I know many of us have the issue of fresh water entering the bilge and it is often suspected to be coming down the mast. The other weekend while on board during a heavy downpour I witnessed this first hand water running down the inside of the mast. Now I know that there’s no way it’s coming down from the mast head or through the sheave ports unless it rains horizontally. So this got me thinking and my guess is rain water is running down the mast and entering where the spreader bars enter the mast as they are slightly angled upward and would capture the rain. So when I unstep at haul out this fall I’m going to look to silicone seal the spreader bars where they enter the mast. Comments?