Its not that bad
I’ll give you the bottom line first, then my verbose explanaiton last. Once I had an extra set of hands the project went very smoothly for me. I wouldn’t recommend doing it alone. When I bought my used C30 the previous owner had advertised that it had “new mast wiring”. Over my first winter of ownership I decided to go through the boat to make sure it was ready for its first season under my command. I wasn’t surprised when I found the broken halyards just tucked into the mast to make them look acceptable (yes my surveyor and I both missed this). I was however surprised that the “new mast wiring” consisted of reused vacuum-cleaner cords that were abraded through to bare copper dangling inside my aluminum mast where they exited from the PVC sleeve. I spent days trying to fish that wire out and pull in the new wire. Granted I was working by myself, and the mast was atop the boat on its jackstands. I would climb my 12’ ladder, balancing on the very top step trying from one end, then down that ladder, up an extension ladder at the other end and try something different; repeat 100 times. This went on hour after hour for days. The problem was the insulation still in the PVC pipe that prevents the wires from making noise, and worse the rivets that hold the PVC sleeve to the mast every so many feet. I decided that as long as I was going to this trouble I would upgrade some of the gear on the mast; I added a new mast head tri-light, mooring light, dual electric low-profile horns, new antennas, and masthead wind. The bundle of wires consisted of 7 THHN #12 wires plus the electronics wires—i.e. a very thick bundle of wires. Finally, one day a friend stopped by and together in minutes we snaked the new wire bundle through the PVC Sleeve, as effortlessly as possible. The following day I alone rather effortlessly snaked the new harness down the compression post to the bilge. I used the nylon strapping used for shrink-wrapping as a pull cord. I think that worked better than a snake would have. If I were you I would do the following. 1) Attach a pull cord to your existing mast wiring harness. 2) pull the old wiring out, while pulling the pull cord down the PVC sleeve. Remember the spreader light will give you a little bit of trouble. 3) Check that the wire harness is in good shape, upgrade if necessary. 4) Pull the bundle of wires complete with your additional wires back up the sleeve. Repeat this process for the harness going down the compression post. This will of course necessitate disconnecting the plug, but I also took the opportunity to upgrade that as well. Good luck, John
