase over the access way while my 2nd pair of hands at the spreader bars pushed the chase down to the bilge.

I tried everything I thought would work except pulling out the vhf or anchor light cables and now knowing they were wrapped in foam wouldn't have worked anyway. Drilling the whole at the base was the only way this would have worked w/o removing the mast completely. Attached are pictures of the chase and endoscope I bought for the job. Small price to pay compared to hauling out the vessel and removing the mast.

 

[jssailem]

Good work resolving your challenge.

 

[jssailem]

For future reference, at Everett Marina, you can pull your boat up to the breakwater at the traveling lift and they can pull your mast up on the hard to be worked, using their crane. Saves money as the boat can stay in the water while the mast issues are resolved. My beautiful sailing boat was a power boat while her mast was refitted.