How difficult is it to fit a NASA Wireless wind with mast up ?

eebygum

eebygum

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So my old B&G wind instruments are in the bin and I’m looking to fit a NASA wireless wind, whilst keeping the mast up.

How easy is it to install with the mast up ? Assume I need to drill some holes for self tapping screws ?

Keen to hear from people who have specifically done the job ? What tools are required and whether easier going up front or rear of mast (I’ve experience of going up either way)

For the avoidance of doubt and to keep answers on thread I don’t need advice on going up the mast or choice of product.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers, Andrew
 
As with most things at the top of the mast, a third hand would be useful. The marking out and drilling bit was fairly simple. I made a paper template with holes to be drilled marked, taped that to the mast then used an automatic centre punch through that. Fiddly bit was holding the mountings + bracket + screws + screwdriver to assemble. IIRC, took me about half an hour in bosun's chair. Be careful not to let the drill enter too far when it breaks through, there may be light cables behind. Final alignment is via the setup menu.
 
Mount it as high as possible so it isn't in the lee of the mast head light, antennae, etc. (I'm going to have to raise mine) and have it facing and pointing forward.

Use a bucket on a separate lanyard to haul up tools and the parts. Have your helper standing by to load it up with the things you need and make sure he/she is not standing underneath when you pull it up and are working above.

The job itself is easy enough.
 
I did my raymarine wind fitting in very hot weather & owing to problems feeding the wire my 2 "helpers" down below took ages getting the new wire up to me & the old one down. Upshot was that I was at the mast head for 3.5 hours in a tight bosuns chair.
I was only on 1 halyard on the basis that there was nothing else to tie to on a fractional rig & this halyard was new with 4.5 tonnes breaking strain. Right at the end I finally got to drill the 2 holes for the fitting & shouted to my crew that i was feeling faint. If I felt myself going I would shout & they were to get me down quick. Which they did just as I put the last screw in. It took 45 mins for me to recover.
When my son looked at the halyard he said " I thought you said this was OK"
Towards the end , as I was drifting off, I had drilled the rope & fortunately was not up there much longer before I came down quicker than intended.
Worse was to come- A new halyard cost me £ 220-00
So just be careful where you drill the holes. I later spoke to a rigger who did the same thing when fitting a radar dome to a customer's yacht in a hurry
halyard 1 A (600 x 402).jpg
 
Laminar Flow said:
Use a bucket on a separate lanyard to haul up tools and the parts. Have your helper standing by to load it up with the things you need and make sure he/she is not standing underneath when you pull it up and are working above.
Click to expand...
I would use a bag. I have had a bucket snag & tip the contents in the oggin. My tools have purpose made lanyards as they are used by abseilers for the curtain wall industry
 
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I’d certainly advise to have lanyards on everything.

I ha d a surveyor client drop an adjustable from a fairly low height but seeing the damage to the wheelhouse roof it would probably have killed anyone hit by it.

W.
 
eebygum said:
So my old B&G wind instruments are in the bin and I’m looking to fit a NASA wireless wind, whilst keeping the mast up.

How easy is it to install with the mast up ? Assume I need to drill some holes for self tapping screws ?

Keen to hear from people who have specifically done the job ? What tools are required and whether easier going up front or rear of mast (I’ve experience of going up either way)

For the avoidance of doubt and to keep answers on thread I don’t need advice on going up the mast or choice of product.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers, Andrew
Click to expand...
I found the hardest part was actually drilling the fixing holes correctly. make sure you have the correct sized drill for the screws! Don’t ask! PS, B&G wind stuff, are they Network ones? If so do you want to sell?
 
Daydream believer said:
I did my raymarine wind fitting in very hot weather & owing to problems feeding the wire my 2 "helpers" down below took ages getting the new wire up to me & the old one down. Upshot was that I was at the mast head for 3.5 hours in a tight bosuns chair.
I was only on 1 halyard on the basis that there was nothing else to tie to on a fractional rig & this halyard was new with 4.5 tonnes breaking strain. Right at the end I finally got to drill the 2 holes for the fitting & shouted to my crew that i was feeling faint. If I felt myself going I would shout & they were to get me down quick. Which they did just as I put the last screw in. It took 45 mins for me to recover.
When my son looked at the halyard he said " I thought you said this was OK"
Towards the end , as I was drifting off, I had drilled the rope & fortunately was not up there much longer before I came down quicker than intended.
Worse was to come- A new halyard cost me £ 220-00
So just be careful where you drill the holes. I later spoke to a rigger who did the same thing when fitting a radar dome to a customer's yacht in a hurry
View attachment 86672
Click to expand...

What new wire?
 
Just_sayin' said:
I know. I can read. Why was DD talking about a wire when the OP was talking about a wireless system?
Click to expand...

Because he was drawing attention to the hazards of working up the mast, including one specifically related to drilling holes in a mast to fix a wind sensor, and happened to mention in passing the wire as being the reason he was up there so long.

It seems a perfectly reasonable post to me, especially as it has the potential to save the OP or any other reader from serious, potentially fatal, injury.

