VHF lead in mast track

[garvellachs]

I've recently installed a new whip aerial on top of our 11m 1984 Seldon mast. It wasn't obvious where to thread the 5mm cable down the mast. The old holes top and bottom were into the side of the track that the sail slides are in so I've put it down through there and fixed it top and bottom to keep it in slight tension. But today I notice, in the wind, that the cable had emerged and was blowing about. It doesn't seem very satisfactory but there's no proper channel for cables as far as I can see. Has anybody thought this out - would the cable be better just going down among the halyards inside the mast? Any advice appreciated thanks.

 

[MrFish]

On my mast, the cables - tricolour, VHF, wind instrument - run in an aluninium tube (conduit) inside the mast. This tube - about 20mm diam, from memory, is pop riveted to the side of the mast. Mast is 12m tall, 11.3m long yacht.
This keeps the wires clear of the halyards. I can describe how we fitted the tube, if you need to do that - the origonal on my boat came free from the mast, and rattled around inside.
All the best
Ian

 

[Trevj]

Please give me a hint on putting conduit up th einside of a mast. I unshipped mine (from an Wilf O'kell dsigned 11.2m ketch) with the hope of running the VHF, tri, steaming spreader light wires inside rather than next to the track as they were previously. What's the secret? how do I do it?
Please - pretty please!

 

[jerryat]

Hi Garvellachs,

Unless your mast section is very old there should be a couple of 'channels' formed in the extrusion. These are usually on either side of the mainsail track and is where most cables are run. Some sections I believe also have another at the front. These aren't just for running cables but also to strengthen the section.

My mast section is at least 21 years old and has these 'U' shaped channels, so it is very likely yours has too. Did you remove the mast crane and foot fitting so you could see the full cross-section of the tube?

I confess that, on my very first boat (an age ago), I did consider doing exactly what you've done, but could see no way of permanently securing the cable, and fet sure it would be damaged in the longer term. I just removed the castings (top and bottom) and fed the cable through one of the reinforcing channels - and that was around 40 years ago!

Sorry, I can't advise how to pop rivet a conduit to the inside wall of the mast, but am sure that you would have to expose the full x-section to do it - and then you may find access to the 'channels' mentioned above. I believe an article on doing this was done in PBO many moons ago, so a search on their site may help.

Hope this helps and good luck,

Jerry

 

[garvellachs]

Thanks Guys - you're right, I didn't remove the castings from top nor bottom - but from sighting up the mast from the foot (open there) I couldn't see any obvious place for a channel. But to double check I will have a go at removing one of the castings when the mast comes back down next time.

 

[DanTribe]

Hi
Look at www.seldenmast.com There's lots of useful info on that site that will explain where your conduits are to be found.
Usually there are channels to each side of the luff groove. If the VHF cable is too narrow & comes out of the groove, you can tape a wider section of cable to it at intervals as you thread it through.
It's useful to see the diagrams in the Selden catalogue because the assemblies are very simple when you know how they work, but you can waste hours trying to figure them out otherwise.
Dan

 

[AvanLoon]

Hi Michael,
three years ago I had to add a cable in the mast of my boat to connect a windm eter. This mast is built from 1978. I found at the inside a sort of soft tube which leant at the inner surface of the mast. A plastic pipe was shifted under this tube and hold in place on that manner. Since this pipe was fully occupied I had to find another route. The solution was simple: I connected the cable with tie-raps on a rope between top and bottom. First I spanned this rope at the outside of the mast, and fixed the cable to it. When the rope was loosended afterwards, the cable seemed al little bit too long between the tie-raps, which was intended. Then I pulled the rope+cable in the innerside of the mast, and tied the rope at a construction bolt in the top of the mast. After that I could safely bring the rope under tension at the foot of the mast without disturbing the cable. Of course, the wind meter functions without problems.
Actually I dit this with the mast down, to renew the alle ropes at the same time. If you're brave enough I think this could be done with the mast in its place.
Kind regards.