Cal 34 Leak at Mast

I have rain water entering the cabin via the mast on my 1975 Cal 34 and would like to understand the most likely points of entry and how to correct the problem. I assume some water can enter at the top of the mast but it should be a small amount. I notice that there are small holes at the base of the mast that I assume are weep holes for any collected moisture. I have carefully sealed around the step plate but that has not had any effect. I have not yet removed the ceiling panels from the area to see what's what. I just got the boat put back together from other projects and want to sail her a bit between storm fronts. Does anyone have experience with this issue? A description of how water most commonly enters this area and what has been done to correct the issue will be most appreciated. Thanks, Michael

I do not have a boat anything like yours but I had a problem with water entering around the mast. Cost me $6k to fit it not because of the leak but because it rotted the oak mast step. Anyway, I have had my boat for 22 years and have tried everything you can mention to seal the area around the mast. What works is duct tape. Wrapped around the base and layered up until it seals the mast with the layers shingled up. Covered with Sunbrella to keep the sun off the tape. Nothing else worked. Cheapest of everything I tried as well. The sunbrella cover was designed on Google Sketchup. Drew it in 3-d and then used a plug-in to unfold it and made the pattern from that. I can answer questions if you are interested. Allen On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 10:51 AM, michaelboyte <mi… [at] geekboys.com> wrote: > > > I have rain water entering the cabin via the mast on my 1975 Cal 34 and > would like to understand the most likely points of entry and how to correct > the problem. > > I assume some water can enter at the top of the mast but it should be a > small amount. I notice that there are small holes at the base of the mast > that I assume are weep holes for any collected moisture. I have carefully > sealed around the step plate but that has not had any effect. I have not yet > removed the ceiling panels from the area to see what's what. I just got the > boat put back together from other projects and want to sail her a bit > between storm fronts. > > Does anyone have experience with this issue? A description of how water > most commonly enters this area and what has been done to correct the issue > will be most appreciated. > > Thanks, > > Michael > > >

Michael, I'm not that familiar with ALL of the different Cal 34 boats, but the ones that I have seen have a deck stepped mast, similar to my 29. The problems of water entry via the mast usually has to do with the wiring that passes through the deck inside the mast. Look inside the head or main salon for a wooden piece of trim that covers a run of wiring and also the coax for the vhf radio antenna. When the mast is installed it is critical to glop a lot of caulking in and around that wiring and make sure it seals before you finish seating the mast on the step. Making sure that those weep holes are open to drain the inevitable amounts of water that run down the inside of the mast is also important. You will find a lot of older deck stepped boats with main bulkhead rot from leaking wire pass-throughs. I ended up replacing my main bulkhead as a result of the prior owner letting the leak continue for years and years. A regular program of renewing caulking on chain-plates and through deck fittings is vital to protecting these good old Cal boats. Hope this helps...... Wilkie On Apr 10, 2011, at 10:51 AM, michaelboyte wrote: I have rain water entering the cabin via the mast on my 1975 Cal 34 and would like to understand the most likely points of entry and how to correct the problem. I assume some water can enter at the top of the mast but it should be a small amount. I notice that there are small holes at the base of the mast that I assume are weep holes for any collected moisture. I have carefully sealed around the step plate but that has not had any effect. I have not yet removed the ceiling panels from the area to see what's what. I just got the boat put back together from other projects and want to sail her a bit between storm fronts. Does anyone have experience with this issue? A description of how water most commonly enters this area and what has been done to correct the issue will be most appreciated. Thanks, Michael

Thanks Allen and Wilkie for the advice. I should have checked the weep holes yesterday when I was down at the boat. The leak is a relatively recent development so I am hopeful that I can address it now and avoid any damage. I had a design in mind similar to Allen's though I had not considered duct tape. My concern was in understanding the points of entry. It seems inevitable that water will get inside. Michael Boyte S/V Moonrise mi… [at] geekboys.com

My mast is keel stepped so what I was talking about was the boot that keeps the water from going down the opening in the cabin top. By the way, I tried that silicon tape at something like $50 a roll, tried caulking other products sold for the purpose, tried professionally made boots all siliconed in place. Only thing that worked on my box section mast is the duct tape. Allen On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 8:12 AM, michaelboyte <mi… [at] geekboys.com> wrote: > > > Thanks Allen and Wilkie for the advice. I should have checked the weep > holes yesterday when I was down at the boat. The leak is a relatively recent > development so I am hopeful that I can address it now and avoid any damage. > I had a design in mind similar to Allen's though I had not considered duct > tape. My concern was in understanding the points of entry. It seems > inevitable that water will get inside. > > Michael Boyte > S/V Moonrise > mi… [at] geekboys.com > > >