The worst thing that could have happened to my boat progress has happened: I got a job. Now I feel for everyone else out there building Pocketship while working full time. Though with 4 weeks working, the building is still moving along. You just need a lot more patience.
Been working on the mast for a while now, with the addition of 18 gauge marine wiring for a mast top light. Though it will certainly add a bit more undesired weight way up high, I felt it desirable to have a light up there for both navigation and anchoring lights. I have noticed a few folks contemplating this, so here is my two cents on how to do it.
After fitting all the wood portions of the mast together, I stringed the wires in a polyethylene (PE) thin walled tube. First I had to cut off the white covering of the duplex wiring, then pull the wires into the PE overtube in a 3 step process – first passing fishing line through with a small wieght, then a thicker wire, and finally expoxied the wire to the 2 electrical wires to allow me to pull them through the 15 ft or so of 1/4″ id x 5/16″ od PE tubing (water piping from Home depot). The PE tubing is epoxied in place to allow new wire to be passed through if needed.
On the lower section, the wires pass out of the mast on the side of the aft panel, a few inches above the mast pivot. I extended the 1.5×1.5 mast filler by a few inches to beef up the mast where I had to drill through it.
On the top of the mast, the wires pass though a channel cut into one of the side panels for the length of the upper tapered plug, such that the tubing won’t interference with the attachment point screws going through the sides or front/back of the most. I also left a slightly smaller radius on the upper 16 inches of the mast (3/8 instead of 1/2) to retain greater strength around the tubing.
Unfortunately my iphone shattered before downloading all the photos of the steps above, but I do have some of the finished mast. (shameless Apple plug- they gave me a new iphone4 for free in exchange for the shattered one)
Wire exit on lower mast. Eventually, I will attach a connector to the wire about 8″ from the mast, and have the mating connector attached to the top of the aft section of the tabernacle. The free length of tubing is intended as a strain relief for when the mast is lowered and raised, and the detachable plug is to allow the mast to be removed for maintenance, etc.
Mast top LED light – lightest and cheapest I could find. Around $35. Will need to get some PVC fitting to crown to the top of the mast providing a space to store a bit of extra length of wire and to connect to the light (which is built into a PVC pipe end).
Finished epoxied mast. Also cut the whole for the bowsprit – more on that later…
Sean's Pocketship 
Sean: Lookin’ good…sorry about the job. I’m marrying a rich girl in my next life. I’ll be picking up my Pocketship kit in a week or so from CLC as I live about an hour away. Excited.
Good luck
Jimmy Vitale
Are you located near the Chesapeake Bay; or do you plan on attending the Okume Fest that CLC puts on every May??
Jimmy V
Not even close, as I recently moved to CA. Haven’t made it to okumefest yet, and would love to someday, though without my boat. You’ll have some great sailing out there on the bay.
I to plan on a mast head light .Where did you get your LED light? my though was to bevel the core wood just enough for my wires ,pull the wires through and then just fill with slow set epoxy. Of coarse I would not be able to pull the wires out but don’t see why I would need to and the epoxy is a good insulator and I would not loose any strength. Can you see any problem with my idea. Also where can I get waterproof connecters for the threw hull connection. We have no marine suppliers here so I have to rely on ordering on the internet. Right now it looks like the biggest problem will be getting the mast tracks here as I cant get anyone to ship them to me !! Aloha Mark
Hey Mark,
For the parts, I am using an “owl” from bebi electronics (www.bebi-electronics.com), and plan to get a plug from Defender (2-Prong Watertight Deck Connection) or similar.
As far as wiring the mast, I think your method should work. Things to watch out for: for the lower portion – do you plan to un-plug the wires every-time you raise and lower the mast? I routed mine out of the mast above the mast pivot so I could leave it plugged in and only unplug it when doing maintenance. For the upper section, you need to make sure you are out of the way of the screws holding up the various stays and rigging mounted to the top section of the mast. I ran my wires through a corner of the mast to prevent hitting the wires.
Good luck!
I was wondering. I would be launching the boat from a trailer before every excursion. So I would have access to the top of the mast. Is there a mas that light solution that is battery operated? LED lights draw so little power. I would just leave the light on all the time. I wondering if the advantages would out weight the disadvantages. Thoughts?
The lights typically operate off 12v, but may work ok with a 9V battery. The weight wouldn’t be any more then all the cable I used to wire the mast, and would be a whole lot easier to build. I would try the light out first with the battery, and it works well, go for it.