[C320-list] Rewiring my mast

[JJ Morrison]

Use the existing wires in the mast as a fishline to pull in the new wire and make sure you attach the new wire securely (I use electrical tape to wrap the wires which are overlapped at least 4"); use liquid soap to lubricate the wire passing through choke points.( you can buy 50' rigid fishline if you have an accident and lose it) Make sure you really need to replace the wiring as it could be still in good shape  as Catalina uses "tinned" wire. I also had to cut the wires in the compression post  first time I had the mast down (don't know how they built it like that!). I added some more wire and added quick disconnects to attach the wires together at the base of the mast. I like to solder wires together but an article in recent MAINMAST leads one to believe crimping may be better, especially, if you are like me, an amateur solderer. Have fun.
Cheers
JohnM
1999#574

> From: markojamnik at rogers.com
> Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2012 14:32:59 -0500
> To: c320-list at lists.catalina320.com
> Subject: [C320-list] Rewiring my mast
> 
> My winter project of rewiring my mast. I have not had the mast down for the last four years. I am replacing my deck light and decided to run new wiring. I plan to replace the VHF cable and my wind. I noticed that when I unstepped the mast my haul out crew had to cut the cable that ran down the compression post.
> If anyone can weigh in on my task at hand I would appreciate any feedback or any reference that may help the process. My game plan is to create proper and easy connections that will help me step and unstep my mast.
> 
> Marko
> #304
>