40.5 mystery mast leak solved?

[svAtargatis]

We've been having a leak at the deck step with water coming in occasionally. When we unstepped the mast this is what we found. That'll clog things up for sure!

The guys at the yard said they'd never found mulch in a mast before. Anyone else seen that?

 

[jssailem]

Perhaps the picture is missing.

Never have seen mulch... Perhaps it was something else and dissolved into mulch. Like a birds nest...

 

[svAtargatis]

Perhaps the picture is missing.

yep, mobile app outsmarted me, added now!

 

[jssailem]

Looks like grass and needles... Guess you had an industrious bird trying to make a home.

 

[svAtargatis]

craziest thing, its all wood chips. like i swear someone put a 2x4 in there to decompose

 

[jssailem]

You are in the Pacific NW...

 

[Davidasailor26]

I like the birds nest theory too. Just not sure where they were trying to build that led to the remnants falling to the bottom of the mast. I’ve had birds build nests in the boom, but a purely vertical mast is a little different.

 

[Crusty Ol Salt]

I had a knock down drag out with a grackle or starling who was trying to make a nest in the open end of my boom last weekend. She was stuffing it and every time I walk by I would pull it out. At one time she sat on a power line and chirped at me. I think she was cussing me out.

I think a grackle or starling would build where the halyard transitions thru the mast.

 

[Rich Stidger]

The Z-Spar mast that was original equipment on the 40.5 has a rectangular hole with rounded edges on the front side of the mast somewhere near the second spreaders. It is used for the attachment point for a baby stay. And it is the perfect size for a bird to stuff in nesting debrix. Placing some silver tape over that hole should stop the nesting activity.

When I pulled my mast after 15 years, I found a dead bird at the base. Apparently it entered the hole and could not fly out.

 

[baycloud]

I found surprises too...

 

[MetricMountie]

I've had a similar but different experience with debris in the mast, my situation was a very large mud wasp (some people refer to them as dobbers). pulled the mast in the fall for it's bi-annual rigging inspection to find the last foot full of mud, debris and several dead wasps. Only happened once in the mast but another time caught the start of a nest in the folds of the main on the 27 Cherubini we owned at the time.