Rich, it was quite a saga to stop the water leak! First I went up on the deck and looked for where the water could have possibly gotten under the mast?? there are 2 seams between the plates where it mounts (and all the blocks for sheets and halyards are attached). I put a couple large plastic bags up against the mast and duct taped them to the deck. Did the best I could to prevent rain from coming in off the deck, but had concern that it still might puddle where the lines feed out of the cockpit?! Then next rain it leaked just as bad. Then I removed the plastic, put silicone caulking around both of the deck plates and replaced the plastic with better "tightness". Also put plastic between the dodger and deck to keep water out of those two channels. Now the funny part. It rained again and about 5 gallons of water came in and filled a tub and bucket I had put on the floor and table under the mast. Why you might ask could this be possible?? Well when I was on the boat it began to rain, and I took off the little Velcro patches to see it was only coming from one source; a 1 inch conduit where all the electronic wiring comes down from the radar/lights/instruments on the mast. My conclusion was that this conduit must come from the top of the mast and I will need to go up there to fix the problem! So I called SailboatOwners.com to get their feedback. Turns out I should have called them sooner ((-8. The 1 inch conduit is only a few inches tall and goes through the two plates I have tried sealing. Typically it is tightly caulked when the boat is built. And in fact the Hunter Factory usually runs the wires back up slightly and zip ties them inside the mast, just above the deck. This allows the water (which always gets inside the mast since it is not sealed from outside rain or moisture) to drip to the deck plates and run out onto the deck, with the rest of the rain coming down. Obviously at this point it was quite embarrassing to learn I was just trapping the water and giving it no place to go but down into the cabin through the 1 inch conduit. The Sailboat Owners "coach" recommended I caulk the inside of the conduit from the bottom, after pushing the wires best I could up into the mast! So that is what I did next, and what do you know the leaking completely stopped during the next rain storm ((-8. It did take twice as long to remove the silicone as it did to put it down, but at least now I am ready to repair the water damage on the table and sole of my cabin. Hope this helps.