electrical wires inside the mast driving me nut s

C

Cloona

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any idea how to damp them -

is there a quick painless way to stop them slapping around inside the mast
 
My white steaming light has died- dreading it being more than a bulb when I get up there..

You have appropriated a fine schoolboy joke... as in

"Did you know you've got a steering wheel in your flies?" "Yes, it's driving me nuts...." :o
 
I have never found a quick solution. Only proper cure is to install a conduit if you dont already have one. Most quick cures seem to cause more problems than they solve. A proper conduit allows rewiring with ease and the abilty to add wires if you leave a permanent draw string.
 
Do your halyards also slop around? Presumably not as you can tighten them. So, drop another thin line through with your cable tethered (zip tied?) on to, and tighten the line. I believe that is how it's done in mine and I plan to investigate this winter as the mystery line appearing at the mast base looks like it needs replacing. Note I only have a 21 foot mast though.
 
mr_average said:
Do your halyards also slop around? Presumably not as you can tighten them. So, drop another thin line through with your cable tethered (zip tied?) on to, and tighten the line. I believe that is how it's done in mine and I plan to investigate this winter as the mystery line appearing at the mast base looks like it needs replacing. Note I only have a 21 foot mast though.
Click to expand...

Halyards tightened against the outside of a mast still slap, and I imagine they would inside. They would need to be tightened down the middle of the mast. Not too easy.
 
Drop a bit of string with some nuts for weight down the mast, then use it to pull a 3-4 pieces of foam at regular intervals into the mast that lock the cables in place. Only works with external halyards, but then most masts with internal ones would have a cable channel.
 
Dougal Tolan said:
Mast rewire coming up for me, was planning to lace some foam rubber round the cable loom, but James W's idea sounds pretty good to me despite my OCD necessity to cut cable tie tails off with a pair of flush cut side cutters.
Click to expand...
+1 worked a treat for me, I always think for these sort of fixes the question needs to be "how could I undo what I have done" I've see suggestions in the past which have included an injection of expanding foam - heck of a legacy there.
 
Both halyards and cables slapped inside my mast, but have largely been stopped by hauling a dedicated thin mouse line, festooned with 'spiders' of cable ties, up the inside of the mast - it's just a variant of putting the lines on the cables themselves but can be retro-fitted.
 
A few years ago I had to replace a wire to the wind indicator. The old one was held with little bits of foam, not polystyrene but sponge type of stuff. It was pushed into the conduit every metre or so. A word of caution, once it's in the a sod to shift again.
 
Builders foam is your friend!

But seriously there's not much you can do about it. Just get used to the noise like we do ... ... ...

Actually are you sure it's not halyards? 'Cos they can be tightened up till the noise is tolerable
 
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