Cable Routing, through A-Frame

TheKommandant · 25 July 2013, 11:19

Hello!

Ever since I got my Valiant the Garmin GPS was claiming "Antenna Input Shorted" having trawled around I'm reasonable sure the cable is to blame (I can see some pretty bad twists and even a nearly exposed wire). I can actually get a new antenna and cable from eBay for £35ish so I think I'm going to go for that.

My question is, how does everyone route the cables through the a-frame? Are there any special methods, tips etc.?

I work in IT so can get hold of some Rods we use for Cat-5 cabling but not sure if they would be strong enough.

Cheers

Nos4r2 · 25 July 2013, 11:27

I did mine by rigging a temporary lazy line onto old cables and feeding cables in from the top.

Gafftaping to the old cable might work.I used it to attach my lazy line to the old cable but I had 5 old cables to use if needed. If it lets go you're in trouble.

TheKommandant · 25 July 2013, 11:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

I did mine by rigging a temporary lazy line onto old cables and feeding cables in from the top.

Gafftaping to the old cable might work.I used it to attach my lazy line to the old cable but I had 5 old cables to use if needed. If it lets go you're in trouble.

Ooh, that sounds plausible! I'll need to get another look at to see how much space I've got to play with.

Cheers!

Nos4r2 · 25 July 2013, 11:33

I used burgee halyard as lazy line btw. Use as thick as you can get away with, and smooth the join to the cable with tape or it'll snag.

TheKommandant · 25 July 2013, 11:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

I used burgee halyard as lazy line btw. Use as thick as you can get away with, and smooth the join to the cable with tape or it'll snag.

Got it, cheers.

Tim M · 25 July 2013, 11:39

I find just shoving the wire in works, then using a small bit of steel wire with a little hook on the end to fish it out the other end. Lots of trial and error!

TheKommandant · 25 July 2013, 11:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim M

I find just shoving the wire in works, then using a small bit of steel wire with a little hook on the end to fish it out the other end. Lots of trial and error!

Well that was originally going to be my plan! But since I'll be pulling the old wire out anyway using it to route a lazy line through at the same time might save me some time (and anger) later on.

Pikey Dave · 25 July 2013, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheKommandant

Well that was originally going to be my plan! But since I'll be pulling the old wire out anyway using it to route a lazy line through at the same time might save me some time (and anger) later on.

Pull another lazy line in when you pull in the new antenna cable, tie it off & leave it in for next time.

TheKommandant · 25 July 2013, 13:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Pull another lazy line in when you pull in the new antenna cable, tie it off & leave it in for next time.

Good idea, thanks.

Dirk Diggler · 25 July 2013, 16:34

I use either the inner of a 33c cable, or a length of net curtain wire, this has the added advantage of being able to have a screw eye in the end of it.

treerat · 25 July 2013, 21:39

I gave up and cable tied the thing on

TheKommandant · 26 July 2013, 13:34

Update! I was speaking to a marine engineer whilst buying some 2-stroke...and apparently the Garmin unit I have (451s) has an internal antenna and doesn't actually use an external one.

I can only assume the antenna and wiring is there from a previous model.

So there we go, going to try it out tomorrow and see if it works without the antenna plugged in at all.

Going to feel a bit daft for not RTFM considering I've had it for about 3 weeks now and been scratching my head the whole time!