J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Electrical Wiring in Mast

My mast wiring makes noise when anchored, and there seems to be some friction with halyards. Has anyone run a conduit in the mast to isolate the wiring from the halyards? Are there other repairs to secure or isolate the wires?

I have the same problem. I am interested in ways to secure the wiring. I am already looking at replacing the coax for my VHF antenna. I suspect the slapping in the mast has helped to sever the connection between the radio and antenna.

Same situation on Silver Shadow, but I haven`t tried to solve it yet. I saw in Crewsing magazine,wiring tied together with plastic cable ties and they used three together and left the tails long.The groups of ties were about 6 ft.or so apart and kept the internal wiring from slaping against the mast.It may be worth a try, and may also isolate the wiring from the halyards.

We solved this problem some time ago on Energy with a recommendation from a "cruising" sailor. I was hesitant to put conduit because it is somewhat difficult to install and the mast does have alot of flex at the top that can pop the rivets. Anyway, with the mast out, we replaced all of the wiring (routine maintenance) put foam pipe insulation around the clump of wires and secured it with extra long and oversized cable ties. Just cinch them tight, leave the tails on every 2-3 feet apart along your wires. The tails hold the wires against the inside of the mast. We did this 6 years ago and have not had a halyard or wire problem in the mast since.
Greg