My Edson pedestal has a 1" grab bar that carries the wiring from an instrument pod down through the deck and I have not been able to seal it up. Any suggestions on how to stop the leak?
Sealing pedistal grab bar base
- Thread starter Hayden Watson
- Start date
I did the same thing but jambed a bunch up and around the wires inside the tube then filled the cup mounted to the floor. Forced the tubes into the cups and it’s all good.
That was the same the thing I tried with the Bed-it. This is the only place I have ever had had a Bed-it failure. I am thinking about filling the bottom of the tube and the socket with 4200 and drilling a drainage hole above that point. Of course I cannot do that until after I get my new NMEA 2000 backbone installed.
Your drain/weep hole needs to be at the lowest point. Otherwise you just create place for water to pool and rust out the metal.
I am having an issue imagining the structure. I bolted down my binnacle guard to the deck. Used fresh bed-it to seal the bolt holes and deck fittings. No leaks for 5 years.
Had similar problem, and guessed that the water was coming between the tube and fitting, not inside the tube itself. I completely coated the tube/fitting joint with LifeCaulk, and it seems to have stopped the leak. That said, the leak would be above aft-cabin headliner, so we really never know.
Here is a photo of the connection (sister ship). The base is a 2-bolt nylon base socket that the bar slides down into. There is a ¾"ø hole through the deck under the base for the nav-pod wires to pass through and that is were the water gets into the boat. The most recent effort involved rebedding the base with Bed-it between the base and floor. Then wrapped Bed-it around the wires until the mess was bigger than the diameter of the socket and then stuffed it into the socket. The bar was then wrapped with Bed-it and instated into the gob of butyl in the socket and trimmed the excess off with a plastic razorblade. It leaked.
I then stretched some more butyl around the socket/rod joint and pressed it into a fillet and made sure that it was tightly sealed to both in the fall after the last cruise and that stopped most of the drips but is not a long term solution.
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We did not realize that it had been leaking for years because it is under the cockpit floor in the quarter berth and we keep closed cell foam seat cushions back there. They are never used when it is raining and would always be dry when we used them on sunny days.
We found the problem when we rebuilt all of the cushions in the boat. We had planned to reuse the foam from the quarter berth because it just dosn's get used much. When we pulled off the old covers we found that the cushions were very nasty inside and replaced them all. Since then, we have always kept a cookie sheet under the wires to catch the drips but that is not a long-term solution.
We found the problem when we rebuilt all of the cushions in the boat. We had planned to reuse the foam from the quarter berth because it just dosn's get used much. When we pulled off the old covers we found that the cushions were very nasty inside and replaced them all. Since then, we have always kept a cookie sheet under the wires to catch the drips but that is not a long-term solution.
It sounds like you’re expecting water to be in the pedestal guard and are trying to prevent it from entering the boat.
I would focus on preventing water from entering the guard. Then sealing the guard at the base.
When installing my SeaTalkng backbone in the guard and instruments in the pod I sealed the pod to the guard. I also put a drip loop in the cable from the chart plotter before it entered the guard and sealed around the entry hole hole as well.
At the base I put sealant in the base foot so the guard settled into sealant. Then put a fillet around the guard and base.
I did this to prevent water from running down the outside of the guard into the base and into the boat through the wire entry hole. As I didn’t/don’t expect water to run down the wires I didn’t seal around them where they enter the deck.
By not sealing the wires I was able to push the slack into the boat as I installed the guard into the base.
I only used butyl tape.
My only leak into the quarter berth is from the opening port under the cockpit bench. It will drip occasionally when there are heavy rains from the right direction. I need to keep the gasket very clean.
I would focus on preventing water from entering the guard. Then sealing the guard at the base.
When installing my SeaTalkng backbone in the guard and instruments in the pod I sealed the pod to the guard. I also put a drip loop in the cable from the chart plotter before it entered the guard and sealed around the entry hole hole as well.
At the base I put sealant in the base foot so the guard settled into sealant. Then put a fillet around the guard and base.
I did this to prevent water from running down the outside of the guard into the base and into the boat through the wire entry hole. As I didn’t/don’t expect water to run down the wires I didn’t seal around them where they enter the deck.
By not sealing the wires I was able to push the slack into the boat as I installed the guard into the base.
I only used butyl tape.
My only leak into the quarter berth is from the opening port under the cockpit bench. It will drip occasionally when there are heavy rains from the right direction. I need to keep the gasket very clean.
The edges of the hole is sealed and the core is dry so that is not a problem. The water is just running down the wires and dripping into the quarterberth.