IS a Leaky mast Ok with a Float?

After seeing several posts about leaky masts and turtling, I checked out the mast on my '84 H16. I knew when I bought it that it had some water rattling around in the head but it doesn't leak out no matter how I spin the mast over to see if the head will drip anywhere. It does drain out of the base when I lower it to the ground to try to drain so I'm assuming the head is sealed OK, the base is definately leaky with a few loose rivets. I plan on putting a Bob on the mast just for peace of mind while I learn, so will that be sufficient to keep it from turtling? How reliable is a float?

I plan on fixing the suspect rivets but wasn't planning on taking them all out, pulling the mast base off unless its vital.

What do you think?

Thanks for all the help with my other dumb questions BTW!

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'81 H16 yellow hulls

Take the mast on its own in the water and watch for bubbles, mark em and silicone them - Bob or no Bob always nice to know you have a well sealed mast my freind - PS did you get the email ref May 15th?

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1985 Prindle 16

Yes, I got your email, thanks for the invite but I'm heading out of town that week for a landsailing event.

Thanks!

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'81 H16 yellow hulls

All cool, we will be doing more hopefully this year, but still go ahead and soak test that mast an ounce of prevention and all that

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1985 Prindle 16

The answer is no, a bob is not a guaruntee, but it helps and will prevent a lot of turtle situations. It is still possible to turtle the boat.

Last summer my husband and daughter mananged to turtle the boat with a Hobie Baby Bob on it. the mast evidently was not sealed and it took on water making the boat extremely difficult to right. They needed the assistance of other boaters to get it back up. We plan to fix that leaky mast before summer.