Running Wind Transducer Cable through a deck stepped mast - 86 Catalina 34

[RaymondP]

Initially thought I would bypass this issue by going wireless, but have been dissuaded by many advising that a wired solution is much more reliable and robust.  Boat is on the hard, mast remains in place at the moment.  I believe the 1986 vintage first year of production was the only year Catalina 34s had the desk stepped mast, so there are probably very few around.  Hoping a member with knowledge/experience may be able to help.

Considering buying a Raymarine DST800 wind transducer that will run to a converter (ITC-5) and then to a NMEA backbone for the autopilot and instruments.  Currently no wind transducer is in place.  Hoping to run the cable with the mast up to avoid significant charges to pull the mast and resituate. No other reason to drop the mast at the moment as everything was checked recently by the previous owner.  Current status is there is a very roughly cut window at the base of the mast (deck level) on the Starboard side. Two sets of wires with connections come out of the mast and lay on the deck. Not at all elegant and definitely vulnerable to the elements.  One is the antenna connection, the second the mast light cables.  There is also a loop of wire, not sure where this runs, purpose undetermined.

The small window does not allow my hand entry or easy viewing/tracing, but I have read within the base of the mast the wires pass through a hole in the deck possibly through some 90 degree protective conduit, and then travel through the mast support post below deck inside the cabin.  Can anyone confirm this or advise challenges of running the wires from deck level to below?  Reasonably confident I can run the wires through the mast from the top using gravity and a bike chain/para chord (recommended) as I have undertaken this successfully on other boats.  Also read that there may be conduit inside the mast for all cabling to be run with the purpose of avoiding noise created by slapping.  This information pertains to other sailboats boats but NOT a Catalina 34.

Thank you.

 

[KeelsonGraham]

Yes, this happens on my MkII. No wires exit at deck level, only at the base of the compression post.

The mounting point at the foot of the post has a small channel to take cables from the mast. This isn't deep enough to take the very chunky plug on the Raymarine radar, so I opted for the wi fi connection between that and my Axiom mounted at the helm. This works perfectly OK.

If wi fi can handle complex video data from a radar unit, then it should't have the slightest difficulty with a bit of wind data. Tac Tik built a whole business on wi fi transmitted data.

[Stu Jackson]

1.   I believe the 1986 vintage first year of production was the only year Catalina 34s had the desk stepped mast, so there are probably very few around.  Hoping a member with knowledge/experience may be able to help.

2.   Also read that there may be conduit inside the mast for all cabling to be run with the purpose of avoiding noise created by slapping.  This information pertains to other sailboats boats but NOT a Catalina 34.

1.  Not so.  The choice of keel or deck stepped mast was an option, see the price sheet here: https://c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Evolution_of_the_Catalina_34   AFAIK, that option remained until the Mark IIs were introduced, all of which are deck stepped.

2.  Yes, there should be conduit inside the mast.  You can check by looking for a line of rivets somewhere on the mast.  And, no about your second sentence here, regardless of what other boats may have done, the Catalina 34 did (should) have conduit.  I have hull #224  1986; for some bizarre reason my PO lived for 12 years with horrible mast slap, so when I took the mast down for re-rigging and a new furler, I found that the factory (!!!) had simply not bothered to use the conduit for the anchor light wire!  Once that was fixed, things became blessedly quiet.