Help find some information

[Steve Wall]

Hey everyone,

I have been searching this site, using the search tool as well as using google to search and I'm having trouble getting the information that I'm looking for.

I have a few leaks on my 32-2 and I was wondering how the electrical penetrates the cabin top and goes into the mast. Not sure how likely this is to leak.

Anyone worked on the part of their boat? Was it leaking? Are there sealants/gaskets that can fail?

Thank for the help.

Steve

 

[lnill]

On my 38-200 the wiring goes behind the sail track until it gets to the mast boot. My electric used to then exit to a terminal strip under the headliner ( maybe the way yours is now?) and only the instrument wiring went through a hole in the mast and on down to the base. When I refinished my mast I put an access hole with a cover on it and routed everything to the mast base. This meant I hand to re wire all the mast lights which was fine with me....slowly re wiring the entire boat anyway is a good idea. The original wiring was sloppy on these boats

Still, there are plenty of other ways for water to come in. Is the water getting in through your mast boot or just down the interior into the bilge?

 

[Emerald]

I can't remember if you are deck stepped or not. Are you? If so, check out my site here for a quick overview of stuff you can do - you will need to pull the mast, but there's often a lot of mast maintenance that can/ought to be done as part of this project, so it's not as bad as it might sound.

On my prior E-27:

http://home.comcast.net/~ericson-yachts/standpipe/standpipe.html

and then on my current E-31 - this is from a bigger project of recoring the deck under the step:

http://home.comcast.net/~independence31/core/step8.html

Hope this helps.

 

[PDX]

If your boat is a 32-2 (not a 32-3) it has a deck stepped mast with a compression beam underneath the cabintop supporting the mast assembly. Under the compression beam is a fiberglass headliner. On my boat, which had identical structure, there was an aluminum shoe bolted through the deck, that functioned as a mast step. This is shown in both of Emerald's pictures. While Emerald fashioned a standpipe for wire penetration, factory there was nothing but holes drilled through the shoe. Mine had caulking around where the wires penetrated the holes in the shoe. I don't know whether the caulk was factory or added later. In any event, there was no way for water to exit the mast internally without doing damage. There were a couple small weep holes in the base of the mast through which water collecting down the mast could exit onto the cabintop.

The wires on my boat penetrated the compression beam and continued athwartships under the headliner until they reached the hull/deck area. There they exited the headliner and continued aft to the instruments.

 

[Cory B]

I rebuilt the mast step on our old 32-2 way-back-when (same time I fixed the compression post). As I recall, it was pretty much as PDX and Emerald described. Ours had no caulking, nor any standpipe, nor weep-holes when I first dug into it. The water following the wires down had started to damage the wood in the mast step.

Unless your mast has been modified, it should have external halyards and be "mostly" sealed. Our 35-3 with internal halyards and all that floods by comparison.

 

[Steve Wall]

That's a bit to think about.

Thanks for the links and thoughts.

I guess I don't know right now if the boot is leaking or not. I will have to plan on pulling the mast and checking it out.

My spreader lights are currently not working and though they likely just need new bulbs, it might be a good idea to rewire the whole mast as many have done. Also eliminating leaking by the mod as suggested. I like the aluminum tube idea. Yet more work but then it was a project when I bought it.

Also, in chasing the leaks I have many more obvious culprits such as the windows and hatches that I know leak as well but this helps me to plan my future projects.

(Hope I don't find any core problems. Nothing so far! -crossing fingers )