E32 Wiring
Date: July 20, 2000
From: Mike Harwood mbharwood@compuserve.com
Our E32 has a single spreader light on the mast. There is power at the base of the mast, under the cabin sole. That is the pole directly underneath the mast. The mast top light still works, the bow lights do not. All the power cables move into the mast column are live and work correctly with the switches on the switch panel.
At the bow I have been able to begin to trace the cable back to the mast, however it is lost between the coach roof and the cabin pannel. I really do not want to remove all the panels if I can posibly help it. The questions are:
- where are the four single cables that pass into the base of the mast joined to three seperate paired cables?
- have I missed a "inspection" cover?
- having fixed the spreader light, (and bow) how easy is it to feed an airal cable from the mast head down through the same mast base hole for a new VHF radio?
Date: July 20, 2000
From: Paul C. Uhl endvr32@endeavourowners.com
Mike,
Electrical issues are not my strong suit. Also, since you have a 1979 vintage boat (pre 1980), some of my info may be a little different as Endeavour made some design changes at this point.
>Our E32 has a single spreader light on the mast. There is power at the base
>of the mast, under the cabin sole. That is the pole directly underneath the
>mast. The mast top light still works, the bow lights do not. All the power
>cables move into the mast column are live and work correctly with the
>switches on the switch panel.
First I want to clear up some terms. The E32 mast is a deck stepped mast that sits and is held in place on the coach roof by a mast base plate. There should be a small inspection panel near the base of the mast held on by a pair of screws. This inspection panel is really too small and useless for your purpose. Your in mast wiring should have a water proof connector that, when the mast is stepped, should be easily accessable. These wires are passed thru the mast base plate, thru the coach roof, down the SS compression post, and lead back to the electrical panel under the floor. I would start testing these and label them with a piece of tape. On our boat there is an access panel (about 5" x 5") in the floor at the base of the compression post which allows access to the wires making the turn.
When we first bought our boat some 12 years ago, we had a small round 'steaming' light (original equipment) near the spreader on the face of the mast. We replaced it with a combination steaming/deck light and had to run an extra wire. Is this steaming light what you are refering to or is there actually a deck light attached to the spreader?
The best way to trouble shoot the problem is to expose the wires at the spreader light and test there. If you don't get anything there you need to work your way back. However, the most common problem we've had with our deck lights has been 1) a burnt out bulb, and 2) corroded contacts. You should check for these if you already haven't.
>At the bow I have been able to begin to trace the cable back to the mast,
>however it is lost between the coach roof and the cabin pannel. I really do
>not want to remove all the panels if I can posibly help it. The questions are
>a) where are the four single cables that pass into the base of the mast
>joined to three seperate paired cables?
I'm not sure I understand. By 'bow' are you refering to your bow light, spreader light or steaming light? If it's your bow light all I know is that the wires are led thru the bow pulpit and out the base of one of the pulpit posts, thru the deck and into the boat. My wiring diagram shows that it comes in on the port side. I don't know where it goes from there. Most of the wiring inside the boat however is contained behind the panels you refer to under the deck area. I've removed most of mine at some point and only remember seeing AC wiring there. Wish I could be more helpful.
>c) having fixed the spreader light, (and bow) how easy is it to feed an
>airal cable from the mast head down through the same mast base hole for
>a new VHF radio?
You need to step the mast. It's not that difficult but when you do devise a way to keep the wiring from slapping around inside the mast. I think there is a discussion topic that touches on some solutions for this. Some masts have a PVC type tube inside the mast that containes the wires. If you don't, some have had success with chunks of foam insulation at various positions in the mast. Do you already have a VHF and cable? If you're replacing it you can use it to 'pull' the new one.
Date: July 20, 2000
From: Kevin D. Coon kkcoon@worldnet.att.net
Hi!
