[C320-list] Mast Wiring Questions

[mark]

I am planning to pull the mast on my 1995 hull No. 232, and need advice.
Since I am blessed to live and sail year-round here in the South I have
never had to pull the mast in the 11 years I've owned her, and am not sure
what I'll find in the way of connectors in the wiring for the anchor light,
steaming light and deck light, and the cable for the wind sensor.  I see a
reference in the owners' manual to a 4-pin plug connection for the light
wiring, but no information about the cable for the masthead wind transducer.
What have other 320 owners (especially owners of early boats from the 90s)
found when you have pulled your masts?

 

I am replacing my antique Autohelm ST50+ instruments with a new set of
Raymarine i50/i60 instruments, which includes a new transducer cable.
(Necessary because the plug on the new instruments does not match the plug
on the bottom end of the old cable.)  The instructions for the instruments
state that cutting the cable to the transducer (such as, to install a plug)
immediately voids the warranty, so I'm not keen on that.  But it seems like
otherwise I'd have to have the yard lift the mast just over the mast-step,
then hold it while I feed the cable down the little tube in the mast-step,
and seal that hole with some silicone.  Is that the usual approach?  

 

Alternatively, if any of you have installed a plug at the mast step for
either the light cable or the transducer cable, what kind of plug did you
use, and where did you purchase it?  I may need to replace the wire to the
anchor light, and I see that Catalina Direct shows the replacement wiring
harness they sell as "unavailable due to a break in the supply chain."  It
wouldn't bother me to make my own harness and install it while the mast is
down, but I'm looking for suggestions on the appropriate connectors.

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

 

Mark Seyler

S/V Reality,

Catalina 320, #232

New Orleans, LA