| Author | Message | ||
     Gary Hendrickson New member Username: Garyh Post Number: 18 Registered: 02-2001 Rating: |
Mike's post today in the water intrusion at the mast topic reminded me of an alert I posted several years ago that got dropped out after a website hosting crash. I've never tolerated water intrusion, especially if it could possibly get into balsa core. The best way to approach the problem of cracking and delamination at the deck mast partners area is to make sure it can't get started. Keep the area dry and sealed. My spar has been unstepped every winter. When I bought my boat several years ago, I checked the bolt holes in the deck for the mast tabernacle plates. They go through cored material which looked more like marine plywood than balsa to me. I gouged out the coring around the holes a little and let it dry out for a while. Then I filled the walls around the holes with epoxy. When the mast is stepped and the two tabernacle plates are put on, I use Boatlife polysulfate goop on the underside of the plates in a tight ring around each hole with the bolts in place, and then carefully work all the bolts at once down through the deck. When the bolts are tightened, the goop seals up the deck around the hole and also the bolt threads, so there is no possible path downward for water. I use the standard rubber gasket around the mast, and it works fine. As the bolts are tightened the plates put pressure on the top edge of the rubber gasket, and it seals up tight around the mast. The last step is to glop the goop down into the crack where the two ends of the gasket come together at the aft side of the mast. There is never any evidence of leaking or wetness on the inside at the mast. Once the spar is out I keep the deck area at the mast covered and dry with a little "house" made of a clear plastic bin turned upside down over the hole and held in place by a fender hanging down into the cabin from an eye attached to it. I did these things because I was warned about these problems by Loren Thompson in the boatyard the day I bought the boat. The deck remains normal looking, with no bulging or sinking. There's really nothing one can do about water coming down the inside of the mast during rain except to install a nice Rule automatic bilge pump and leave it on during rainy weather. |
