[Public-List] My mast rewire solution - for now anyway

[gdinwiddie at alberg30.org]

Clever idea, Gord!

On 7/7/22 8:23 PM, Gordon Laco via Public-List wrote:
> Good idea with the wire, Joe.
> 
> When outfitting classic yachts and sailing ships, we take braided rope and strip out the core.  This leaves what is basically a ’tube’ of rope sheath.  We run the wires up the inside of the sheath.  We stick the sheath to the mast (usually wooden masts) with SikaFlex.  SikaFlex sticks very well, but not so well it can’t be pulled off cleanly later.
> 
> So far as anyone knows, the sheath with the wiring inside is just another piece of running rigging…
> 
> 
> Gordon Laco
> 426 Surprise
> www.gordonlaco.com
> 
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> 
>> On Jul 7, 2022, at 1:57 PM, vinegar joe via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
>>
>> Again, thanks everyone for your thoughts and ideas concerning my efforts to replace the wires to my steaming-deck light combo in a mast filled with inert expanding foam and other unpleasant obstacles.  For now, my summer sailboat root canal experience is over.
>> At the suggestion of an "idea's guy" who's also a sailor, I ran wires externally from the base of my deck stepped mast to the combo light in the least offensive manner I can think of.  Specifically, I first ran a two inch wide track of epoxy resin from the bottom of the mast to the light - 3 coats.  Next I ran three 1/4 inch flat copper wires over the epoxy, followed by three more coats of epoxy and two coats of Interlux paint.  Traditional 18 gauge wires are soldered to the copper ends and inbedded in epoxy with an adhesive filler.
>> There is zero evidence of any wires on the mast except at the ends of the 2 inch track where the 18 gauge wires are attached.  Continuity is great and all is right with the world.  Someday - one of these days - the mast will come down again and I'll take another stab at blasting out its interior, but for now I'm finally in the water.    Bill  s/v Vinegar Joe  (photo attached)
>>
>> 'The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.' - Kilgore Trout