The day after I left my boat to travel home to Colorado "Short Circuit" was struck by lightning, 8/1. Seems the bolt exited through the shore power and fried the inverter charger, one cell of my starter battery (so far), VHF antenna, coax, radio, elec dist panel, autopilot control unit, shall I go on? Lucky my Progressive insurance was a good policy! Don't leave home without.... So, they can't pull the coax out of the mast and after reading all of the forum searches I see that my wiring is probably in a channel behind the sail track. So, does anyone have a photos of the track, etc. I bet Ed S. does. Any help will be appreciated. I'm adding Raymarine wind package when the boat is hauled and the mast is removed. Sounds like I should plan to be there for this operation and try to do the wiring myself rather than pay to have it done remotely. Any chance the 1981 36' is any differect mast section than the 37C? The 36 is deck stepped rather than keel stepped. Watch my later reply for a photo of the top of my mast. No windex or vhf antenna but the anchor light still works!!!
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Kenyon mast.
Actually I do have some of my mast when it was horizontal.
But there is not enough detail. The attached picture(if it works) shows the channel on mine. If yours is the same then the sail track can only slide out the bottom, the heavy top plate prevents pulling it out the top. The track ends behind the boom mount. From that point to the bottom is a cover that is a plastic or very hard rubber. A previous owner had put a lot of sealant behind it and I had to drill and cut to get that to slide out. Then I think the track slid out in two long sections. I put new coax and new 3-wire to the top, and new 2-wire to the deck/running light. I added a Nexus wind transducer and wire. All that wire has to be secured in the channel with rivets and nylon ties, about every ten feet should work. Hope this helps.
Actually I do have some of my mast when it was horizontal.
But there is not enough detail. The attached picture(if it works) shows the channel on mine. If yours is the same then the sail track can only slide out the bottom, the heavy top plate prevents pulling it out the top. The track ends behind the boom mount. From that point to the bottom is a cover that is a plastic or very hard rubber. A previous owner had put a lot of sealant behind it and I had to drill and cut to get that to slide out. Then I think the track slid out in two long sections. I put new coax and new 3-wire to the top, and new 2-wire to the deck/running light. I added a Nexus wind transducer and wire. All that wire has to be secured in the channel with rivets and nylon ties, about every ten feet should work. Hope this helps.horizontal mast
Jim: Raven's mast (H37C) is now horizontal in the yard which I just rewired. I have some good pix of the channel which I will post later. The H37C is a Kenyon 5280 (see link). You may be able to find your mast on their website. By the way lightning struck our house 8/5/03 and it burned to the ground. Luckily no one was killed. Ditto "don't leave home without..."
Jim: Raven's mast (H37C) is now horizontal in the yard which I just rewired. I have some good pix of the channel which I will post later. The H37C is a Kenyon 5280 (see link). You may be able to find your mast on their website. By the way lightning struck our house 8/5/03 and it burned to the ground. Luckily no one was killed. Ditto "don't leave home without..."
more info?
Thank Ed, Thanks Richard; Sorry, can't even imagine losing house and everything in it. I would appreciate photos of the channel if you can either post or email to my address listed in the owner's directory. Any other info on the 36's mast would be helpful. I assume the small chanel is about the 1.5" luff track width and maybe 1" deep? Is that right? How does the electrical make if from there to the spreaders. Do you sodder a connection in the track channel for wires into the spreaders? More mast info desired, as I am an absent owner until our uncle Sam says I can go sailing fulltime.
Thank Ed, Thanks Richard; Sorry, can't even imagine losing house and everything in it. I would appreciate photos of the channel if you can either post or email to my address listed in the owner's directory. Any other info on the 36's mast would be helpful. I assume the small chanel is about the 1.5" luff track width and maybe 1" deep? Is that right? How does the electrical make if from there to the spreaders. Do you sodder a connection in the track channel for wires into the spreaders? More mast info desired, as I am an absent owner until our uncle Sam says I can go sailing fulltime.
Sorry for your loss. . .
Richard. Must be a terrible ordeal. A friend here had exactly the same thing happen about three weeks ago. They were visiting out of town when their farmhouse was struck. They are rebuilding. Jim, your dimensions are about right. I know that my channel is now full. Cannot comment on spreader wires since I have none. I'll let Richard provide the pics, sounds like he has good ones.
Richard. Must be a terrible ordeal. A friend here had exactly the same thing happen about three weeks ago. They were visiting out of town when their farmhouse was struck. They are rebuilding. Jim, your dimensions are about right. I know that my channel is now full. Cannot comment on spreader wires since I have none. I'll let Richard provide the pics, sounds like he has good ones.
new wires
....and all new wires. 14-3 tinned marine wire ( 2 of 'em) and new RG-U low loss vhf cable. The condiut is just for chafe protection at the step. The original wire was NOT TINNED! The steaming/deck light passes thru a small tube to prevent chafe. The other wires pass thru drilled holes in the wire track. Don't forget to screw down or pop-rivet the wires in the track.
....and all new wires. 14-3 tinned marine wire ( 2 of 'em) and new RG-U low loss vhf cable. The condiut is just for chafe protection at the step. The original wire was NOT TINNED! The steaming/deck light passes thru a small tube to prevent chafe. The other wires pass thru drilled holes in the wire track. Don't forget to screw down or pop-rivet the wires in the track.
H36 mast
Jim - Sorry to hear of your loss. It's been over 3 years since our mast was unstepped so don't recall looking up the bottom to see how wiring is channelled. Don't have wiring to the spreaders on our 82 H36. Only wiring that exists the mast below the top is for the steaming/deck light fixture. To access the wiring at the bottom of the mast with the mast in place, I remove the halyard sheaves on the port side and am able to get a few fingers in there to reach the connector and wires. Don't recall there being a channel behind the sail track. Thought the wires were channeled on the forward side of the mast somehow. Must not have looked close enough. This week I need to ascend the mast to replace bulb in anchor light. If you can think of anything that I can look at that could help you, let me know. Mike s/v Charisma 82 H36
Jim - Sorry to hear of your loss. It's been over 3 years since our mast was unstepped so don't recall looking up the bottom to see how wiring is channelled. Don't have wiring to the spreaders on our 82 H36. Only wiring that exists the mast below the top is for the steaming/deck light fixture. To access the wiring at the bottom of the mast with the mast in place, I remove the halyard sheaves on the port side and am able to get a few fingers in there to reach the connector and wires. Don't recall there being a channel behind the sail track. Thought the wires were channeled on the forward side of the mast somehow. Must not have looked close enough. This week I need to ascend the mast to replace bulb in anchor light. If you can think of anything that I can look at that could help you, let me know. Mike s/v Charisma 82 H36
H33 mast section
From Mike Daus's comments about accessing his H36 wiring I wonder whether the H36 section is the same or simlar to the H33, which is also deck stepped. on the H33, internal wiring is confined within a pvc? plastic pipe which is strapped at intervals and riveted slightly off centerline on the forward side of the section. If so, the rivets can be spotted from the outside. Photo included here of the H33 section does not show the pvc pipe which starts perhaps 2 feet up from the bottom
From Mike Daus's comments about accessing his H36 wiring I wonder whether the H36 section is the same or simlar to the H33, which is also deck stepped. on the H33, internal wiring is confined within a pvc? plastic pipe which is strapped at intervals and riveted slightly off centerline on the forward side of the section. If so, the rivets can be spotted from the outside. Photo included here of the H33 section does not show the pvc pipe which starts perhaps 2 feet up from the bottom
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