Rick, I confessed to this already once (and was threatened with keel hauling as a result), so I will say it again: I don’t have a C&C anymore. I sold my C&C 24 three years ago and replaced her with, God help me, a Catalina C270. So I have a deck stepped mast. This means that the idea of having a connection block is out. Additionally, I step and unstep the mast annually - winter is not overly mild in these parts.
In the spring, I am planning to re-verify all wiring. I did it last spring, but obviously, not well enough. I do the continuity testing (with a digital ohmmeter) and then I attach a portable battery with a custom made pigtail to the mast (using the same plug as the one coking out of the boat). Everything seemed to work well. I did not check the connections in the fall, so I don’t know yet whet has failed. My current plan is to try it once more. Check and re-check the wiring. Hopefully, I will find what I was doing wrong. If this fails , I am prepared to take the cable out of the mast and add a connecter at the deck. This way, I would be able to troubleshoot it, even when the mast is up. This is how I had it done on my old C&C 24 (and it never failed). Thanks for all the good ideas. Thanks Marek 1994 #122 C270 ”Legato” Ottawa, ON From: CnC-List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rick Brass via CnC-List Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2016 12:09 To: [email protected] Cc: Rick Brass <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Stus-List Rewiring mast and anchor light.. Marek; I can’t recall, offhand, what model C&C you have, but I presume it has a keel stepped mast. Here is what I did when I rewired the mast on Imzadi (38 mk2) when I bought her in 2004: My mast wiring has a “tail” about 6’ or so longer than the mast. I drilled a hole in the mast that is ¾” to 1” diameter. I can’t recall which, but it matches the size of the largest rubber grommet I could buy at the local NAPA store. The rubber acts as a chafe guard for the wiring, which exits the mast an inch or two above the cabin sole. The wiring is enclosed in a piece of corrugated plastic cable wrap used to organize and provide chafe protection for wiring. You can get it at Radio Shack or any good hardware store. The cable wrap is long enough to go forward from the mast step and along the bulkhead to the bottom of the port settee where it goes through another hole I drilled, which is large enough ID for the end of the cable guard to poke into a locker under the forward end of the settee. That routing keeps the cables out from under foot when we use the table, and keeps them from getting in the way at other times. Inside the locker is all of the wiring connections for instruments and lights. I used a Blue Seas connector block with ring terminals on the wires in the boat (since they never get removed) and forked terminals on the end of the wires in the mast. The locker is pretty small, and I only use it for the wiring connections, the coils of extra wire length from the depth sounder and speed transducers, and a couple of soft items I am storing. I don’t want anything heavy shifting around as the boat moves and disconnecting ay of the wiring. Rick Brass Imzadi C&C 38 mk 2 la Belle Aurore C&C 25 mk1 Washington, NC From: CnC-List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marek Dziedzic via CnC-List Sent: Friday, December 09, 2016 1:58 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Cc: Marek Dziedzic <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: Stus-List Rewiring mast and anchor light.. Dave, If you have a good (i.e. reliable) way of connecting the mast wires to the boat, when you step the mast, I would like to hear it. The worst part is that my connector is inside the mast (under the mast foot when stepped), so you have precisely 5 s in the spring to connect and verify if all lights are working. For the last two years I am struggling with that. Two years ago my anchor light was MIA, last year the steaming light. Two years ago a Sea Dog connector disintegrated while in the mast (from heat in the summer?); last year, there was no visible damage, but there was no connection either. I suspect that because the old wires coming down from the mast are stiff and the insulation is somewhat brittle, there might be something happening when I stuff the connector and the wires in the mast cavity. The problem is that there is no easy way to check this. Well, other than do a troubleshooting session with the mast hanging on the masting crane (which is not, realistically, an option – there is always a long line-up to the masting crane). Marek From: Dave S via CnC-List Sent: Friday, December 9, 2016 11:02 To: C&c Stus List Cc: Dave S Subject: Re: Stus-List Rewiring mast and anchor light.. I think it is wisest to connect the windex light (LED) to the running light circuit, so another masthead wire is required. The ground conductor from the masthead anchor light could be used. Am going to look at my windex, but I agree with Doug, either discreet LED or strips could be used. Only issue is reliable connection at masthead for those of us who dismast ourselves annually. Dave
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