Slapping internal wires

[SLaz]

Happy Holidays, Everyone,

The wires inside my mast slap.

The mast is keel-stepped and the point of contact is shoulder-height, where the mast passes through the head. It is a location that is readily accessible.

I live onboard in the Caribbean and don't want to do the definitive fix of pulling the stick and rerouting the wires through PVC pipe or some such conduit.

My question is: Does anyone have experience making a hole in the mast, say 5/16" or maybe 3/8", encircling the wires, and pulling them tight against the mast's inside surface. Does this reduce noise or merely move the point of contact?

Thanks for you help,
Steve

[GordMay]

A set of three cable ties (ty-wraps), oriented at 120° (from each other), with ends left long, forms a 3-leg stand off, keeping the cables from slapping the inside of the mast.
Fix the sets (of 3) roughly every 2 [preferred] to 4 feet up the mast.

[JPA Cate]

Does anyone have experience making a hole in the mast, say 5/16" or maybe 3/8", encircling the wires, and pulling them tight against the mast's inside surface. Does this reduce noise or merely move the point of contact?

Jim did it for the radar cable on our previous Insatiable. He made two fairly small holes holes, one on each side of where the cable was, and used seizing wire and a tiny hook on a handle of solid wire, so he pushed in a length of the seizing wire, and then fished around very patiently to bend the end around the cable and back out to the hole, push a little more in, try and work it out--in my recollection it took a whole day to put in 4 of these, at roughly 10 foot intervals, and twist them around and seal it up. It was not easy, but doable with perseverance [and maybe swear words]. You might send him a PM, he probably remembers how he did it better than I do, who only watched.

Ann

[SLaz]

Thank you, Ann. what you wrote makes the project sound doable. Increases my confidence to try~