Water in Mast

[eamonn]

Can anyone advise me on the best method for getting water out of a mast. I have a 2-piece and the top section seems to have some water sloshing around in it. I think it probably got in there when I turtled the boat some while back but I have only recently noticed it when I took the mast down.

I found a reply to a similar question from Robert England in 2006 where Frank suggested searching for "foam" and then selecting the relevant iterm from Bob but I cannot find this article.

Any advice greatly appreciated or if anyone knows how to find Bob's original item, could you point me at it?

[Derek James]

Eamonn ,
I have a similar problem , last time I capsized my boat I really struggled to right it and thought I was getting weak . It turned out to be water in the top section of my mast . Rather than doing anything about the source of the leak , I simply split my mast and stored it with the top and bottom section joints pointing down and the mast leaning vertically against a wall . It took about 48hrs to drain . Fixing the leak is another matter !

[Martin Searle]

Eamonn ,
I have a similar problem , last time I capsized my boat I really struggled to right it and thought I was getting weak . It turned out to be water in the top section of my mast . Rather than doing anything about the source of the leak , I simply split my mast and stored it with the top and bottom section joints pointing down and the mast leaning vertically against a wall . It took about 48hrs to drain . Fixing the leak is another matter !

Yep mine too when the mast is lying on its side water dribbles out of the join, my boat is probably going to have to be fixed professionally so I'll have to disassemble it and have a good look at the mast whilst I have an opportunity see if I can see a hole in the top since its most probably rain water.

At the training weekend James Hurst had a similar problem and we split his mast and poured several litres of water out of it (its the older style joint).

Martin S.

[Robert]

My mast still gets water into the bottom section. I didn't do anything with foam, but did drill a couple of holes into the plug at the top of the bottom section in order to drain the water out. I sealed this job with silicon and it was ok for a while but the silicon recently gave up so I had to empty it again. Now I have added a polystyrene plug to the silicon to hold it in place. Maybe I'll replace the casting at the heel of the mast and re-seal it, having read Steve Willis's excellent article in the magazine - I've already done the wear plate.

As for the top section, I guess that would be another matter which fortunately I haven't suffered from (yet). Good luck with the solution chaps.