keeping mast receiver dry

anyone have a good idea for keeping rain out of mast receiver. waiting for the week-end rains to let off so i can go sailing and notice that my mast receiver is full of rainwater. anyone have a good idea for preventing this?

In the link below you will find a pic showing a pool noodle placed in the mast receiver. Will also protect the ball bearing balls.

viewtopic.php?f=75&t=12356&p=68770

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Bo Karlberg
Taby
Sweden
Sail Tandem Island No P1787 in the Stockholm Archipelago (some 40,000 islands and rocks)

When I trailer AI's or always my TI, I carry a flexible sponge with a leash on it. I push the sponge down the mast hole with a 1/2 a paddle shaft while holding onto the leash 2-3 times to sponge out the cup.

My TI's cover has waterproof material over the areas of the mast cup and the 2 molded rod holders to keep other water out. Maybe try bungee, leash or tape some waterproof material over the same spots?

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006

The pool noodle might stop some rainwater getting in but I doubt it would keep the receiver dry as there is a big gap under the collar. The noodle's use was to prevent the balls from falling out.
Water in the receiver is an ongoing problem -be it rainwater or wave splash. On our recent Sydney Harbour get together I was impressed with a solution that either Chris or Dave, I think, (I can't remember exactly who) had implemented.
It involved drilling a hole in the receiver and fitting a short length of hose that ended with a tap that could be accessed from the front hatch. At the end of the day just drain out the few cups of water that fill up the receiver. Much easier than tipping the hull on its side!

Must have been Dave, Stringy. Sounds like a good idea if you are trailering the boat, but if you are car-topping and have to remove the akas anyway, it's no problem at all to roll the hull over. I do it anyway, since I carry the boat inverted and don't want salt water dripping on the car (from any part of the hull).
If the mast well is filling while the boat is being stored outdoors, two obvious solutions are to either store the hull inverted or use a tarpaulin, which will also protect the boat from the sun and keep out dirt and leaves.

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Agreed Chrisj.

I think it was Chris?? -one of Davew's sailing partners (he had the outboard that day as he had motored a fair way down Middle Harbour to meet us at Balmoral.)

Anyone no where I can buy a pool noodle that isn't hollow in the center? Ever since I saw the pool noodle used to hold the bearings in over a year ago I've been looking at pool noodles and they are all hollow in the middle which would allow water in.

I live in NE Florida, own a pool, and have looked in a lot of pool stores.

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Jerry D.
St. Johns, Florida
2010 TI
2008 AI

hooray for boka1942 and his idea of the pool noodle. i had to shave down the one end but once that was done it slipped in and went to the bottom of the receiver. next thing was to cut it off to the desired height and it was done and ready for use. my apologies boka, the only color i had was flourescent green and everyone knows that won't match anything - but i will keep my eyes open for a red one.
the noodle does have a hollow in the middle that needs to be attended to as dosjers states, but i am sure that a solution to that smaller problem will be found.
thanks, boka1942.

Hi wallyworldmudhen,
The pool noodle was not really my idea I only remembered seeing the page I referred to. I hope you will find some other colour and maybe a noodle without a hole in the middle. I am on the look out for noodles myself.

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Bo Karlberg
Taby
Sweden
Sail Tandem Island No P1787 in the Stockholm Archipelago (some 40,000 islands and rocks)