Mine was like Chuck's. I found the wire to be shockingly small and the copper terminals heavily corroded and poorly terminated. If relatively low voltage and current was able to attach the 1/4-20 bolt to the washer I figure that the current and voltage of lightning will probably be enough to detach the bolt. I made a failed attempt to drill and tap the keel bolt. By failed I mean that the tap must not have been cutting square in the hole and I ultimately ended up breaking the tap after successfully cutting threads about 1/2 inch deep. The hardened steel of the tap was impossible to drill or extract. This would have been the absolute best method had it cut square and not broken. I still recommend it. BTW I was planning for a 3/4 inch long by 3/8ths SS bolt for anchoring the wiring terminal to the keel bolt.
Instead of bolting directly to the keel bolt I ended up making a ground plate out of 3/16th thick plate aluminum. I cut a hole big enough for a keel bolt. I left a tang of metal extending out to the side. In this tang I drilled and tapped an hole for the 3/8ths bolt. I locked the bolt in place with a nut and then sandwiched the ground wire terminal between the nut another. My mast end of the wire just terminated at the metal step - again poorly with no real attachment to the mast. Instead I reassembled with a 3/8ths bolt through the mast to act as a stud and then used a nut and washer to hold the new ground wire terminal. Josh Muckley S/V Sea Hawk 1989 C&C 37+ Solomons, MD On Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 6:17 PM CHARLES SCHEAFFER via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > David, > > Find the other end under the mast step. > > If it's like mine, there is a large washer under a keel nut with a 1/4" x > 20 stud welded to it, and the ground wire which is simply a foot long > battery cable with eyes crimped on each end is fastened to the bolt. > > > CS > > > On June 27, 2019 at 4:49 PM David Knecht via CnC-List < > cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > I need to replace my mast grounding wire with 4 AWG (according to my > surveyor). It appears to connect at one end to the aluminum base plate of > the mast and that nut is accessible and a new cable can be attached with a > lug. I have not yet found the other end. Could it be under the keel bolt? > I have been thinking of ways to attach to a keel bolt. The easiest would > be if I could put a large enough lug on the end to go over a keel bolt and > then put another nut on top. I have not found a lug that large so this may > be moot. Can you buy a keel bolt nut? Anyone know the spec or a source? > Could I trap a large lug between the existing keel nut and a second one? > An earlier thread discussed using braided copper instead but that appear to > contradict ABYC standards. Any suggestions on the best/easiest way to do > this? Thanks- Dave > > S/V Aries > 1990 C&C 34+ > New London, CT > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and > every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each > and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - > use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > >
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