Sealing a leaky mast/comptipby By Tami SheltonMy mast took a little water when it rained, and what seemed to happen is that the rain water ran down the mast and dripped in thru the shoulder where the comptip meets the aluminum. Now if you're really intrepid, you can drill out the tang rivets, heat up the alum. part so the epoxy melts, take 'em apart, put in new epoxy... you get the picture. Screw that. Just put a little bead of silicone around the meet between tip and extrusion and push the bead flat into the little gap where they meet. Probably also a good idea, tho, to go ahead and drill out the rivets at the base and reseal that, when the base is off look inside the extrusion, you'll see a foam plug. Take that out, and silicone around that to seal it, then clean off the base real good and put silicone on its shoulder, slip it back in, and squeeze silicone around the rivets as you rerivet the base. It probably won't be leaking at the top of the mast, (if you have a tip) since the tip is filled with foam, but if you want, take that off too and reseal. Just make sure when you take off the base that you let the mast dry out inside as any dampness in the extrusion part will cause corrosion inside as it isn't anodized in there. Back to Tech Tips |