Anchor light wire wrapped around mast top bolt

[bclery]

I have fixed many thing so far on my '87 C34, but so far fixing the anchor light has eluded me.  I have the new light, new wire, been up the mast 3 times so far, and now stuck on..

The wire in the mast seems to be wrapped or tied around a bolt which is 3 inches below the mast top.  This appears to be a way to carry the weight of the hanging wire rather than have it pull down on the light fixture.   Without un-wrapping the wire form that bolt I can't pull the new wire through the mast.

There is a 1 inch hole directly over the bolt/wrap where the anchor light sat.  I can see the bolt and wrapped wire and can even hook it a bit by sticking bent stuff in there.  but so far no luck untying it.

At this point dropping the mast is not in the plan.  Is there any trick to getting that wire untied, or un wrapped, from that bolt?

I searched the forum and found one mention of this wire/bolt/wrap by Ron Hill.  Has anybody dealt with this?

[Tom Soko]

bclery,
This sounds like the bolt that holds the masthead in the mast extrusion.  There is also a larger bolt, about a foot below the masthead, that the upper shrouds are attached to.  If you pull the mast, it would be a simple matter of taking the bolt out, and then you could pull the wire w/knot out thru the hole.  As the mast is in compression from the shrouds and stays, if you take the bolt out, with the mast in place, nothing would collapse or fall down.  But.....you may not be able to get the bolt back in the hole.  Have you tried a set of very long needle-nosed pliers, or a medical hemostat (sp?).  You might be able to reach thru the hole and grab part of the knot and pull it thru the hole. 

[Ken Juul]

You might try disconnecting the wire at the bottom of the mast.  Attach your new wire to the tail.  Then from the top, use a "J" hook made from a coat hanger or other stiff wire to pull the wire up the mast and out the hole.  Cut the old wire, I'd leave about a foot of old wire attached to the mast, pulling the rest of the old wire and the attached new wire up the mast.   Use the old wire still attached to the bolt as your strain relief.

[Ron Hill]

bclery : The anchor light wire is tied in an overhand knot wire around the bolt that holds the mast cap to the mast !!  They did that because of the weight of 50' of wire - the light fixture just couldn't hold the weight!!
As you found, I wrote that up in my Mainsheet article (Pulling a Keel Stepped Mast) about 12years ago.

Here are a couple of ideas :
You could try loosening the back stay and the head stay, holding onto the wire you have and removing that bolt.  I'll guess that you should be able to pull out that bolt thru the overhand knot and still be able to replace the bolt .  The only problem is the weight of the old wire or new wire !?!?!

You could also do as I did when I installed a wind instrument without pulling the mast (another Mainsheet article).  I ran a piece of bailing wire thru a hole in the mast cap over the PVC conduit and fished it out at the mast shoe.  Then you could run a paired wire, but would have to be "inventive" as to holding the weight of the new wire.

The for sure way (as Tom also said) is to "bite the bullet" and pull the mast.  Then you can install a TV antenna, change out the all of the old copper wiring to marine grade wire, new VHF coax wire etc etc etc. 
A few thoughts

[bclery]

Thanks for the input.  I will try these things.  If I can't hook it and pull up, then I'll try yanking the bolt.  Of course there is something odd about removing a big bolt from the thing that is holding you 50 feet in the air.

My idea for holding the wire weight after replacement is to tie some SS "saftey wire" around the bolt and pull up a tail of that 4" out of the little hole, then wrap/tie that SS-wire around the light wire.  Then drop that all down in the little hole.  The SS-wire will support the full weight from the bolt, but I can always pull the whole mess back UP out of the hole.

[Jim Hardesty]

If you haven't unsteped and inspected the mast in the last few years (3 or more) take Tom's advice to "bite the bullet" and pull the mast and give everything a good look and overhaul.  If it has been a long time (5 years) I would be very leery of doing much at the masthead.  "Your boat, your choice" but I just wanted to get my 2 sense in( I'm often told I don't have much sense).
Jim

[Ken Juul]

Once you get the new wire pulled I think it will be possible to forcibly rip the old wire off the bolt by prying with claw hammer or channel locks.  Once removed it should be easy enough to put a large overhand knot in the new wire and carefully place over the bolt and pull tight.

[Ron Hill]

bclery : Give your idea a try.  I don't think it'll work, but try it!!

There are so many item that you can do with the mast down, look at the list I mentioned in that Mainsheet article. 
Just to tweak your interest again.  Change out the halyard sheaves to all ball bearing sheaves and with the boom off straighten out the twisted outhall and free the frozen goose neck -
just to mention a few!!

[bclery]

I did it.  It took about 30 minuites at the top of the mast, but I managed to untie the wire from the bolt and replace it.

I used a screwdriver to "loosen up" the knot and spread the wrapped wires out.  Then a coat hanger with a deep narrow hook bent into it was used to catch the main down hanging wire.  I pulled that wire out of the hole.

Then I hooked a part of the knot and I pulled that out of the hole too. Atthis point I had three wires going into/out-of the hole.  The main wire came up, out of the hole, then back into the hole, around the bolt, then back up out of the hole.  The half hitch knot was still losely tied but was out of the mast. 

Then i fished the new wire through the same exact path as the old wire.  Then i tightened up the knot and pushed it back into the hole. So the new wire is now knotted exactly like the old wire.

So it is possible.  Not easy, but possible.

Someday the mast will come down, but still too muvh other stuff on the list.

[Craig Illman]

   I'm impressed!

[Ron Hill]

Good for you !!!