Wires in mast banging

There may be a track of some sort inside the mast which is meant to hold a conduit/tubing into which the wires are run

Is your boat deck stepped? When we had our 22 footer, when we took the mast down, we attached wire tires facing opposite directions at 1-foot intervals down the length of the wires inside the mast. This stopped the noise.

That's not cables, that's a rabid ferret. Don't even think about going in there.

No really, what kind of boat is it?

hellosailor said:

...

No really, what kind of boat is it?

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I assumed it was the Watkins 25 in his signature. If I'm wrong, ignore my post!

Yes it's a Watkins 25, deck stepped, but really don't want to drop the mast over this.

I noticed there is a Isomat plate on the front of the mast with two rivets holding it in place....I guess I could drill the rivets out and try to fish something thru the holes to hold the wires.

I don't want to poke the rabid ferret in the eye though if I do this and really get him angry....

If your boat has an Isomat mast then there should already be a conduit that goes up the front of the mast for cables. It sounds like the cables were likely not run properly. Every Isomat mast that I've seen in person has the telltale rivets that are holding this conduit in place.

Do you have a hinged (tabernacle) deck step that allows for easy dropping of the mast? Many 25' boats do.

The Isomat deck step usually has a small tube in it that allows you to run the wires directly from the cabin into the mast. You might be able to fish wires up into there at the expense of climbing the mast.

I agree with Donna's solution, I'm not familiar with a Watkins 25, but if it is deck-stepped it should be fairly simple to drop the mast and fix it properly, rather than futz around with drilling out rivets and fishing something up there that may or may not work.

Thanks for the advise, I'll take a closer look this weekend.

I hate when that happens.

My boat has external halyards and three cables inside the mast. I inserted two pieces of foam pipe insulation into the top of the mast with the cables inside. The top piece of foam hangs about four feet from the top on two pieces of string with four foot strings between the two pieces of insulation. The bottom piece hangs in about the middle of a 28 foot mast. All's quiet.
-CH

Cheapskate solution.

Fill the mast with Styrofoam peanuts.

DRFerron said:

Is your boat deck stepped? When we had our 22 footer, when we took the mast down, we attached wire tires facing opposite directions at 1-foot intervals down the length of the wires inside the mast. This stopped the noise.

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How could you do the wire ties beyond arm's length inside the mast?

capta said:

How could you do the wire ties beyond arm's length inside the mast?

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You do it as you lead the wires into the mast. So you remove wires from mast, add zip ties, then pull them back into the mast with the ziptie "spiders" holding the wires away from the mast.

Alex W said:

You do it as you lead the wires into the mast. So you remove wires from mast, add zip ties, then pull them back into the mast with the ziptie "spiders" holding the wires away from the mast.

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Exactly. We slipped our 22 but on the rare occasion we dragged it home to work on it, when the mast was down we removed the wires and added the wire ties.

Alex W said:

You do it as you lead the wires into the mast. So you remove wires from mast, add zip ties, then pull them back into the mast with the ziptie "spiders" holding the wires away from the mast.

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OK, I see now. I was trying to imagine securing the ties inside the mast. My arms just aren't that long. Thanks.

I need to rewire my mast and add a combo steaming/deck light, anchor light, I plan on running internal halyards (2) and I don't want the halyards chafing the wiring so I am planning on installing conduit in the mast. That will also quiet the wiring.