TWL: Anntena leads
Ok, While not exactly stumped by this one, I am still trying to figure if
there is an easy way to fish antenna leads from a radar arch to the helm
area. I am still considering the addition of another GPS system on my boat
and the logical spot to locate the antenna sensor is on my radar arch which
is one of the fiberglass arches that is attached to the boat with stainless
hinges so that it could be folded down, although I cannot ever imagine
trying to do so as right now it contains my radar array, two VHF antennas, a
cell antenna and my existing GPS antenna. But in looking at this
proposition I am wondering, how in the heck did they manage to get the
antenna leads fished down through this thing? Any simple solutions?
Jim Alexander
M/V Emily Rose
43 Vista
jalexander127@comcast.net writes:
But in looking at this
proposition I am wondering, how in the heck did they manage to get the
antenna leads fished down through this thing? Any simple solutions?
One of my dock neighbours has a real electrician's 50 ft fish-tape. One of the most frequently borrowed tools around here. If he didn't have one, I'd buy one!
Another trick taught to me by an old sailboat rigger: If any wires are already running where you wish to add your antaennae leads is to disconnect the existing wire/cable on one end. Securely attach a thin, smooth nylon string as a lead-line to it,
smoothly tape the connection and carefully pull it out the other end. Then attach the new leads to the nylon lead line, again tape smoothly and pull the whole mess back into position. Has worked for me numerous times, even for pulling wires behind
headliners and cabin panneling.
George of Scaramouche, Lake Ontario, Canada
At 12:20 PM 03/03/2002 -0500, Jim Alexander wrote:
in looking at this proposition I am wondering, how in the heck did they
manage to get the
antenna leads fished down through this thing? Any simple solutions?
REPLY
On the Carvers that I worked on we unscrewed the plastic access cover
located in the center of the underside and shot a fish tape (flat steel
ribbon ) down to the side panel which gave access to the mounting bolts
holding down the arch.
Some Bayliners have a light fixtuer on the side which you can remove to
get access and shoot a fish tape down to the bottom hole.
BTW.
I found the standard electricians fish tape a little cumbesome so I
stripped out the core from a Morse control cable.
That staainless round cable was the perfect fish line. the swaged on 1/4"
thick piece at one end als ogave a nice handle for grabbing and twisting
the fish around corners sideways.
A short hook turnback at the end facilitated connecting cables and wires
to pull back.
Cheers
Arild
Lubricating the cables with baby powder often helps in fishing cables
throught tight restrictions.
Regards,
George Brooks
Nereid V
La Conner, WA, USA
At 12:20 PM 3/3/02 -0500, you wrote:
Ok, While not exactly stumped by this one, I am still trying to figure if
there is an easy way to fish antenna leads from a radar arch to the helm
area. I am still considering the addition of another GPS system on my boat
and the logical spot to locate the antenna sensor is on my radar arch which
is one of the fiberglass arches that is attached to the boat with stainless
hinges so that it could be folded down, although I cannot ever imagine
trying to do so as right now it contains my radar array, two VHF antennas, a
cell antenna and my existing GPS antenna. But in looking at this
proposition I am wondering, how in the heck did they manage to get the
antenna leads fished down through this thing? Any simple solutions?
Jim Alexander
---========================
Jim................Cut the VHF and use that to drag down the new wires and
then resplice the VHF wire. Also snake down a strong string and leave it in
there so if you have to drag more wires, it won't be a problem..........
.
Captain Al Pilvinis
"M/V Driftwood"--Prairie 47
2630 N.E. 41st Street
Lighthouse Point, Fl 33064-8064
Voice 954-941-2556 Fax 954 788-2666
Email yourcaptain@earthlink.net
Website http://home.earthlink.net/~yourcaptain
I found the standard electricians fish tape a little cumbesome so I
stripped out the core from a Morse control cable.
That staainless round cable was the perfect fish line. the swaged on 1/4"
thick piece at one end als ogave a nice handle for grabbing and twisting
the fish around corners sideways.
A short hook turnback at the end facilitated connecting cables and wires
to pull back.
Cheers
Arild
---==========================
Hey Arlid................I thought I was the only one that did that. I also
used the red jacket by cutting off the fitting and rounding off the jacket
I found that it was soft enough to go around a couple of bends in my fill
pipe and now I can stick my tanks....I don't think I throw any thing away,
and when I do it is really useless.
.
Captain Al Pilvinis
"M/V Driftwood"--Prairie 47
2630 N.E. 41st Street
Lighthouse Point, Fl 33064-8064
Voice 954-941-2556 Fax 954 788-2666
Email yourcaptain@earthlink.net
Website http://home.earthlink.net/~yourcaptain
snip< if there is an easy way to fish antenna leads from a radar arch to the
helm>
On both my last boats I mounted TV antennas on the radar arch. After
messing around with the first one for a couple of hours, got an electrician
to do the job and he actually broke his fish tape before he finally got it.
Turned there were structural members inside the arch that were tuff to get
around and better as a 2 person job. The second one I didn't even try as the
boat was near my brother in law, who is an electrician, again a 2 person
job. If you have a tuff time, call in a pro. Also on both jobs we did what
other listees recommended, which is to leave a future pull wire. I used one
of the chrome fittings with the rubber compression grommet inside for the
antenna wire to go into the hole in the arch and be sure to caulk the area
well too.
With that said, I was going to also mount a GPS antenna on the second radar
arch for the Garmin 128 I bought, which was a no brainer with brother in
law there. For some reason that escapes me now, and this was just last fall,
I phoned Garnin about the 126 with the built in antenna like my handheld
model 12. The service tech said I should get good reception on the fly
bridge with a canvas bimini. So I took the 128 back to WM and got the 126.
With 1500 miles, the readings have been right on. If your helm is like mine
you may want to consider the ez way out.
Michael Wilkie
MV Dancin' Dolphin
Grass Valley, CA
Moored at St Pete Muni, Fl