New mast boot in situ?

[John B 106]

Yup.. the dreaded leak around the mast issue. I'm not pulling the mast in the forseeable future. Its the usual alloy mast in a collar and probably once had a boot on it.

What are people doing for a watertight seal there in that situation.

It has a rubber ring and some flexible goo between the mast and the collar and what looks like a tape of some sort ( which has broken down and allowed the leak).

I'm thinking I'll renew the goo with a passive / removable product,bring it up to a watershed sort of shoulder, but I need something to cover that and make the collar to mast boot from. Some sort of rubberised fabric contact adhesive to itself plus self amagamating tape?

[wheels 543]

There is a purpose made goop that your pour in and it flows around the Mast step and then cures to a flexible seal.

For the selfamalgamating tape, make sure you use that new Silicon one. Magic stuff and UV resistant and really strong. About $20-23 per roll.

[John B 106]

Do you mean the rescue tape wheels? I can't find it anywhere , their website is well , useless.

I think I've seen it at a chandler but it was only 25mm wide and sold in 3 m lengths so I rejected that as an option.

[SloopJohnB 322]

Try the electrical wholesalers.

[John B 106]

Good idea, I'll do that tomorrow.

So far I've found 3m extreme sealing tape. 50mm wide and about 10 metres roll( from memory).Translucent, self amalgamating and as the name suggests will take exposure to extreme weather conditions. No UV info but it is paintable.

[wheels 543]

That sounds interesting. How much and where from??

Yeah the recue tape is what I was thinking. Someone sells it on trademe for $23/roll I think. But yeah it is only 25mm ruffly wide and I imagine 3M would be about it.

Electrical wholesalers have never heard of it, so the importer should get onto them.

Electrical Wholesalers do have another pour in type product we use to pour around cables to seal them up. It is a two pot stuff that cures flexible. But once it will adhere maybe a little too well for you perhaps.

[Guest]

ok... there is a mast boot tape out there.... it's 100-150mm wide can't member exactly it's hard to find... pretty sure it's done by rubber mark used to sell it at sailors corner it was over by the sail repair tapes but could have been moved.... if in there it's sold by the same supplier that does the strip pack non slip foam stik on patches it can be ordered!!

[Murky 1]

Keep us posted John B, I am interested in this one too.

[John B 106]

I'm pretty impressed by the stuff from an application point of view. Cost was $46.00 10m roll. Its 50mm wide and quite thick( maybe 2mm or a bit less. Works like normal self amalgamating tape in that you peel off backing, stretch it and it takes on the shape/ differing radius as you wrap.

4 wraps right around and it looks white.

I'll see how it stands up ,but it seems like it'll be fine at this stage.

[PaulR 3]

Have you considered the white shrink wrapping that some boat yards are using to make temporary sheds over a boat. It seems to sit fine, even over the sharp ends of scaffolding pipes.

 

As an outer coating, it could be ideal.

 

Cut, wrap and heat gun shrink it tight!!

 

Get a real industrial heat gun, knot a mamby pamby hair dryier

[John B 106]

It did occur to me as it happens Paul, when I was thinking about some sort of additional UV protection for a tape solution. But I think I'll let this stuff be for a while .. it ended up being a lot tougher as a product than I expected. I might even paint it, I have some trim work to do in spring.

I used my heat gun yesterday afternoon to ensure it was all dry.

 

[Murky 1]

Nice job - I'm sold.

[Grinna 2]

Just a random thought, but with all those bolt holes in the mast at the same height all regularly spaced like that ..... isn't that a case of "tear off at the dotted line"???

[PaulR 3]

Looks great and well done.

 

Now we need a poll for colours.

 

Vivid purple polka dots on a lime green base would be interesting and be a unique identification feature

[John B 106]

Just a random thought, but with all those bolt holes in the mast at the same height all regularly spaced like that ..... isn't that a case of "tear off at the dotted line"???

Not ideal really is it, I hate seeing wooden masts with copper rubbing patches or leathered sections tacked on for that very reason . However it's a real tree trunk of a stick and seems to have done ok over the last um..35 odd years.

 

Murky , I bought it at Ullrich, its called extreme sealing tape 4412N

 

data page ( PDF)

 

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebse ... 6E666666--

[Murky 1]

You are a good man. Photos + product name, specs and pricing and supplier + data sheet = the new minimum standard for Tech Talk.

[Murky 1]

Old thread on mast-related sealants while we are on the subject:

 

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12749&p=130542

[Guest]

I've sucsessfully used a product called (if i remember right)

Darum 195, it's a single pot 'rubber' paint used for sealing gutters etc, just paint it on; 3 coats gives a good thickness. UV stable, streaches by 300% if i remember, got it from bunnings Whangerei, $60/tin. there is also a bridging tape available , although i just used the old perished tyre innertube that was there and painted over the lot +20mm top n bottom.

[khayyam 71]

john b, how's your solution holding up? it looks like the way to go.

[John B 106]

Dry as a wooden god in there K. Its the ducks nuts so far.