This question is specific to Vision owners, and maybe Freedom or Nonsuch owners.
My freestanding mast is collecting water, and I wonder if anyone else has experienced this. A midship bulkead has some water damage along the bottom half inch, and there are no signs of water incursion anywhere above. Some sleuthing led me to discover the water is coming from INSIDE THE MAST (insert horror movie sound).
TLDR; Should that mast be allowing water in? And if so, is it expected to drain to the bilge through weep holes? Maybe mine are clogged.
Here's the longer take on it:
Shining a bright light down onto the foot of the mast, I noticed a tiny reflection of water between the mast and the shoe (the ring it sits in). Upon inspection with a borscope through the wiring hole about 8" up from the bottom of the mast, I found the base is holding about 2" of water. That's almost a gallon. I also pumped about 2.5 gallons of water out of an adjoining bilge cavity that had been dry about a month before. The boat is on the hard and has its bilge pump disabled because of a cracked hose, so that allowed me to catch this water and observe this problem, which may have otherwise remained a mystery.
I would think there's always going to be some water getting in through the rivets in the halyard exit plates, or around the antenna mount, lights, failing wire boots, etc. And I would expect there to be weep holes at the base of the mast to direct that water into the bilge. But in my case, the water finds its way out of the shoe collar (see photo with paper slipped into gap) and wets the bulkhead before finding its way to bilge. The bulkhead on the right in this pic shows a white beard of water damage where it's been wicking water.
I'll be unstepping the mast next month for transport. I plan to rewire it and replace lights and antenna, etc. Will investigate the foot better, but really curious about how this is intended to work.
My freestanding mast is collecting water, and I wonder if anyone else has experienced this. A midship bulkead has some water damage along the bottom half inch, and there are no signs of water incursion anywhere above. Some sleuthing led me to discover the water is coming from INSIDE THE MAST (insert horror movie sound).
TLDR; Should that mast be allowing water in? And if so, is it expected to drain to the bilge through weep holes? Maybe mine are clogged.
Here's the longer take on it:
Shining a bright light down onto the foot of the mast, I noticed a tiny reflection of water between the mast and the shoe (the ring it sits in). Upon inspection with a borscope through the wiring hole about 8" up from the bottom of the mast, I found the base is holding about 2" of water. That's almost a gallon. I also pumped about 2.5 gallons of water out of an adjoining bilge cavity that had been dry about a month before. The boat is on the hard and has its bilge pump disabled because of a cracked hose, so that allowed me to catch this water and observe this problem, which may have otherwise remained a mystery.
I would think there's always going to be some water getting in through the rivets in the halyard exit plates, or around the antenna mount, lights, failing wire boots, etc. And I would expect there to be weep holes at the base of the mast to direct that water into the bilge. But in my case, the water finds its way out of the shoe collar (see photo with paper slipped into gap) and wets the bulkhead before finding its way to bilge. The bulkhead on the right in this pic shows a white beard of water damage where it's been wicking water.
I'll be unstepping the mast next month for transport. I plan to rewire it and replace lights and antenna, etc. Will investigate the foot better, but really curious about how this is intended to work.
