Favourite method of getting wires through deck at foot of mast

[Poignard]

I use this type of gland
http://marinestore.co.uk/md430610.html

I have 3 cables passing through one gland: the rubber gland is bought as a solid, you drill a hole for each of the cable which are less than half the diameter of the cable, force the cable through with ample vaseline (after having first slid the outer ring along the three cables, don't ask). All connections are made inside. Never leaked. Ever.

+1

except I use water, which is a good lubricant for rubber

 

[Amulet]

We used to have plugs and sockets but I got fed up with having to wiggle them to get the masthead lights to work. So here is what I do now.

We have good quality thru-deck glands.....

Same experience here, but I do have choc blocks in a junction box as I take the mast down every winter.

 

[Graham_Wright]

You need a FlatGland. See you at Beaulieu.

(Yes, I admit, its one of ours!).

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I have Binder deck connectors. An annual smear of vaseline on the o-rings and a boot over the cable has kept the damp out of 10 years now, no failure yet. Dri-Plugs are anything but. Binder plugs are the biz.

 

[rob2]

I've been too lazy to source and fit better quality glands, swan necks or dorade boxes so my cables come through the glands with generous dobs of vaseline to prevent excess flow! However, below decks I found that the chocblocks installed by the original builder were impossible to use with the signal wires from the windex and also chewed bits off the ends of the other wires. I've crimped ferrules onto all the wires for the connector screws to bear upon and they have caused no further problems.

I like the look of that Swedish dorade box, though.

Rob.

 

[Salty John]

We stock it now, as a result of this original thread:

http://www.saltyjohn.co.uk/cableport_boat_product.htm

 

[PlankWalker]

I've never had any trouble with a swan-neck, that Swedish dorade box looks neat but the baffles may be too shallow for heavy heavy weather.

Plank

 

[SHUG]

I take cables through and terminate in the warm dry environment below deck. A simple way to do this is to get two pieces of hardwood and clamp them together. Then drill a line of holes to match the diameters of the cables you have. Use screws to clamp the wood to the cable with sealant and then screw the whole business down to the deck with ,of course, more sealant.
Cheap , neat and effective... what more could anybody want???( maybe the answer is "Cableport" it looks particularly neat.)

 

[CelebrityScandel]

All our boats, big and smaller, with deck stepped masts have been specified by us to be done the same way and it has always worked. No cables coming outside the mast to get through the deck with glands, no connectors exposed to the weather, etc.

We have always specified a standpipe inside the mast step itself that stands up inside the mast a little way with a lined hole through the deck under it. The cables come down the mast in their conduits and are fed through the standpipe to junction boxes inside the boat under the headlining. The mast covering the standpipe keeps the weather and seas out.

We know of quite a lot of other boats around the world that are done this way but it seems to be an unheard of practice in the UK.

 

[reeac]

I use a swan neck made from a piece of BMX bike inner tubing. This is Jubilee clipped onto the original deck fitting and I've bored out the hole through the fitting and deck to accommodate all the wires. Works well, the rubber tubing tending to twist and close over the cables thus keeping out any water.