Leak through Mast step

[dianeb-sail]

Go this laser from a friend, and it leaks from the mast. On land, we put water in the mast tube and it drained right out the back. It can hold about .5 inch of water, the rest drains out. Here are some pix of the mast step from inside the boat (used a super bright light and a cell phone camera). Is the broken donut made of epoxy from the original construction? I've looked around this forum and it seems like this repair is reasonably common and and may require fiberglassing.
Any ideas on how to fix this without cutting an access hole in the deck or hull?
Thanks!

 

[ProATC]

You can look up "Laser Deck Removal" if you don't want to cut a hole in the deck or hull. Otherwise, you have to get in there somehow. Plenty of threads here to walk you through it, and plenty of people on hand here if you have any other questions. Good luck, easy job even with little to no experience, imo.

 

[Rob Hair]

Installing an access port is easy and useful for other things, like drying the insides because of the likely other leaks in what is probably an older boat.

 

[Rob Hair]

And, don't cut a hole in the hull to fix this!

The donut seems to be a substance much like Bondo auto body filler.

Definitely fix this asap. I wouldn't sail it until fixed. If the mast tube breaks free you will have a MUCH more difficult repair to do. You can find photos on this forum showing the mess resulting from the mast tube failing.

 

[dianeb-sail]

Thanks for the idea! I looked up access ports and I'm sure I could install one. Assuming you mean on the deck, which is flexible already.
On various threads here I see that people have removed the bondo-like stuff and glassed over the entire area. Would this need more than 1 access port to achieve?

 

[Rob Hair]

One port properly located is all you need. A search of this forum will give lots of details for this commonly needed repair.