In mine, they just drilled a hole through the deck, pushed the wires through, and put a bunch of silicone in the hole around the wires. That makes it hard to pull a wire. You may get lucky and find the ends of the spreader light wires just below the steaming light if you remove the steaming light. Endeavour calls the steaming light "Bow Light" on the electrical panel. The red and green lights come under the "Running Lights" breaker on the electrical panel. The problem with the running lights is probably at the base of the stanchion (there is a splice in the wires there), or just corroded contacts in the fixtures themselves. If you pull the mast sometime, put a conduit in it to keep the wires still-it makes these problems go away.
Date: July 20, 2000
From: Peter Sicurella psic@rcn.com
Mike,
We own a 32, 1977 for the past three months. We had problems with the spreader lights and also with the bow lights. We resolved the bow lights with replacing the bulb sockets which were seriously corroded. The port light needed to have the feed wire replaced. This was a hassle to get the cable through. We removed the old wire and was not able to use it pull the new wire through. We had to loosen the bow stanchion and fiddle with a very thin wire to find the hole at the base of the station. The spreader light was solved by cleaning up the corrosion at the opening at the base of the mast and also under the sole. Finally we checked all the connections at the panel for corrosion and for lose screws or bad connections.
Date: July 20, 2000
From: John Kocher JOHNKOCHER@aol.com
Our E32 which has since been traded had a pvc tubing inside the mast all the way to the speaders. It's held in place by rivets. In fact there are two rows of rivets, one going into the tubing to hold it in place, the other is blind and is used to cover holes which are used to insert a hook which holds the tubing in place during riveting. I rewired the mast at one time and it really needed it. Also upgraded all the lights.I would doubt you could rewire from the masthead easily. I did the work on the ground one winter with the mast down. One problem is a chintzy brass four pole connector which breaks the wiring connection when the mast is removed. Lots of corrosion. On ours there was a small access plate on the starboard side at the base of the mast. This may allow you to access the connector. The wiring bundle then goes down through the mast base and through the support strut to below the sole where you should be able to trace it by removing one of the hatches in the sole. Hope this helps. John Kocher 'NOMAD'
PS-Problem could be as simple as replacing the bulb(s) of course.
Date: July 20, 2000
From: Tom Gilbert TGil95746@aol.com
Holy Cow......have you got a situation !!!!!
The mast is deck stepped, so there is NO direct opening for wires to go to the bilge. If you have 12 vDC at the compression post base, then suspect the connections inside the mast at the cabin top, or the connections at the individual light base. I found a burned out bulb AND a broken wire at my mast head light fixture. The anchor light was just fine. The anchor light is at the tippy top of the mast. (360 degrees visibility). Of course, the bulbs could be dead from vibration.
I just re-stepped my mast and reinstalled all my mast wires since they were 20 yrs old. I have a 2" PVC conduit up the front of the mast with rivets to hold it, then ran everything I needed inside that. It's quiet, protected, and out of the way..... I have multiple connections at the mast base, on top of the cabin top, inside the mast, then caulked to make sure no water seeps below.... I have new VHF coaxial, spreader lights port and starboard, Raytheon wind system mast top, and anchor light and mast head light. It's a bunch of connections, but it all works just great. Internal halyards do not interfere at all... Good luck...
Date: July 20, 2000
From: Bill Lezotte wlezotte@indiana.edu
Mike,
Why do you get all the fun? Hey I will have to do some work on my bow lights too. Please let me know where you find the junction.
Running a new VHF cable shouldn't be too bad if the old one is still there. I recently had my mast down and was able to do a pretty good inspection of the whole thing. (I should have documented) If you tape the new cable to the old cable with large loops (so you can smash them down real flat) in both new and old you should be able to pull the new cable all the way down to the cabin sole.
Do you have a fiberglass sole or a wood marquee? I have marquee and the is an inspection panel just at the base of the compression post and just aft of that into the bilge. I find most of my electrical runs through the bilge.
Again, good luck and quit hogging all the fun.
