Masthead equipment

[silvertop]

am in the throws of fitting masthead antenna + tricolour. my thought was to drill the mast and run the cable inside the mast.
Can anyone sugest problems and alternative. Will drilling the mast weaken it?

Thanks

 

[Joe_Cole]

So long as you drill the hole away from stress points and away from other drilled holes it should be OK. Feed the cables in through a grommet to prevent chafe. Check if there is a conduit in the mast in which to run the cables

 

[William_H]

The stress points on a mast are in the areas between the stay wires. ie unsupported sections between the base and the spreaders and between the spreaders and the top. The further from the stay support the more vulnerable to failure, (generally speaking) So no prob with hole near the top and near the base. (however i would go for cabin mounted lights and rear deck mounted antenna but that is just me) will

 

[gordonmillington]

Be carefull, most structural engineers will not agree that the mast at the spreaders is an area of low stress, this may be the area of highest stress, high shear and bending. Mid way points between supports will also be at or close to points of high stress. For a deck stepped mast the deck and cap points will have low bending stress but high shear stress. Despite all this small round holes for cables should not cause a serious problem.