[QUOTE=Wally-1840;8909]Hi all;
Has anybody had luck with running a wire from the masthead to the bottom, while the mast is UP? I'd like to access the installed conduit so I don't have a slapping or halyard entanglement issue. The boat is a 2000 MKII. The wire will be for a TV antenna, up top.
Thanks!
Wally[/QUOTE]

I am sure someone here has actually done this (I haven't), but the first thing I would try is to use one of the existing wires and use it as a fish tape. I would attach the TV antenna and a replacement wire to the existing wire and pull it through. Again - there is a better way, I am sure, but this would be my 'hack' attempt. Good luck.

Something similar was just done on my boat. When the mast was down I had the marina install radar. When the mast was up once again, the wind instrument didn't work anymore. The marina used the old wind transducer cable to pull in the new cable. It took almost 4 hours, but the expense was less than pulling the mast.

G. Jackson
SV Jacqui Marie

Wally,

Using an existing wire, such as your anchor light wire as a messenger can be done. It means you have to go all of the way up the mast to do it. You also have to be able to get access to where the wires enter the mast and have help down below. It can be done but.

Several months ago I tried to install a Raymarine wind transducer. The PO had installed a new mast and the PO/installer had run a yellow messenger line which made the install appear to be a snap. Unknown to me the PO/installer tied a knot in the wires just above the conduit to secure the wires and take any unnecessary weight off of them. Great idea but made the messenger line worthless.

Using the messenger tied to the transducer wire I had a friend down below pull the messenger while I fed the wire from above. As soon as the transducer wire got to the top of the conduit the messenger snapped and down came the rope without the wire. As a result of the tug the wire connect to my anchor light tore out of its base...now no anchor light.

I bit the bullet and had the mast pulled. Actually the cost was not as bad as I thought it would be and I found pulling the mast was one of the easier projects. Once you remove the main sail and boom the yard hooks a sling onto the mast. All of the cables are removed and the electrical wires down below are disconnected the mast lifts off.

After the mast was removed and secured on a cradle I removed the top of the mast and found the knot the PO/installer had made making messenger worthless. Having the mast off of the boat made it a snap to install the newer LED anchor light (plus lighter gauge wire for the LED) and the wind transducer wire. With the top of the mast removed the access was a very simple task. Once I finished my repairs and installation of the anchor light and wind transducer putting the mast back on was the reverse of the removal. It really was that simple.

Just as a suggestion wrap blue tape around the threads on the turnbuckles prior to removal to make the reinstall a little easier so the rig tuning is close.

After all was said and done the mast removal and replacement cost me a little over $500.00. If I it to do all over I would have the mast pulled. Given the man hours I spent trying to save a few bucks that I had to spend in the end... If you have to pay someone to pull the wires with a messenger find out how many hours it may take. You might find pulling the mast cheaper?

Chris, I detect an potential 'issue' with your wind system installation.

Did you change the value of the Circuit Breaker when you downsized the wire gauge going to the anchor light??? Remember, the CB is there to protect the boat. Said another way, the CB is there to prevent the wire from acting as a fuse, and burning up, starting a fire. If that wire were to short to the mast, would the CB pop to protect your family and your boat?

The CB should be sized to protect the smallest wire gauge downstream.

I have pulled wires through many conduits that were installed underground - as in construction sites. There are a few ways that it can be done without disturbing the existing wires that are in the conduit. 1) Make a trip to the hardware store and buy 100 feet of fish tape only not including the container. Fish down from the top of the mast or fish up from the bottom of the mast. It does required two persons. Then you can use the fish tape to pull the new wire through or just pull a messenger wire. The other option is to use a shopvac from the bottom and feed a string from the top that has a small sponge attached to it. Then use this string to install a messenger wire or line. Let us know how it goes.

Wally,

I suggest if you are going to pull wires you use an existing wire with a messenger tied to it to return the wire. I found finding the conduit in the mast is next to impossible. If you look at the rivets on the outside of the mast you can kind of figure out the approximate location of the conduit. On my mast, which could be very different from yours, the conduit started about 4' to 5' from the bottom of the mast on the port side and ended about 18" to 2' from the top of the mast on the starboard side? The conduit crossed the front of the mast at the running light. Imagine trying to push a wire tape through a small hole on the side of your mast and trying to hit the middle of a 3/4" conduit? Or from the top of the mast while you are suspended. I tried it and spent a lot of time and frustration trying to hit that hole. If the PO/Installer had not put that knot in the wire at the top of the conduit I know I would have been successful. The messenger line the PO/Installer included with the mast installation should have worked flawlessly... But what fun is that, a project without a flaw... Those projects are on the endangered list!

Chris

This won't apply to the original poster, but I found in my '83 vintage mast that the wires in there for lighting are so brittle they probably couldn't be used to pull wire up through the rig. However if you did manage it, getting a messenger in there and then replacing the existing wires at the same time would probably not be a bad idea from a maintenance perspective.