The 100 degree days finally broke this week and it has been rainy and very humid. I have been occupied all week in the basement which is where the mast resides. I received the new VHF and accompanying whip antenna with coax cable with plans on making a quick installation on Monday after work. I planned a new hole in the bottom of the mast to make a nice clean installation. I began drilling a 3/4" hole with a forstner bit at a slight upward angle at the base heading towards the top. After drilling 3 inches into a 6 in wood mast and still not punching into what I perceived to be the hollow part of the mast, I knew it was not going to be a quick night. I did not want to keep drilling so I changed tacks and decided to just widen the existing hole for the electrical wires to add the coax. This I was able to do as my entry point. I then took my fish tape and began to fish up from the bottom to the top. I could only get half way up the mast and kept hitting something. This seemed to be where the spreader plates attached to the mast on either side. I removed the through bolt and all the screws to eliminate any obstruction. Still no go. Bumping against something just under half way up, right at the spreaders.
I surmised (correctly) that there must be some blocking in the hollow mast at that point for strength and there probably is only a wire way through this that I might never luck into with my fish tape (correct). So, I took advantage of the wires I had run in the mast about 10 years ago. I pulled out the wires for the running masthead light and pulled in two new #14 (pos & neg). I did this because the old wires were in a molded sleeve and I felt I would need as much room as possible for the next pulls. With these new wires run and tapped off out of the way I prepared the next run from the mast top to the base for the anchor light and VHF coax. Again, I used the existing wire run of two #14 in a plastic sleeve (like romex) that I had run 10 years ago reasoning that a new run of #14 wire would make it easier to pull in the coax at the same time. More wire, but could be an easy fix to my little problem. I attached the two new #14 wires and the new coax to the old wires at the mast top by twisting the bared wires together and taping the coax to the side a little further down the line.
My younger first mate was feeding in from the top and I was pulling out the bottom. This went well till there was a little snag (around the spreaders) and I pulled a little harder. The first mate informs me the black (coax) is not moving any more. No problem I think, probably came off and I just need to pull it all out and start over. Then she says the red and yellow wires are not moving. Oh no. I go up and pull the new wires out very freely. Everything had come off as the old wire broke. I now have no way to fish anything through the mast. I had been at it for 3 hours so decided to call it a night before I started doing things I would regret.
The next night I decided to try to suck a pull string through with a very strong shop vac. I taped off all the holes and made a gasket out of butyl to seal the vac hose against the mast as tight as possible. I tried sucking that small string with all sorts of attachments, plastic, bags, fluff through that mast. I tried top down and bottom up. No go. It would all suck inside based on the vacuum but never come out the other end. It was binding up in there somewhere. I tried for a solid hour with different degrees of failure. Ready to quit, I decided to try going through the opening at the mast head light just a couple feet lower than the spreaders. Eliminating a good third of the mast to suck through. Still no go. As I was cleaning up all that I tried using the fish tape again this time from that mast head hole thinking I could get better control with angles and pitch to find the now vacant hole through the blocking. I twisted and bent that wire for a solid 30 minutes and was rejected at every attempt. In disgust I rammed it in hard and walked away. I took only two steps before I realized that I didn't feel any resistance that time. I scrambled back and gave another tentative push on the fish wire. It bound up for a split second then went through. Wow. I kept feeding till it bottomed out at the top of the mast. Now I had a 1/4 inch hole to snag and pull out an 1/8" fish tape. The elder first mate suggested a crotchet needle which was supplied by the younger first mate and I had my fish tape through the mast. Well actually only halfway through the mast. I still needed a feed from the masthead hole to the base. But that would have to wait for another day.
The next evening I began by trying to get the fish tape up from the bottom to the masthead hole. I tied a piece of string on the tip so it would be easier to grab. I snagged the string through the hole (crotchet needle again) and tied it off to the string to the top. went back to the base and pull it out. I now had one continuous pull string through the entire mast. I now changed tacks again and decided to pull it up from the bottom rather than down from the top. This should be an easier pull as the bottom hole was now larger. Plus the other way already failed once. I would just have to redo the top thimble where the coax attached to the antennae. I attached the 2 #14 wires and the coax at staggered intervals of one foot and attached the pull string to the lead #14 wire. I fed from the bottom while the elder first mate pulled on the string until we got to the spreaders. No go. Binding up again and I was too afraid of having it break apart. I backed it all out and decided to try just one #14 with the coax and another pull string. If this went through then I would probably have an easier time with the new pull string and only one #14 wire on the second pull. The first pull went through with only a little binding. The second pull went through with no issue. I now had all new wires and a new coax pulled through the center of the mast. A feat they say is very uncommon. Fortunately I found this out after I had done it or I would have probably found another way. According to the wooden boat forum:
Box spars often have any internal wires
stapled to ensure they don't get in the wrong place during the initial
glue-up... There will likely be stacked up blocking in way of the spreaders and
at the butt and head, there will most likely be a dado cut in these blocks that
the old wires/ tag line ran in, you have to be one spectacularly lucky guy to
hit that with your fish tape, but stranger things have happened! It also would
not be the first time one section of the side or front of the mast came off to put this kind of situation right...The
vacuum trick works better if you tie a wad of fiberglass insulation or the like
to the end of your tag line. Use very light line, and then pull your bigger,
tougher actual pull line using that...Assuming you are that kind of lucky guy!
Let us know how it all works out...
Guess I am one lucky guy !!
Now all I have to do is fill and patch the holes and wire up the antennae and lights.
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