I attempted to seal my mast with silicone and blue board foam and the foam dissolved to almost nothing. Is there a certain kind of foam and silicone to use? The silicone seemed to ooze everywhere, even when I tried to retain with plastic wrap. I read someone used a plastic cutting board or is the right foam better for bouyancy? Thanks Andrew
First; nothing floats better than air. Adding foam inside the mast actually makes it slightly less buoyant and while it does provide a degree of protection should your mast take on water, you run the risk of the foam trapping water inside that you can't get out. If you are going to seal your mast, just seal it using silicone on 3M 5200.
Are you trying to plug up some really large holes?
No tall blue foams are the same. Contact Phill Brander, he can tell you which types of foam to use. The foam I used was a cut off he send me so I don't really know what it was exactly but it was excellent for the job as it was a little bit rubbbery and would jam nicely in the mast.
Wouter
How do I contact Phil Brander? I am trying to plug the top of the mast, there was water trapped inside. The only way to get it out was to dig the silicone and white foam block out rendering the foam useless (pieces).
Why do they put a foam piece below above the internal downhaul inside the mast? Thanks Andrew
Phillbrander(at)bigpond.com
replace (at) with @
So if you turtle, your mast does not fill up with water making it impossible to right.
Once you seal the mast, you can take one of the four screws on the bottom of the mast, thread it, put an o ring on a new screw and use for a 'drain plug' should the mast fill again.
I did it on my I-20 and it worked great. (don't use 3m 5200, try sikaflex instead)
Sikaflex is what also used as sealant.
Wouter
Last weekend at Datchet we (hopefully) sealed Paul's Blade mast with Epoxy Foam.
You mix it up and then put it in and it expands to about 4x mix volume.
Hopefully Job's a goodun.
Wouter, I have seen a photo of your mast can you tell me is it Alloy or Carbon and what type is it, I have sent a e-mail to your yahoo adress not sure if it is your current adress?
regards Mark