Keel stepped mast leak

[ifoxwell]

I'm sure this comes up a lot but we have a water leak into the cabin and it appears that our problem is just a badly fitted seal.

The boat in question is a Jeanneau Sun Fast 32i

Can some one explain to me how this seal works and is it just a case of undoing the fittings and re-seating the part between the ali plates or is there more to it?

Hope some one can help

Ian

 

[Seajet]

That's about it, just ensure everything is as it should be; I presume there's some sort of rubber or neoprene bit ? I'm not familiar with that type of mast collar.

Bear in mind that rain will also enter the mast - therefore the boat - via any mast sheave openings.

 

[ifoxwell]

There is the rubber ring around the top, but a second split seal just visible between the two ali plates and it is this that appears to have come unseated, or perhaps damaged. Im just wary of undoing it all and making things worse before they get better if you catch my drift.

Ian

 

[Pye_End]

Certainly well worth getting the hose out and deciding exactly where the water is getting in - eg inside of mast - between mast and gaiter - under the deck fitting that the gaiter is attached to.

Self amalgamating tape is good for improving the seal between mast and gaiter. Not sure if you will then want other tape over the top for UV reasons.

 

[ifoxwell]

We were cleaning the decks with a hose, and its this that reminded me that I really should do something about it.

So I'm pretty well convinced that the problem is coming from around the mast not through it and having seen the loose piece of rubber between the plates it does seem the obvious culprit.

So how does the mast fitting work. Is it as simple as unscrew the bolts holding the top plate on, slide it and the upper rubber seal up the mast and re-seat the lower seal... then reverse the procedure to reassemble or is there more to it?

Ian

 

[doug748]

No idea.

In the absence of any Jeanneau owners coming to the rescue, I would have a careful look in the mast track/boot area. This can fail and a blob of silicone in the slot might just solve it.

Failing this, you just have to get stuck in. As you know all the ironmongery is to take the vertical block loads into the deck and may have nothing to do with the seal itself. The top of the seal may be folded back on itself and be hiding a jubilee clip underneath, if so, nipping this up may help. Good luck, let us know what you find.

 

[CET1]

From our Sunfast 36. We were are able to pull the head liner away from around the mast. luckily for us this is two small panels held up with Velcro. looking up you will be able to see around the mast and the bolts holding the aly deck plate to the deck. by spraying with water above you should be able to see whether the leak is from the mast boot joint or from the deck plate. Mast boot joint easy to do silicone in mast track and reseal. The deck joint is more difficult. We had leaks from the bolts and between the aly plate and the deck. Our plate had been sealed with white sikaflex and had failed at the rear. Cause we think was that the internal bolt attachment was not tight enough. So we prised the plate of the deck resealed plate and bolts put new wedges in at deck level, these were missing on our boat. Since then five years, no leaks. Incidentally we found that the balsa core had been left exposed so prolonged leaking may cause damage we allowed this to dry and sealed the edge with epoxy.