mast leak

[Rob Turner]

It rains a lot in BC so I wasn't worried about a little water in the bilge.(2006 Mk !!)  But three inches in a week?  And then Scott told me his 2004 doesn't leak.  So I stuck the hose into the roller furling area, and almost instantly my wife shouted to turn the water off.  At the time I could see some water coming out  at the base of the mast, but lots of water was making it into the bilge.  As it turns out Scott doesn't have roller furling.
So what is the solution?  Or does everyone with roller furling have a waterfall into the bilge?

Thanks
Rob

[waterdog]

Rob, there is probably nothing that can be done.  It's a serious health hazard as well.   I would recommend that you just move a few boats down the dock and take over Blackdragon - a nice clean '88.  I'll take your boat and you never need to worry about this problem again. 

[Ken Heyman]

 Idoubt that it has anything to do with the roller furling. Probably has everything to do with the forestay and the need to re-bed chain plates or other hardware in the area( but I'll let those more knowledable opine on this) ---good luck,

Ken

[tonywright]

Just in case you don't want to take up Steve's excellent offer:  

The good news is this is easy to fix. The bad news is, you have to remove the mast to do it.  Remember that when you lift the mast, you have to spread the load of the strap along the slot with a wooden wedge as per Charleston Spars' recommendation.

When you remove the mast, you will see that there is a pipe in the centre of the step to take the wiring. You can  use silicone or other setting goop to plug this hole around the wiring.  I found that you need to apply this in a couple of stages. Net result: dry bilge.

This approach also has the side benefit of preventing the wires from slipping back into the compression post.

Tony

[Braxton]

Tony, aren't you just trapping water in the mast when you plug the hole at the bottom.    Wouldn't it be better (if possible) to plug the hole where water is coming in?

[tonywright]

There seem to be slots for the water to run out in the mast step. The roller-furling mast has a large open slot that accomodates the furling mechanism, and allows the sail to be furled and unfurled from inside the mast. I suspect (but have not followed the channel to see, that this probably allows quite a lot of water to run down inside the mast.

The reason that I plugged up the wiring channel is bcause this was the way it was done on my last boat (a Mirage 29). It seems to work, but then come to think of it the whole step seemed very dry inside when I took the mast off. So maybe something else keeps my particular mast dry, and my precaution is unnecessary. Wouldn't be the first time that I went for overkill on the boat.....

[waterdog]

Tony, aren't you just trapping water in the mast when you plug the hole at the bottom.    Wouldn't it be better (if possible) to plug the hole where water is coming in?

The newer boats are deck stepped.   It's not like our old boats where if you plugged up all the holes allowing water to escape at the base of the mast you would have a 50 gallon vertical water tank going up the middle of your cabin.   On the Mark II the mast ends at the deck and I think they are talking about plugging up a hole to prevent water from running down a wiring chase in a compression post.   But then I'm just guessing as a Mark I owner.   I won't know for sure until Robert decides he doesn't want to deal with this complicated in mast furling stuff any more...

[Ken Heyman]

Ignore my previous response. When I heard "roller furling I only think of the Genoa  furling system. I never saw any relevance to a mast leak. Now I get it.

Ken

[Braxton]

The deck stepped vs. keel stepped difference makes sense.    I had forgotten that those newfangled boats don't have a keel stepped mast.   I guess I had also not appreciated the funnel that a in mast furler would be either.   

If you don't care to make the swap for a boat quite as vintage as Blackdragon then I'd be happy to offer up Ballou.   I'm sure that the day or two lag it had coming off the line behind Blackdragon would have allowed for copious improvements.

[Rob Turner]

Hi Everyone

Thanks for your input.  I'm not crazy about pulling the mast, but perhaps it  needs to be done...

Rob

[Lance Jones]

I have a similar issue with my 1988 Mk I. However, the water is running down the outside of the mast inside the cabin. At first I thought it was condensation due to the heater and cold ambient temperature. Then, I spent several nights on-board during a rainy period. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Lance

[Ted Pounds]

Lance,
In your case you need a new mast boot or a better seal on the one you have.   You might have someone spray the boot while you check inside to see exactly where the leak is.

[Stu Jackson]

Lance, see my reply #2 in this thread: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,4654.0.html

[Lance Jones]

Thanks Stu & Ted!

[Stu Jackson]

Here are pictures.