Jim Payton
Inactive Member
I did it
I snaked a new wire to the mid mast light and it took me 3 days. I have a 1967 E-26 #4. On my boat's mast there is no conduit inside the mast just wires. I have a wire for two spreader lights, a wire for the VHF antanae cable and a wire for the mid mast light. I did it without stepping the mast and that's the main reason it took so long. I had a buddy help me and we only worked on it after work each day so we only had a couple of hours before we ran out of daylight.
The existing wire was broken so we needed to run a new one. I didn't want to step the mast for one little wire. The first night was spent troubleshooting to figure out if it was the bulb, the wire or the running light switch. That took till dark. The next night was spent buying wire and developing a game plan of how to get the wire from the cabin up the mast and out that little 1/2" hole where the light is. The third night was all work and no play.
My mast has ladder steps mounted all the way to the top so its real easy to climb up and down. That saved us a lot of time. We found where the wire bundle came through the top of the cabin and we were able to take a good stiff copper wire (I think it was 12 guage) and force it up through the hole and into the mast. My mast also has two wenches mounted on either side at about the same place where the boom attaches. We pulled the one that is mounted on the port side and drilled a small 1/2" hole under where it mounts, so we could look in and find the copper wire I was pushing up the mast, about 4 feet up. My buddy watched through the hole while I was down in the cabin feeding the wire through.
He made a hook out of a coat hanger and when he saw the wire go by he snagged it and pulled it out. We now had a wire from the cabin up the mast about 4 feet that we could pull from either direction.
The old wire that ran up the mast to the light was still inside the mast so we found it and pulled it through the hole also. We hooked a 12 volt battery to the old wire at that point and and it turned the light on. We knew then that the bad spot in the wire was between the cabin entry hole and the wench where we drilled the hole.
We simply tide a pull string to the 12 gauge wire and I pulled the string through the cabin entry hole. Then attached a new wire to the old at one end and to the string at the other end and pulled.
Reinstalled the wench and put everything back together the way it came apart.
I just fed the wire along the existing wire bundle and used zip ties to keep it in place and hooked it to the running light switch.
Now when ever I turn on Doldrums running lights I get this little feeling of accomplishment!!
Jim of the Doldrums
I snaked a new wire to the mid mast light and it took me 3 days. I have a 1967 E-26 #4. On my boat's mast there is no conduit inside the mast just wires. I have a wire for two spreader lights, a wire for the VHF antanae cable and a wire for the mid mast light. I did it without stepping the mast and that's the main reason it took so long. I had a buddy help me and we only worked on it after work each day so we only had a couple of hours before we ran out of daylight.
The existing wire was broken so we needed to run a new one. I didn't want to step the mast for one little wire. The first night was spent troubleshooting to figure out if it was the bulb, the wire or the running light switch. That took till dark. The next night was spent buying wire and developing a game plan of how to get the wire from the cabin up the mast and out that little 1/2" hole where the light is. The third night was all work and no play.
My mast has ladder steps mounted all the way to the top so its real easy to climb up and down. That saved us a lot of time. We found where the wire bundle came through the top of the cabin and we were able to take a good stiff copper wire (I think it was 12 guage) and force it up through the hole and into the mast. My mast also has two wenches mounted on either side at about the same place where the boom attaches. We pulled the one that is mounted on the port side and drilled a small 1/2" hole under where it mounts, so we could look in and find the copper wire I was pushing up the mast, about 4 feet up. My buddy watched through the hole while I was down in the cabin feeding the wire through.
He made a hook out of a coat hanger and when he saw the wire go by he snagged it and pulled it out. We now had a wire from the cabin up the mast about 4 feet that we could pull from either direction.
The old wire that ran up the mast to the light was still inside the mast so we found it and pulled it through the hole also. We hooked a 12 volt battery to the old wire at that point and and it turned the light on. We knew then that the bad spot in the wire was between the cabin entry hole and the wench where we drilled the hole.
We simply tide a pull string to the 12 gauge wire and I pulled the string through the cabin entry hole. Then attached a new wire to the old at one end and to the string at the other end and pulled.
Reinstalled the wench and put everything back together the way it came apart.
I just fed the wire along the existing wire bundle and used zip ties to keep it in place and hooked it to the running light switch.
Now when ever I turn on Doldrums running lights I get this little feeling of accomplishment!!
Jim of the Doldrums
Brent Wright
Please Contact Admin.
Jim,
Which mast steps do you have?
Which mast steps do you have?
Jim Payton
Inactive Member
steps
Brent, I have no idea what these steps are called they came with the boat when I bought it, but they are made out of some kind of aluminum alloy and are riveted to the mast. If I remember I will take a picture this weekend and post it on this site. I'm glad you asked about them because the longer I'm around them the more opinionated I become about there usefulness. I love them when I need to go uptop and do some kind of work, like intalling a new windgage or something like that. I hate them when I have to raise a sail because the halyards are constantly getting tangeled in them.
Different types and styles of steps might be a good topic to bring up in a new thread.
Jim of Doldrums
Brent, I have no idea what these steps are called they came with the boat when I bought it, but they are made out of some kind of aluminum alloy and are riveted to the mast. If I remember I will take a picture this weekend and post it on this site. I'm glad you asked about them because the longer I'm around them the more opinionated I become about there usefulness. I love them when I need to go uptop and do some kind of work, like intalling a new windgage or something like that. I hate them when I have to raise a sail because the halyards are constantly getting tangeled in them.
Different types and styles of steps might be a good topic to bring up in a new thread.
Jim of Doldrums
Jim Payton
Inactive Member
Here are the mast steps:
Attachments
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steps on the mast.jpg
Brent Wright
Please Contact Admin.
Thanks Jim,
Those are a lot bigger than I had expected, though I like the convenience. Maybe I should look for some that are low profile, although that might take away from the convenience.
Those are a lot bigger than I had expected, though I like the convenience. Maybe I should look for some that are low profile, although that might take away from the convenience.