Forums, Mast, Rigging and Sails, Mast boot.

doug at 20/11/2013 11:02:25
Force 4 do a vinyl mast boot that can be cut down to fit. Has anyone tried one? What do you think?

The other approach is using the wide self amalgamating tape sold for the purpose – Mastboot Rubbaweld. The big advantage of this is that it can be put in place/repaired with the mast in the boat. Have you used it?

Thanks

waratah912 at 20/11/2013 21:15:49
The self amalgamating tape works well, especially if you have a leak and no plans to unstep the mast! Jeremy will sell you a collar that is a good fit with no butchery, but you can buy quite a few rolls of tape for that price!

admin at 21/11/2013 13:02:30
I have used the wide self-amalgamating tape on a previous boat and will probably have to do so on the Co32 shortly as I forgot to replace the boot when the mast was out last winter (DOH!).
The tape works fine but is not as abrasion resistant as a proper boot, I found I had to patch it with additional self-amalgamating tape after a couple of seasons.

rob at 11/12/2013 16:19:44
Hi,

I had an issue finding a collar that fits the size of the mast and decided to make one myself which turned out really well. Biggest problem is finding the right rubber or neoprene. I found mine in a local shop in the netherlands selling neoprene and rubber products for the industry. They supplied me with a reinforced approx 1,5 mm thick material which was flexible enough to flex around the mast after gluing it around the mast. Shape you have to determine with for example a paper template ( looks like a banana) . I glued the rubber with Super glue from loctite or Bison. For a neoprene collar you could use special Neoprene glue which you normally use to repair your wetsuit.

The nicest wat to assemble the collar to the mast is to mount it inside out and upside down first. Then mount a large jubilee clamp on the lower end and pull the collar over the clamp . After mounting the lower end of the collar to the deck you fill the area between the collar and the mast with sikaflex to ensure a waterproof solution.

reading back I realize this is hard to understand without pictures but if interested I can send some pictures to make it more clear. The biggest advantage of this solution is that you could replace your collar with the mast up and it looks very nice and smooth.

Regards Rob

rob at 11/12/2013 16:27:27

does not tell the whole story but explains about the inside out and upside down
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?58724-Mast-Boot

Simon Begley at 12/12/2013 10:48:25
They’re not cheap, but the custom made boots JR supplies are excellent. We’ve had no leaks in 5 years and they don’t need any sikaflex!

The mast needs to be out to fit them unfortunately.

rob at 12/12/2013 11:11:33
not to misunderstand, the sikaflex is only used on top of the boot for mainly esthetic reasons to fill the space between the mast and the boot with a little fillet of sikaflex after folding it over the clip ( see picture on the right)

v

doug at 13/12/2013 20:12:16
I like that idea rob and hope to use it.

I bought the vinyl one from Force 4, it looks pretty feeble but it may be stronger than it seems. I will report back.
Edited: doug on 2013-12-13 20:13:22

doug at 15/11/2014 16:37:33
Here it is, I did fold the top over:

]DSCF0445 by doug748, on Flickr

But, with effort, I could have fitted it more neatly..

However it has worked ok this season and is cheap enough[IMG
Edited: doug on 2014-11-15 16:39:02

Kemah at 21/11/2014 08:24:28
Hi Doug,

That looks like it, very nice on the top end folding it over. What you see at your picture is that at the lower end the boot is a little bit too big ( that’s why the fold). This is the reason that I made mine from scratch with the right dimensions. I measured the deckring and the mast diameter and made the boot a little bit smaller so I could stretch it over . I have a bit of a problem inserting pictures in this forum so I cannot show you the result. How did you insert the picture?

doug at 22/11/2014 17:32:24
Hello Kemah,

I always forget but this is it, I think:

You need to load your photo onto a photo site – I use Flickr – and grab the link from your photo on that site. It will look something like this:

https://flic.kr/p/pMkyR8

In your reply on this site, click on the small picture of a tree (insert image) and a box will appear. Delete the prompt: http:// and insert your link…..

This should do it – if not, I have forgotten again and apologise!

If you get it wrong you can always edit your post until you hit on the right formula.