Ericson 30 in Goleta, CA - Mast Wiring

Hi , I am new to this forum, I have an Ericson 30 tho I am not sure what variation,it was built in 1967. I have been trying to fix it up over the last year, it was in serious disrepair, the teak was alot of work but not to bore you with the details but now I am stuck with a problem I cannot figure out. The wiring in the mast is loose and makes an awful raquet whwn at anchor. Is my only solution stepping the mast to fix this?
Any thought or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Dan

Dan,

Some people install a PVC pipe up the length of the mast. They use pop rivets to hold the PVC in place, then feed wires through that pipe. Some P/O has done that on my boat and it STILL rattles and bangs at anchor. Another techniques is to use large tie wraps every two feet on the wire bundle with the ends alternating at about 120 degree intervals. Leave the long ends of the tie wraps in place, then feed the bundle up the mast and the ends of the tie wraps will hold the wires to the center of the mast and prevent some or all of that racket. All of this does require the mast to be out of the boat, AFAIK.

Quieting the wires in the mast.

Dan, Welcome to the list. Keith is right on and I'm chiming in to confirm the use of long Tyraps every few feet as an effective means of quieting mast wires. I've done that very thing but on a deck stepped mast that I dropped for the task. If your mast is keel stepped or is deck stepped but does not have a tabernacle, your only option would be to pull it. Good luck, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA