Mysterious mast-wire

[oldbilbo]

I'm puzzled by a small galvanised wire running inside my mast, the top end of which exits and is looped around the head of an s/s screw. The lower end exits and is held taut by a lanyard onto an s/s padeye.

The s/s oval cover-plate is welded to the pin holding a pair of masthead sheaves in the box, and I wonder if the wire isn't intended as an inefficient form of galvanic corrosion inhibitor, helping ensure the two s/s self-tapping screws - and the sheave pin - stay in place

Can anyone offer a definitive idea of its purpose, and would a blob of Duralac do just as well....?


( Apologies for rotten focus. 'Should have gone to Sp.....' )

 

[ben tye]

Halyard

Looks like a track for a halyard, maybe the last owner left an old piece of wire inside the mast to making mousing the new rope easier. Were does the wire exit at the top of the mast?

 

[prv]

A somewhat-overspecified mousing line? If someone had the wire handy from something else, perhaps it's what they'd use when pulling out the original line?

Pete

 

[lustyd]

Given that it's on the side of the mast, could it be for a burgee? pull the wire and a stick is raised type thing. Stick would therefore hinge on upper screw. That was my best guess after staring for 5 minutes

 

[lustyd]

AHA! after more thinking I have noticed that your pad eye is missing a rivet. This, dear Watson, leads me to the conclusion that the wire is to keep the pad eye up rather than pull anything down. You could replace the wire with a new rivet, but then you take the risk that it was also holding the boat up, in which case she may sink without the wire support

 

[mikeinkwazi]

I'm puzzled by a small galvanised wire running inside my mast, the top end of which exits and is looped around the head of an s/s screw. The lower end exits and is held taut by a lanyard onto an s/s padeye.

The s/s oval cover-plate is welded to the pin holding a pair of masthead sheaves in the box, and I wonder if the wire isn't intended as an inefficient form of galvanic corrosion inhibitor, helping ensure the two s/s self-tapping screws - and the sheave pin - stay in place

Can anyone offer a definitive idea of its purpose, and would a blob of Duralac do just as well....?


( Apologies for rotten focus. 'Should have gone to Sp.....' )

This looks like a wire to which you should tape the electric cable (s) going to anything on top of the mast. Stops them banging about and means they are not stretched. I rigged my mast this way and it works.

 

[onesea]

This looks like a wire to which you should tape the electric cable (s) going to anything on top of the mast. Stops them banging about and means they are not stretched. I rigged my mast this way and it works.

My last boat had something similar and it did not work .

Then I never really knew what I was meant to do with it and I think the guy who set it up did not really know how to do it...

 

[ianat182]

Possible mousing line for threading wires or halyards when the mast is laid horizontally at lay-up time each year?


ianat182

 

[knuterikt]

This looks like a wire to which you should tape the electric cable (s) going to anything on top of the mast. Stops them banging about and means they are not stretched. I rigged my mast this way and it works.

Looks like the most probable explanation.
To attach new cable you would have to
1) Release one end
2) Attach a messenger line to the end
3) Pull out the wire
4) tape the cable to the wire
5) pull the wire/cable back into the mast
6) tighten the lashing at the bottom end so the wire i pulled tight

 

[oldbilbo]

Looks like the most probable explanation.
To attach new cable you would have to
1) Release one end
2) Attach a messenger line to the end
3) Pull out the wire
4) tape the cable to the wire
5) pull the wire/cable back into the mast
6) tighten the lashing at the bottom end so the wire i pulled tight

This idea, with 'Ianat182's , seems to offer the nearest to a logical explanation. I'm not wholly convinced, but I suppose only the guy who installed it could be definitive. I'll muse on it - and some of his other eccentric notions - lest any light dawns.

Thanks to all who shared my puzzle.