UPDATE: I have tried to snake 20 foot 1 inch PVC, however it is not rigid enough and suffers the same problem as the fiberglass rod
UPDATE: This space is between the ground-floor ceiling and the first floor: the wood panel is the floor of the upper floor.
There are wood trusses that run horizontally (obscured by insulation) that block if the ethernet is not high enough to clear the truss.
The goal is to pull CAT5 Ethernet lines through a 40 foot horizontal plenum between the first and second floor. One end of the plenum is accessible from the attic. The other end is more difficult to access. Assume worksite is at the attic end.
I have attempted to snake a fiberglass wire-runner rod. The rod is too flexible is getting caught on truss chords. If I could somehow shoot a projectile (like a crossbow bolt) with a fishing line through 40 feet of air to the other end (plywood stop) that would allow the wire to be pulled. This seems a bit overkill, however, when I am in the very hot attic, wagging the fiberglass-rod and gettin nowhere, the projectile does not seem as silly.
Is there a clever way to traverse either the rod or fishing line through the 40 ft of plenum? Removing / drilling the ceiling is not an option for this exercise.
fish rod whisk
, or fashion something similar out of materials on hand. Running the rod through a small plastic water bottle and pushing it cap end first may suffice.