SkipperJer,
Thanks for all of the advice. Were I to have more than one wire running to the mast top, you have convinced me that the wire ties would be the way to go. I only have lonely coaxial cable running up to the masthead and no electric wires pastthe steaming light. I do not wish to bundle the steaming light wires to the coaxial cable, since I may need to change one without the the other, and sine the steaming light is a very short run 12 feet up the mast. Today I took a bunch of wire ties and ran some simulations using various tie sizes and coaxial cable.
Unfortunately with one coaxial cable to pull up the mast, I discovered that the wire ties would not stay at 60 degrees from one another for long. A nice smooth round cable is not irregular in anyway, and the ties do seem to rotate with applied pressure. I assume that a repeated small force applied to them by a repetitive motion would result in a change of the relative position of the wire ties on the cable. Certainly, when I cranked them down hard enough to compress the cable (I am not sure that compressing the coaxial cable is a good idea anyway) I could still rotate them without applying excessive pressure. I tired eight inch, six inch and four- inch wire ties and all with the same result. I tried a wrap of various types of tape around the cable first, including some of that self-fusing sticky stuff, but finally, I concluded that the cable ties would rotate over time. But if I had a two or three wire bundle to tie with a set of three wire ties, it would be a different matter. The irregular shape of a wire bundle would prevent the wire ties from slipping.
So after all of the horrible things that I wrote on this thread about foam, I bought seven of the closed cell six foot lengths of 1/2 inch gray foam from Orchard Supply Hardware at $1.29 a piece. After first looking over my shoulder to make sure that no Pearson Ariel or Commander owners were within view, I hoisted five of those foam tubes withe coaxial cable up the mast to the main halyard sheave, and the better part of two of them with the electric wires up to the steaming light.
The entire installation went smoothly. I ran a pull cord inside of the tube to the top of the mast, so that I can later add an anchor light if I choose to do so, but right now, I don't choose to do so. I don't want my mast any higher than it already is bridge-wise. I am not keen on adding unnecessary weight aloft.
I really do like the wire tie idea. It is elegant and very cleaver. I gave it a shot for my application, but decided to revert to the world of foam. I bought the wire ties and intended to use them, but when I began to test the first few wire ties, I discovered the rotation problem.
On another note: The base of my mast is not hollow. Because I have a tabernacle set-up, there was and shortly will be again a block of wood in the base of my mast through which the tabernacle "axle" bolt runs, so I would have to either un-step the mast and pull that wood block or pull the masthead to remove a wire bundle tied with wire ties. If I ever get the urge for a mast-top light of some sort, I should able to pull a couple of wires through the remaining space inside my foam tube, by using the pull cord that currently shares the space with my coaxial cable
The old foam tubes that I removed from my mast were much larger. They were three-foot lengths of whitish foam. The ends were not taped together, so they snagged on bolts in the mast coming down. Even worse, they were interspersed with pieces of dark green open celled foam sheets that were rolled and taped and then crammed up into the mast. This made removal of the foam and wires a most difficult process. I am pretty sure that the old foam was in that mast for at least thirteen years, so the new foam should last at least the fifteen-year expected life of my new rigging.
I taped the ends of my new foam tubes and then taped the taped ends together with PVC tape. The foam tubes form a more or less solid foam conduit that easily slides up and down the mast. Since the foam tube is smaller in diameter, I can shift it off a bolt should the foam snag on one of the bolts. Although I would appreciate not having any foam in the mast from a moisture retention standpoint, my mast appears to be in very good shape, and the old foam was bone dry and showed no signs of mold or mildew despite the large wads of open celled foam present. Perhaps the dryer climate out here helps.
It is rather embarrassing to admit that I went this way after all of the whining I did about removing the old foam, but I really do think for my application, this was the best solution.
In the photo on the left below, the yellow discoloration on the mast wall below the sharp line that is visible just below the ends of the foam tubes is the area were the wood block fits into the mast base. The block is radiused on the front, as is the mast, to permit the mast to lower forward. The blue and white string is my pull cord. The red color is PVC tape. The bottom section of the foam tubes was secured with one inch cable clams clamped around the 1 and 1/2 inch foam tube. The cable clamps were pop riveted to the mast through existing holes in the mast wall. The top of the VHF antenna tube is secured to the mast wall at the top of the mast.
Reply With Quote