• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Mast Wiring Noise

Dave G

Member II
I have a '71 E 29, It appears the wing inside the mast is loose. Extremely annoying to listen to the wires banging around inside the mast when laying at anchor all night. Any one have any solutions? Is there a way to fasten the wiring inside the mast to prvent this highly irratating noise?

Desperate Dave
 

Martin King

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
Dear Desperate,

Your wires are supposed to be in a conduit (usually pvc)
fastened to the inside of the mast. This keeps them
away from any internal halyards as well as from banging
around at anchor.

Martin
 

Jim Baldwin

Member II
slip-slap all night

There was no factory-installed mast wireing conduit in my E27 and probably not in the E29 either. The wires just dangle. When the mast was down, I pulled out a giant wad of ancient foam rubber that was shoved half way up in the mast.

Maybe you could inject some of that liguid foam stuff through a small hole, half way up the mast?

Or...

Maybe you should think about lowering the mast and installing the conduit.
 

Walter Pearson

Member III
Unless you could be absolutely sure that no moisture can enter from the top of the mast, I wouldn't recommend the expanding foam method. The PO did that on my E27 and unbeknownst to me until I unstepped the mast a year or so later, a lot of water collected half way up the mast. Talk about tender! (PO also tried to use the foam at the masthead to prevent water from entering, but the result was a locked halyard sheave.)
 

Dave G

Member II
I was thinking about expanding foam, but something just didn't feel right about that idea, trapped water in the mast sounds bad.

I was trying to avoid bringing down the mast.........as one thing always leads to another and where do you stop?

I have since discovered a couple of plastic plugs in the mast. Removed one that is low enough to reach from deck level. It aappears these plugs originally had the wiring fastened to them to restrain the wiring. It may be possible to reattach these........still scratching my head o that one.

Another idea I found on the web, was to tie the wire bundle with mutiple wire ties and leave the tails long with several ties at each location. The idea being that the wire ties would center the wire bundle in the mast and prevent it from slapping.

Thanks for everyones input.

Dave
 
I used the wire tie method on the last boat I had - worked like a charm.

I used medium-heavy gauge ties. Use several ties at each point. Leave the ties long enough to reach the mast wall in every direction. Space your tie clusters every few feet so you don't get any swing going.
 

Bill Robbins

Member II
For what its worth,
several years ago I pulled my mast and opend the can of worms that many people fear. I really was a bit intimidated by the expense and labor. Well, as the saying goes, Just Do It. The security you will have after pulling the mast and inspecting all the rigging, chain plates, wiring.....ect....ect... ect.... will be well worth the effort and money. Do yourself a favor, pull the mast at a good rigging boatyard, ask questions do the work, learn and be a happy sailor!...
Good luck, Bill
 
Top