water intrusion

[Repawn]

Hi all,

I know that one of my summer projects involves the rebedding of all hardware on the boat - but I was wondering if there is any primary areas that leak on these boats. 
Despite the winter cover still on the boat I am filling my bilge (granted we just received like 6 inches of rain in 48 hours) every week or so.  I suspect the mast is a major player. At some point in this poor boats history someone let loose with tubes of household silicone- I am very much afraid I am going to find it under every piece of hardware.

[SVJourney]

Mast for sure.  I think I had every stanchion base leak at one point.

[Jordan]

On Encantado, I know that the starboard grab rail on deck (the one that connects to the grab rail over the starboard settee) leaks a little when it rains. Not a huge deal, but reseating that is on my list. Currently I just have a towel wrapped around it inside, and that seems to prevent anything really bad from happening. Hatch in the v-berth leaks a bit too. I want to reseat all of my stanchions, but none of them actually leak as of yet.

[Repawn]

Thanks - any thoughts on how best to manage the mast?  Spartite?  I do know the mast boot is shot so I plan on replacing that this month.
I hope to get the winter cover off this weekend - we can only go to the yard by appointment now - once it is back in the water i will be at a dock much closer - but it sometimes feels like there are a million things to do before getting her in the water and sailing her to her new home. 

[S/V Deo Volente]

I have a vinyl "wedge" that wraps around the mast, then I wrap it with an inner tube cut to fit, clamp it top and bottom and glue the seam. I stitched a canvas boot to cover it for UV protection and cosmetics. Of course some water will come in from mast openings.

[Dale Tanski]

Spartite is not designed to seal the mast to deck joint.  It is designed and installed to keep the mast from moving in the collar.
In fact if you do not apply a release agent to the mast during the installation of the spartite, the spar will not come out of the boat. We pull many masts with the release agent and even then it is scary.  The application of the release agent breaks the bond of the Spartite to the spar thus also allowing water to enter. 
There used to be a great company called Mastboot that would custom make a white neoprene boot with a velcro closer strip for your boat. They were an excellent product but unfortunately they are no longer in business.
The factory used silicone to bed much of the deck hardware on the boat. As long as it is a marine rated product (basically contains sunscreen) it works fine. I pulled hardware off that was bedded for 40 years and the bedding looked as good as new. 
The areas where the stanchions are mounted, are not cored so any leakage there isn't a problem only an annoyance.  The hand rails are another issue.  A leak there means water is getting into the core and that can be fatal to the deck structure.  That should be your highest priority.
Dale
Maruska