Chris Southwell wrote:

Currently I have no instruments except for compass and depth. Ideally I'd like a wind reading to give me apparent wind and real wind. The plan is to get ready for a UK circumnavigation in a couple of years time.

Chris

We have only 3 wind speeds when sailing 'Footprints'. Not enough, Just the right amount, and Too much!! Similarly only two apparent wind directions; No good, when the arrow at the top of the mast points straight towards our destination; and varying degrees of OK to very good which occurs when we are heading directly towards our destination and the apparent wind is somewhere from a close reach to an almost dead downwind run.

Make sure that you put a good wind direction indicator at the top of the mast. Windex seems to be a good brand. It is also a good idea to put flow indicators down the leech of your sail. These along with the masthead wind direction indicator will help you gain the best performance from your sail.

With your nav lights it is a good idea to have a bright, (LED), stern light mounted on the pushpit. I have had so many close calls when operating the ferries at night when coming up behind small vessels which because of the small stern profile they do not show up on radar, and they have either no stern light, or a very dull stern light, which we do not see until we are almost on top of the boat. You do not want the white stern light as part of the bow lights on the pole because you will be looking at it all the time which would destroy your night vision.

Thank you David and David. Those are very helpful thoughts.

I think that getting the cables through the hinge is probably impossible, so that leaves the outside route or not at all!

Currently I have no instruments except for compass and depth. Ideally I'd like a wind reading to give me apparent wind and real wind. The plan is to get ready for a UK circumnavigation in a couple of years time.

Poles at the transom for VHF and anemometer are certainly possible. What sort of height do you think would be a reasonable minimum to make them useful?

Chris

With a junk rig the cables certainly have to be inside the mast because the batten parrels, and/or sail wrap, completely around the mast, so any external cables won't last 5 minutes. The other challenge with internal cables is to stop them flopping around inside  the mast so it is best if you can get them inside a conduit which is fastened to the inside wall of the mast. I am sure there will be other members who have had experience with this. I am not sure how your hinged mast works but maybe the cables just need some slack at the hinge point to allow for the hinging.

The other question is just what do you need at the masthead on such a small boat. With a VHF antenna the more height gives the greatest range but I am always surprised that my handheld VHF seems to have as much range as the installed radio with the mast head antenna, (a Uniden Voyager waterproof radio). If you really need wind instruments then the masthead location for the transducer gives the most accurate apparent readings  but you could also mount the transducer on a pole at the bow. In my occupation as a Master of fast ferries I have certainly come to appreciate that in the case of navigation lights the higher and brighter the better so there is a very good case to be argued for getting a good tricolour light at the mast head. 

One other option that you do have is to lead the cables up the 'funnel' side of the mast. That is the small amount of radius where the sail does swing which for a sail mounted on the port side is athwartship on the starboard side of the mast. When I was sailing offshore I mounted my SSB long wire antenna in this position, that is from the gunwale on the starboard side of the mast to the masthead. It worked fairly well but I led the wire inside a length of braided line which took all the loads. But this is probably not the best long term solution.