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Post by minnewaska on Nov 26, 2015 12:38:09 GMT
How do you seal the deck penetration on your keel stepped mast? I've not been present when the yard has R&R my mast, so I only have a pic of the collar. It appears there is a wedge of sorts that is compressed into the deck penetration by the top plate.
The yard put silicon all over the top of the wedge, which I think was a bad idea. If necessary at all, should this be butyl?
I am trying to find a water leak near the mast penetration, but I'm not absolutely certain that is where it is coming from. I may pull the deck plate that holds the mast step blocks and seal the bolt holes holding that down too.
Should this wedge be replaced periodically too?
Thanks for input.
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jim
Full Member
Posts: 41
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Post by jim on Nov 26, 2015 19:02:32 GMT
My previous boat (Sunfast 40.3) had a keel stepped Sparcraft mast - and it leaked. The advice from Sparcraft dealer was to remove the top plate (easier said than done as all the bolts had seized due galvanic action - ended up shearing them off and had to un-step the mast completely), remove the wedge, re-seat it with a generous application of sikaflex where in contact with the mast and replace top plate. This seemed to work for a while but started leaking again and it was suggested that maybe a replacement and thus more flexible wedge was required but self amalgamating tape helped as well. Chatting to others who had similar Sparcraft keel stepped masts (First 40.7, Grand Soleil if I remember correctly) this was a common and ongoing issue. Unfortunately I sold the boat shortly after.
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Post by minnewaska on Nov 29, 2015 21:35:29 GMT
I'm wondering if a bed of butyl under the top plate would help. Sika and silicon both eventually break free of their mating surfaces, when under shear or tension (as I would expect the mast to provide). Butyl would move around a bit.
I'm also thinking of removing the mast base block plate and re-bedding it's hold down bolts.
Thoughts?
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Post by so36idavid on Nov 30, 2015 7:04:12 GMT
I've never had a keel stepped mast, but I helped my friend seal his. He wrapped a 6" wide sheet of neoprene around the mast and step. A long hose clamp seals it to the mast, another one seals it to the base of the step. He then wrapped some wide riggers tape around the whole mess. Seems to work pretty well, although the jib sheets tend to rip the neoprene so you may need to put some kind of protection on top of that (like a stainless shield or something).
You also need to make sure to caulk the bolt rope groove where it penetrates the deck as well as caulk any open holes in the mast.
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