Stuff on the mast head

[micheck]

My mast head is getting crowded - how do you mount:

VHF whip
windex
wind speed sensors
lightning rod/dissapator
halyard sheaves
stay mountings

[Faster]

Halyard sheaves and stay tangs shouldn't come into play, as they ought to be 'below' the masthead plate and out of the way.

It can be difficult to find places for all that other stuff, though. Most boats will have added extensions for, say, the windex and the VHF antenna, these can be simply aluminium or stainless bars, channel or whatever. Most wind instruments are on an extending vane anyway...

I'm not sure what the requirements are for separation of VHF antennas and lightning dissapators....

[Omatako]

At the top of the masts on S/V Athena there is enough space to put a garden table and two chairs. It would be of value to know how big your mast is. But normally speaking:

The sheaves are inside the mast
The wind speed sensor sticks out the front
The windex sticks out the back
The VHF antenna goes straight up from the middle
The stay mountings are not on top but on the sides
And the lightning conductor I can't comment on because I've never had one.

Items 2 and 3 are often mounted to stainless plates fitted to the top of the mast and are not located on the mast itself.

As I said it depends on the size of the mast.

[john1066]

Mount the Windex on the VHF antenna (Metz and Windex AV, for instance), dispense with the bottle brush.

[Boasun]

One guy had an Osprey nest at the top of his mast. He was not allowed to use his boat until the young Osprey had flown the coup (nest). Then the authorities drove a piling next to his boat and moved the nest over to the top of the piling, because Osprey use the same nest every year.

[SlowButSteady]

...and then there's the tricolor/strobe/anchor light, active radar reflector, AIS antenna (because antenna splitters are sooooo untrustworthy), WIFI antenna, FLIR, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera..... (whatever happened to KISS????)

(at least with all that up there, the gulls might not be able to find a place to light)

[rikhall]

You could get a ketch, a yawl or a schooner.