Keel stepped mast

[johnphilip]

We have bought a boat with a modern Selden keel stepped mast and a gallon or two of water has collected in the hull in three months. A probable cause has been found with an unsealed foam plug within the mast section but the boatyard say we will always get some water into the boat. Any comments or experience of ways to improve the seals would be welcome.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Boatyard is right. Just pump the bilge more frequently.

 

[poter]

If you go Here You will find some solutions. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I have in fact now cured my problem, mast leak that is!!

good luck.

poter

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Likewise......

My leak was through the coachroof seal, not down the mast....

 

[jerryat]

Yep, I suspect you'll have to come to terms with always getting/having some water in the bilge. It's just a feature of keel-stepped masts and one of the reasons we didn't consider having one when we went shopping for our current boat.

Neither SWMBO nor me can stand wet bilges because of the damp and manky feel they impart to the rest of the boat. Ugh!!

I believe there are various 'solutions' offered but, as Twister Ken rightly says, just mop out the bilges more frequently.

 

[Sailfree]

Would an automatic bilge pump left permently on be the answer?

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Yes..... thats exactly what we do..... but it does depend upon your bilges draining effectively to wherever the pump is....

But.... now we've spent a bit of time with varnish, sikaflex and rubber, we have pretty much managed to completely stop ours leaking.....

 

[Ariadne]

It was suggested to us ,that we pump some high expanding foam into the mast, just below the lowest halyard outlet. This is supposed to stop the water that finds its way into the mast from ending up in the bilge, and its meant to drain the water out through the said outlet.

We havn't tried it yet, we're still sealing up up all the main holes where the mast comes through!!

Never had a boat that didn't have a keel stepped mast, so therefore never had dry bilges. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

What they like then, these dry bilges?

 

[david_e]

I used Gas Tape to seal mine and it works pretty well. What type of boat is yours?

 

[sailorman]

we dont have a "plug" in the mast but we do have a bilge "sump" this holds about 25Lts ( boat up-right) dont really find water ingress via the mast sheaves ect a problem. just pump out when we get o/board, bilge very often dry

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

The only major ingress with ours was down the mast track...... a real good dose of silicon in the track below the boom resolved that, and like Roger, ours is often dry nowadays.... v little gets down the other routes......

 

[billmacfarlane]

I think the boatyard is right and you'll always get a small amount in the bilge. Mine goes into a bilge sump and there is bilge pump which operates with a float switch. The bilge pump connects direct to the battery bank bypassing the switch panel, though it does have a breaker on the live side. Seems to work OK, though I check the bilges fairly frequently.