The foot is bolted onto the top of my cabin, just to eliminate moisture from getting in thereSorry, can’t help but I am curious - why would it be necessary to caulk “between the foot and the hull”?
Thanks for the clarification. You confused me with the "hull" description of where the mast foot rests.The foot is bolted onto the top of my cabin, just to eliminate moisture from getting in there
I'm pretty green when it comes to sailing verbiage, my newport 17 is about as bare bones as they come so no fancy wiring in place for anything like that. I assume mast feet are all pretty similar, the bottom portion of the bracket is bolted and caulked to prevent anything coming in through into the cabin, the top portion that connects to the bottom of the mast is just bolted.Thanks for the clarification. You confused me with the "hull" description of where the mast foot rests.
But that begs another question - why caulk at the mast step on deck? Wouldn't that serve only to trap precipitation into the mast preventing it from draining? And if you have an wires (coax or electrical) through the mast step, doesn't that exacerbate any leaks at the mast step into the boat?
YoI've had mine on and off a couple of times. I use 3M 5200 marine sealant and it seems to work perfectly. You'll need a little heat to get it off next time but, in the meantime, it's bullet proof.
Make sure you seal the tube well when you're done. It's expensive and you don't want it to dry out!