Radar Mast Mount

[Dean Strong]

I'm going to add radar to my1990 Hunter 30. I'd like to mount the dome on the mast. I can fish the wire down the mast, but do not know how to get the wire through the cabin top into the compression post. I'm thinking there has to be access, since the anchor and running light wires have reach the electrical panel. There also must be a chase that runs from the bottom of the compression post into the bilge (or between the pan liner and hull) to the panel...but I have no idea where it is, or how to get access to it.

Anybody have exprience with this? I guessing all the mid-size hunters of this vintage are similar, they all have Isomat spars, etc.

 

[bepilot]

I just solved that wiring problem on my Hunter 30, 1990 model. I needed to run the cable for my Garmin wind/temp sensor. After a weeks research on the Internet and phone calls to Torrenson Marine in Muskegon, Michigan I figured out the following: Access to the compression post is virtually impossible. The original wiring to the mast passes thru the fiberglass box ribs down from the area next to the hull adjacent to the navigation table. Remove the floor section over the bilge pump and on the port side you will see two openings in the rib and stringer(I think those are the terms). The wiring makes a 90 degree turn at this location and goes forward from there. it then makes another 90 degree turn and crosses the support rib where the compression post is located. It then enters the compression post and exits in the short PVC pipe at the mast step on the top of the cabin.

The wiring from that point is all enclosed and not accessible until it emerges at the deck mast step. To run a new wire I removed the connector from the VHF antenna coax. I found I also had to remove the lighting connector. Pulling the cables up through the mast step plate I found where these connectors had been to the wiring harness. I also found that neither the coax nor the light wiring were soldered. They will be soldered and sealed with liquid tape when they are reconnected.

I then secured two lengths of strong string to the entire group of wires. Then pulling on the wires back at the opening adjacent to the bilge pump I extracted all the original wiring and the strings. I then added the end of the cable for the new sensor to the bundle attached to the strings. I then pulled all of this back up to the opening of the mast step.

Trying to only pull one cable or wire down to get the string pulled in was not possible. In my boat the entire original wire bundle was taped together at 2ft lengths. So I had to pull all of them. It took many pulls in each direction to get the job done. You're pulling a pretty good sized bundle through 2 bends of 90 degrees.

I also fed the new cable down to the bilge pump opening from the location I am installing the readout. I did this prior to feeding it up to the deck. I still have to put the connector on the new cable on the cabin roof. I also have to run the cable in the mast, but I think the most difficult job is done. Good luck with your install.

 

[Bob D]

The mast mount radar on my '92 hunter 27 has cable running down the mast, out just above the deck, through the deck, and then runs between the cabin top and the deck back to the breaker panel. I have a terminal block near the compression post (at the top) which I use to disconnect when unstepping the mast. There is a cover in the cabin ceiling in my boat which can be lowered to access the space between the cabin top and the deck.

Bob

 

[Nelsonhow]

I have a Kenyon spar on my 1983 H-30 with internal halyards. The wires run down a channel behind the sail track and used to bend back into the center of the mast and down through a small pipe in the center of the mast shoe into the head cabin behind some trim. The problem was that the wires get rubbed by the halyards which wore throught he insulation and always shorted them out. Also in the event of a problem there was no way to service the wires without pulling the stick. I rerouted the wires so they exit at the base of the mast. I drilled a hole in the deck right next to the mast and but a 1 1/4" pipe in with an elbow on the top. The wire run into the head compartment behing the trim. I have some plumbers putty in the elbow to keep bugs and water out. When I pull the stick I remove the trim in the head (3 screws). The wires to the mast have quick disconnects on them and ther're lots of room for more wires. This is what it looks line on the deck.