Messenger line in the mast – where, how?

[Van]

According to the PO and also I think according to the manual, there is supposed to be a messenger line in the mast for pulling wiring through.

I want to install a masthead wind speed meter that requires wiring run down through the mast. However, I cannot tell where the messenger is – there does not seem to be anything at the top. Is this line internal to the mast such that it can only be accessed if the mast is stepped and you can take off the cap? Or is there some access port I just don’t see? I also can’t see where it would come out at the bottom of the mast.

Any clues would be appreciated!

Van

[Helene de Mer]

Hi Van,
I had the same problem with Helene de Mer. There was no messenger line or holes for anything. What I did was to make holes in the the mast where required and then acquire some thin/long lead fishing sinkers and then put two or three of them on a fishing line and drop them through the holes where my cables would go. They then dropped through the mast to the bottom of the mast below the floor. The new cables have to come out there anyway and it does not matter so much if the holes are a little bigger at the bottom of the mast. There you can “fish” the sinkers out of the mast through the holes. Once you have the nylon line through, then you can change to some more substantial string. 2 or 3mm parachute cord is good, and then pull your cables through to the top.
It worked for me. I hope it works for you. Neel

[Van]

Thanks Neel, that’s a good idea. I was contemplating using a “snake” (here in the US you can get long metal tapes that are normally used to clear drains). However, I don’t fancy being up the mast and fighting one of these. They tend to go beserk since they are pretty stiff and quite springy.

[svgosling]

You might want to consider removing the mast and fitting in some kind of conduit, PVC pipe, maybe, to run you wires through. Then you have to figure out a way to secure the conduit in place so it doesn’t flop around. The wire, by itself will move around a lot and chafe on any protrusions in the mast, get rubbed on by your halyards and keep you up at night by clanging on the sides of the mast. With the mast down you’ll be able to do that maintenance that you’ve been waiting to do, change your lights to LEDs and do an unimpaired install of your wind gear.
Just a thought.
J-G Nadeau
Gosling C&N 42/6

[Ollie Holden]

On the original masts, there was a thin galvanised wire running up the mast for exactly this purpose. But chances are it’s rusted away.

The inside of the mast has polystyrene stuck to the sides (for sound deadening/flotation) and this can make it tricky to drop a line down from the top.

That, plus the fact that it’s keel-stepped (so the person at the bottom is inside the boat and can’t hear the man at the top of the mast) means it is hard to send a line down via gravity.

I took the masts out, which was only a couple of hundred quid, and was able to do a proper check of everything. I also found that there was a fair amount of corrosion around the base – not enough to be a structural issue but enough that once I’d knocked the heel off, I decided to saw 10mm off the base of the mast, filed it flat and replaced the heel. I happened to be replacing all the rigging anyway, so I got it all made 10mm shorter, but you could probably compensate by winding the existing rigging screws.

Sorry, I digress. I used a chimney sweep set (about £15 from B&Q) to push the messenger line up. I took the stainless top off the mast also as I found a small crack on a weld and sent it off to be strengthened, so the whole thing was very straightforward as you’re just pushing through a tube. I replaced all wires with tinned, and left a messenger line in, just in case (although I still think it would be hard to do this with the masts in situ).

[Van]

Thanks – I’ll assume our messenger wire is gone too. Pity! Our mast has mast steps all the way up, so it’s easy to get up and down. So, I’ll probably try to avoid dropping the mast to put up the transducer.

Ollie, does the wiring run between the polystyrene and mast wall, or inside the polystyrene? Maybe it does not matter, although it would seem better if wires were trapped between the polystyrene and the mast wall.

Cheers,
Van

[Author]

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