leaking mast

what is the best way to drain the mast and then prevent it from further leaking when the boat is stored with the mast upright and in the weather?

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HobieCat17

are you saying that your mast is holding water when upright?

You need to find the leak and repair it now NO HOBIE MAST should have any water in it Check all rivets and fittings on the mast and repair
Buy your rivets from a dealer they will make sure that you get the correct ones Do not buy at Lowes or Home Depot
Check the repair forums or ask a dealer how to make the fix
I use the hobie rivets and place silicone on these and around fittings
One can never be to careful
Gary

To find the leak, drain the water and to plug the mast.

Drill out one of the rivits at the bottom of the mast (i.e., holding the mast to the base, if one is loose choose that one). With the mast in a near vertical position pump air into the drilled out rivit hole (a bicycle type pump or raft inflator will do) with the hole being at the lowest point. When you remove the pump the slight pressure should drive out any water in the mast. Once the water is out repressureize the mast (doesn't have to be much) and check all rivits and joints for leaks with soapy water (look for bubbles). Mark all you find. Clean off soap and dry. Now for the hard part, you need to draw a vaccum on the mast through the drilled out rivit hole (a shop vac with the hose taped into place should work). With the vac ON squirt a little waterproof glue (something not too viscus) in the areas you detected a leak, then turn off the vac. The idea is to get the vac to draw the glue into the seam area of the leak so it isn't just a surface repair. Wipe off excess glue, let dry. then re-test and repeat vac sealing as necessary. When no leaks detected, insert new rivit into hole using a rivit casing (a thin metal jacket that the rivit fits into that creates a seal. You can buy them from Hobie or Murrays). If it turns out all the leaks are from rivits then just drill them out and replace with cased rivits. good luck

Except that all you'll tap into is the space between the mast base and the foam plug at the bottom of the mast.

There are foam plugs at the ends of mast. You need to find out if the water is in the ends (pretty much immobile) or in the main part of the mast (will run from one end to the other when you tilt the mast back and forth - you can hear/feel it).

If it's in the middle, you need to create a drain hole for it, either by removing a rivet (jib halyard turning block) or drilling a small drain hole. You can plug the drain hole with a pan head self tapping screw and a dab of silicone seal.

thanks for all of the speedy help!!

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HobieCat17

Good point, I forgot about the plug in the bottom To avoid putting an extra hole in the mast you could drill out the upper most rivit on the down haul cleat (if you have a H17). This should be above the plug. The base plug in my mast was just a few inches above the base (I had to replace the mast base after breaking off one of the mast step pin keeper rings).