SUJET :

Hi everyone.
I have to rewire topping lift, but it is impossible to remove the top cap without demasting the thing.

Does anyone by the chance have some pictures from your hail-outs with mast down? I'm curious of internal tracking/etc, so i want to do it in water...

My plan is to tie a rope to main halyard, go through mast, and then try to use some hooks to switch the roller on the top of the mast...

Thanks in advance!

Thanks in advance!

Hello Alex,
as your boat is an Elite 32, which is the "same" as the Feeling 920, I am not even sure whether the mast providers were the same. One in Canada, the other in France. Not sure ...
Do you have any idea about her mast maker ?

By the way, I have moved your topic to the Feeling 920 category.
 

The Feeling 920 mast was a SOFERAC - FRANCESPAR mast. I dont have the model number or name !
What about the Elite 32 mast ?
Usually written on the mast itself ...

écrit:

The Feeling 920 mast was a SOFERAC - FRANCESPAR mast. I dont have the model number or name !
What about the Elite 32 mast ?
Usually written on the mast itself ...


 

It is FRANCESPAR, still have a decal. I have a massive top panel, which covers the mast, has outlets for standing rigging, two rollers at back for main and topping lift with some separator, so i'm curious how deep/long it is, would i be able to switch rope between them with some hook, and does mast has any sections for halyards or they are free inside... I do see some white pipe, prob for wiring...

I will be shipping my 1986 Elite 32 from Lake Champlain to Lake Ontario May 20 and the mast will be unstepped this week. While it is down I plan to replace all wiring, halyards, radio cable and install a new wind instrument in addition to the usual inspections of the standing rigging. I will be taking the top of the mast completely off and will take pictures and make measurements of what I find. I also have a friend with a 1984 Elite 32 in my yacht club. We store our boats at the at the same marina for winter and his mast is down for inspection and wiring work at this time. I will try take pictures of his mast as well. My mast is a double spreader rig, his is single spreader and two years older. It will be interesting to learn if there are any differences at the masthead between the two.  I should have much information on the configuration of the masthead of both boats shortly after May 20!
 

I am sorry I have not posted the results of my adventure with the masthead. There was a big delay in unstepping my mast at the yard so I did not have the opportunity to dismantle the top before the boat was shipped to its new home. (We barely had time to prepare the mast before the yacht transporter arrived yesterday) The boat arrived at it's new home this morning and I will be traveling to her tomorrow. My first priority job will be to unwrap, inspect and run new halyards and wiring though the mast. I will take pictures and measurements. posting them to the group as soon as practical.

Thanks, John!

Looking forward to see your findings. TIA!

After much delay I have finally have some findings. There is a web between the two sheaves and the sheaves are mounted to a heavy plate which supports them and centers the masthead on the mast. It would not be possible to run a halyard up the mast and then transfer it to its neighbor. I have my mast on the ground and will be running halyards and wires today, I will try a few different methods and will report back on which works best.
 

My wires and halyards are in the mast. There was only the wires and one halyard in the mast so I had to find a way to run the rest of the halyards without crossing them inside the mast.
There is a small conduit in the mast in which I ran the new wind instrument wire and the anchor light wire, using the old wires to pull the new to the top of the mast. Same for the new radio cable, but it is independent of the conduit pipe since the conduit would not accommodate all three wires. 
It was suggested by other sailors in the yard to fish the halyards with an electricians fish tape. This was attempted one time but failed miserably. It was also suggested to use the one remaining halyard in the mast to pull the others through. After discussions in the yard, this method seemed like too much pulling and presented the possibility of crossing lines, so was not attempted.
The method settled upon was PVC plumbing pipe.  We used five 10 foot long 1/2 inch PVC pipes coupled together as a rammer. I used tape to secure a 2 meter length of twine to one end of the pipe, then I placed plastic a one liter beverage bottle over the end and taped it securely to the pipe and twine. I  secured the end of a new halyard to the twine one halyard at a time, and my helper slowly pushed the rammer into the mast. The large diameter of the bottle pushed the radio wire and halyards against the inside of the mast which eliminated the possibility of the halyards from crossing as they made their way to their exit port.Placing the mast on the mainsail groove and working from lowest exit port to highest, I watched through each halyard exit port for the bottle to pass before telling my helper to stop. Using a small needle nose pliers I reached in, grabbed the halyard and pulled it through its port, then repeated the process for each line. We used this method to install three halyards, spinnaker halyard  in less than an hour. We then carefully put the halyards in their proper places in the masthead and put the masthead back on. All the halyards run true in the mast without crossing each other or the radio cable. It took longer to put the masthead on than it did to run the wires and halyards..