Just pulled the teak covering off of the post of my 85 H34 and found evidence of water entering but no rot. I siliconed the hell out of the pvc tube containing the wires but could only access it through the cabin. Any way to access it through the mast on the deck? Should i really drill holes in the botton of my mast? I plan on pulling the stick and replacing it with aluminum but not until well into the winter. What is a reasonable price to step the mast? Any other suggestions? I have extensively searched the archives but want to confirm my plan on this. thanks for the great info!
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David
Compression Post / Mast removal
Robin, I recently had to replace the compression post on my '88 H33.5. The cost associated with unstepping and restepping the mast as well as resealing the deck plate and PVC tube was approximately $350. You can e-mail me at HovTwo97@aol.com for further info.
Robin, I recently had to replace the compression post on my '88 H33.5. The cost associated with unstepping and restepping the mast as well as resealing the deck plate and PVC tube was approximately $350. You can e-mail me at HovTwo97@aol.com for further info.
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Geoff McLaughlin
Try stainless
Use a stainless steel box section and put a stainless foot under it, running athwartships on the girdle structure. The stainless is cost comparable, stonger, and will hold a nice finish.
Use a stainless steel box section and put a stainless foot under it, running athwartships on the girdle structure. The stainless is cost comparable, stonger, and will hold a nice finish.
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Rod Leonard
Robin
Robin, If I were you I would quickly remove your silicon from inside the cabin, all you do is create a dam and send the water though the deck top possibly doing a lot more damage to the deck around the base of mast. The previous owner of my boat tried the same thing and did some damage to the deck. Stop the water from the top not the bottom up.
Robin, If I were you I would quickly remove your silicon from inside the cabin, all you do is create a dam and send the water though the deck top possibly doing a lot more damage to the deck around the base of mast. The previous owner of my boat tried the same thing and did some damage to the deck. Stop the water from the top not the bottom up.
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Jim Oursler
Internal rot - regarding compression post
Hello to all Plugging the interior leak just compounds the problem.. Whenever the interior liner is patched, the water just runs somewhere else within the liner, causing more rot. The first thing to go is the internal rib spanning athwarthships, which is buried in the headliner. What you have is mast on 1/2 inch thick mast base. Mast base sits on 1/2 inch fiber glass. Then a 4 inch thick beam. Then 3/8 inch fiber glass head liner, then top of the compression post. So what goes on is a follows: The mast base is a flat plate.. stands to reason to support the mast. The plate sits directly on the deck fiberglass. Below the deck glass is the internal rib. The rib is 4-6 inches wide and thick. Then below the rib is the interior fiberglass headliner. The compression post is directly under the headliner. Trouble is that the mast base plate has about a 3 by 5 inch open area in the center, exposing top surface of deck. Through the deck a 1 inch diameter hole was drilled all the way down to the compression post to allow insertion of a 30 cent piece of PVC tubing. The tube was glued in place and the wires passed through the tube. So what goes wrong begins when water collects inside at base of mast. Remember it can either follow halyards, or internal wires, or just deck slosh. First, the PVC is not adequately bonded to the deck fiberglass. Whatever Hunter used was poorly bonded to the PVC. After a few years the goop lets go.. as happened in my case. Thus water collecting at the base leaks past sides of tube, where it can enter the sandwich, rotting first the rib and then below it the compression post. Also, water follows the wires from top of mast straight down through the tube(which is not full caulked inside well either. Water that slides past the outside of the tube will also run alongside the rib over to the starboard side (as all 34s list to starboard), where is runs out at the interior small light mounted at the bulkhead, or just rots out the forward most starboard port area in the main cabin. The compression post is a composite of pine with 1/2 inch overlay of pretty teak. The pine inside rots out. Evenutally, the reduced interior post area sags, and you may notice the 1x2 teak on forward side of compression post pushing up into the headliner. So, if damage is evident, the cure is only achieved by removing mast and compression post to asses damage, and then possibly even removing a section of the headliner to assess rib damage. Then, when putting it all back together, use 5200 with well prepped PVC, and put a loop in wires to eliminate straight water run from the top, and fill PVC with 5200. Also, go to the Photo forum to see how the job should be accomplished.
Hello to all Plugging the interior leak just compounds the problem.. Whenever the interior liner is patched, the water just runs somewhere else within the liner, causing more rot. The first thing to go is the internal rib spanning athwarthships, which is buried in the headliner. What you have is mast on 1/2 inch thick mast base. Mast base sits on 1/2 inch fiber glass. Then a 4 inch thick beam. Then 3/8 inch fiber glass head liner, then top of the compression post. So what goes on is a follows: The mast base is a flat plate.. stands to reason to support the mast. The plate sits directly on the deck fiberglass. Below the deck glass is the internal rib. The rib is 4-6 inches wide and thick. Then below the rib is the interior fiberglass headliner. The compression post is directly under the headliner. Trouble is that the mast base plate has about a 3 by 5 inch open area in the center, exposing top surface of deck. Through the deck a 1 inch diameter hole was drilled all the way down to the compression post to allow insertion of a 30 cent piece of PVC tubing. The tube was glued in place and the wires passed through the tube. So what goes wrong begins when water collects inside at base of mast. Remember it can either follow halyards, or internal wires, or just deck slosh. First, the PVC is not adequately bonded to the deck fiberglass. Whatever Hunter used was poorly bonded to the PVC. After a few years the goop lets go.. as happened in my case. Thus water collecting at the base leaks past sides of tube, where it can enter the sandwich, rotting first the rib and then below it the compression post. Also, water follows the wires from top of mast straight down through the tube(which is not full caulked inside well either. Water that slides past the outside of the tube will also run alongside the rib over to the starboard side (as all 34s list to starboard), where is runs out at the interior small light mounted at the bulkhead, or just rots out the forward most starboard port area in the main cabin. The compression post is a composite of pine with 1/2 inch overlay of pretty teak. The pine inside rots out. Evenutally, the reduced interior post area sags, and you may notice the 1x2 teak on forward side of compression post pushing up into the headliner. So, if damage is evident, the cure is only achieved by removing mast and compression post to asses damage, and then possibly even removing a section of the headliner to assess rib damage. Then, when putting it all back together, use 5200 with well prepped PVC, and put a loop in wires to eliminate straight water run from the top, and fill PVC with 5200. Also, go to the Photo forum to see how the job should be accomplished.
M
Mike Cummings
Leak
JUst checked mine this summer and its was fine. But before you go cutting and drilling I might make one point. You may just have to redo the sealent inside the tube and around the tube. It sounds like you caught it time before any damage was done. Take the time and remove the mast and dig out all the old sealent in the tube. Cover the area and let it dry out for a while so that if any residual water is in there you dont trap it. Then seal everthing again and restep the mast. Keep an eye on it and you may never have to do anything else. Mike Windswept (84 Hunter 34)
JUst checked mine this summer and its was fine. But before you go cutting and drilling I might make one point. You may just have to redo the sealent inside the tube and around the tube. It sounds like you caught it time before any damage was done. Take the time and remove the mast and dig out all the old sealent in the tube. Cover the area and let it dry out for a while so that if any residual water is in there you dont trap it. Then seal everthing again and restep the mast. Keep an eye on it and you may never have to do anything else. Mike Windswept (84 Hunter 34)
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