Another mast wiring query

[alan43]

The cable to my masthead light has parted (at the masthead) and the end has disappeared through the gland and into the top of the mast, so now there's nothing accessible to attach in order to pull in its replacement. And even if I could retrieve the end, I doubt that I could pull a replacement through, because it shares a fairly narrow conduit with the cable to the spreader lights, and the friction would certainly be too much.

The options appear to be:
1 - Take the mast down, remove and then replace the conduit complete with new cables; or
2 - Drill a hole through the mast cap, dangle a weighted line down the inside of the mast, and use that to pull in the new cable.
(I rejected a third option of lifting off the mast cap and replacing the conduit from above, I didn't fancy being 9m up a mast without the forestay & backstay attached.)

Option 1 would obviously be the better solution, but very expensive. It would need a crane, which means taking the boat to a yard, and that also means taking a day off work.

So, I'd like the benefit of the collective wisdom of this forum about the second option. Has anyone ever had to do it? Should I drill through the mast cap, or through the wall of the mast just below the cap? Are there any significant risks in having the cable sharing space with the halyards? Or has anyone resorted to running cables in an external conduit attached to the outside of the mast?

Any and all ideas, warnings, and comments warmly appreciated.


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[tr7v8]

As someone who used to cable offices for a living option 2 is quite feasible.
What we used to use as a mouse is a long length of pyro cable which is the stuff fire alarms are cabled with in offices. If you cant find pyro then a long length of a fairly stiff wire should do or even a length of the small round conduit sold in Wickes. Taped to the end should be either a length of sting or a piece of reasonable size cable and you can use that as a draw wire to pull the actual wiring in with. This wiring should also have another string with it so the problem doesn't arise in future.

<hr width=100% size=1>Jim

Draco 2500

 

[HaraldS]

If your cable duct is fairly airtight, you might try the following:

Take a very thin fishing line and attach a small piece of styrofoam to it's end. have someone feed this at the mast top, and 'suck' with a vacuum cleaner at the bottom. You might have to fit some smaller hose to do that. Blowing is another option, but I'm not sure you want to take your vacuum cleaner to the mast head and working against gravity is less good. If you get a decent air stream going, it is surpricing how this little piece always seems to find it's way through the maze. Then just use the thin fishing line to thread in a better pilot line that can pull a cable.

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