mast electrical connector

[mrgnstrn]

has anyone ever replaced the electrical connector for the mast. i am having a hard time tracking down an appropriate replacement. my current one has 4poles and like a shorepower plug, has a ring that screws the connectors tightly together. i saw "telephone" plugs with 4poles, but they don't seem to have the screw-ring.

i have quickly reviewed the practice of running a short tube from a thru-hull on top the cabin to a thru-hull on the mast and running all the wires through that, but just can't bring myself to fully consider that since i would think that dripping water down the mast and into the cabin would be maddening at best and over a long time, help to rot out my cabin sole or worse.

any experience here?

thanks a ton (or 2.75 in our case)
km #3.
:)

[Bill]

The early Ariels have the power line exiting from the side of the mast about 10 to 12 inches from the deck. Later models have the power line going up the middle of the mast step and into a tube inside the mast that was about ten to twelve inches tall.

On the earlier boats, Pearson used a coupling fitting to get the wire throught he deck. Similar fittings are available today at your local chandlery, which is where I purchased a replacement several years ago. Just cut the old male fiting from the mast power cord, removed the old femal deck fitting and installed the new. As I recall, the connector for the new fitting was only two prongs. Or maybe it was only one . . .:confused: Gotta check that . . .

[mrgnstrn]

there-in lies the problem, i haven't found (in any catalogs) really nice and water-tight looking 4-pole plugs.

and another question, you make the distiction between old and new, and i think i would normally fit in the former catagory, but the mast step doesn't look like any others i have seen on this sight. on mine there is no round wooden base before the mast, it is welded to a large (~10"x10" or so) aluminum plate and that is bolted directly to the deck. was this ever a standard option?

km #3

[Bill]

Evidently, some former owner replaced the wooden base. The wooden mast base on Maika'i was replaced with an aluminum one from Pearson back in the early 80's. The association's manual has a tech drawing for the base from Pearson. It can be used to fabricate one in wood or metal.

As for the power connection from the mast, the power cable was replaced on our boat when we replaced the deck fitting, but I believe the old cable had only two wires. A duplex cabel from Anchor Marine (West) was the replacement. If you have enough cable, I would just cut and replace the old 4-prong through deck assembly. That's what we did. The internal "O" rings in the fitting keep things water tight.