But had he (or anyone else) merely been chatting/reminiscing about the times he had been up a mast it would have been a perfectly acceptable post.

The wire is a red herring, and I can't understand why it troubles you.
 
PilotWolf said:
I’d certainly advise to have lanyards on everything.

I ha d a surveyor client drop an adjustable from a fairly low height but seeing the damage to the wheelhouse roof it would probably have killed anyone hit by it.

W.
Click to expand...

Tanker on approach to Pilots at Europoort ... our masthead steaming light failed ... weather was atrocious ... driving freezing rain ... middle of night .. pilot refused to take ship in without the light ...

I was 3rd Mate and it was my job to go up there to change the lamp. I hate heights ate best of times ... but this was really well past my limits ... but I went up ....

Ch Mate shouted up while I was up there ... Hurry UP !! ......

If that adjustable spanner had not been made of with a safety tail to my harness ... I would have thrown it at him !!

I cam down teeth chattering ... hands shaking ...
 
Daydream believer said:
I did my raymarine wind fitting in very hot weather & owing to problems feeding the wire my 2 "helpers" down below took ages getting the new wire up to me & the old one down. Upshot was that I was at the mast head for 3.5 hours in a tight bosuns chair.
I was only on 1 halyard on the basis that there was nothing else to tie to on a fractional rig & this halyard was new with 4.5 tonnes breaking strain. Right at the end I finally got to drill the 2 holes for the fitting & shouted to my crew that i was feeling faint. If I felt myself going I would shout & they were to get me down quick. Which they did just as I put the last screw in. It took 45 mins for me to recover.
When my son looked at the halyard he said " I thought you said this was OK"
Towards the end , as I was drifting off, I had drilled the rope & fortunately was not up there much longer before I came down quicker than intended.
Worse was to come- A new halyard cost me £ 220-00
So just be careful where you drill the holes. I later spoke to a rigger who did the same thing when fitting a radar dome to a customer's yacht in a hurry
View attachment 86672
Click to expand...

Trouble with many 'chairs' are they are not designed well and can cause restriction of blood flow via the artery's in the legs. This is not uncommon problem. Even the canvas bag style with the webbing running round the bag - the webbing takes the weight not the canvas ... so same problem.

Rigger guy I know - he has a piece of wood in the bottom of his canvas 'chair' so the 'chair' cannot pinch his legs. His chair also has tool pockets / loops on ... brilliant idea !! He used a tool belt and fastened that to the 'chair'.
 
LittleSister said:
Because he was drawing attention to the hazards of working up the mast, including one specifically related to drilling holes in a mast to fix a wind sensor, and happened to mention in passing the wire as being the reason he was up there so long.

It seems a perfectly reasonable post to me, especially as it has the potential to save the OP or any other reader from serious, potentially fatal, injury.

But had he (or anyone else) merely been chatting/reminiscing about the times he had been up a mast it would have been a perfectly acceptable post.

The wire is a red herring, and I can't understand why it troubles you.
Click to expand...

The fascinating story hinges on him being up there for 3.5 hours as opposed to what I imagine would take 10 minutes.

Your first sentence totally ignores the OP's statement "For the avoidance of doubt and to keep answers on thread I don’t need advice on going up the mast or choice of product."

Never mind. Next time someone asks for help on a Volvo engine I'll post pictures and a detailed account of work done to my Mans. Seems the same logic.
 
Not nasa one but we fitted our Raymarine one or to be more accurate SWMBO did it, very easy, fitted pointing forward. Not sure about the nasa one but the Raymarine ones need to be paired by placing them less than 300mm apart, forgot that first and had to send her up again until I found out about sending it up in a bag
 
Just_sayin' said:
The fascinating story hinges on him being up there for 3.5 hours as opposed to what I imagine would take 10 minutes.

Your first sentence totally ignores the OP's statement "For the avoidance of doubt and to keep answers on thread I don’t need advice on going up the mast or choice of product."

Never mind. Next time someone asks for help on a Volvo engine I'll post pictures and a detailed account of work done to my Mans. Seems the same logic.
Click to expand...
Actually the point of the post was to advise to be careful not to drill through the halyard. I am not suggesting that he would be as silly as me. I am aware that he may be an expert at going up the mast. However, others do read the thread & I added the story for their benefit. Perhaps the point of interaction between persons on a forum is that the subject matter should be allowed to develop; or are you suggesting that is wrong. In my defence, I did stay on subject in that i pointed out the danger of careless drilling. ( although not now, but you raised the objection)
If one looks at the typical NASA bracket ( I assume it is the same for a wireless one) you will see that there are 4 holes. Any one of those could possibly line up with a halyard or mast conduit ( unless one has wireless VHF aerial & solar masthead light!!) . So just making the point for anyone else reading the thread, who may be considering the task, cannot be that bad- Can it?
But if you want to take the p.. I will take a mental note for the future;)
 
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My bosuns chair which I think is a Seago one has a semi rigid seat so that it does not pinch you, and it came in a fabric bag which doubles as a deep tool bag to take up with you. Its far better than a bucket as nothing will fall out of it.
 
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