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Question about ericson 27 mast

enickell

New Member
Hey folks. I own a 23 foot boat, and have been looking at ericson 27s as a major upgrade. I looked at one today, and it was in great shape. However, there was a little water leaking through the mast onto the post (mostly in the bathroom area). It looks to be a recent leak. There was a small ship in the gelcoat very close to the mast. The deck was in very solid condition around the mast. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem, and what kind of fix it is. On a related note, how is the mast put up/taken down? I did not see any fasteners on the outside or inside of the boat.

The seals on the hatches were also not in good shape. How hard is it to replace these?

If you guys could let me know what the problem is, and what the likely fix would be, I would very much appreciate it!


Sail on!
 

frick

Member III
Ericson 27

Hey folks. I own a 23 foot boat, and have been looking at ericson 27s as a major upgrade. I looked at one today, and it was in great shape. However, there was a little water leaking through the mast onto the post (mostly in the bathroom area). It looks to be a recent leak. There was a small ship in the gelcoat very close to the mast. The deck was in very solid condition around the mast. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem, and what kind of fix it is. On a related note, how is the mast put up/taken down? I did not see any fasteners on the outside or inside of the boat.

The seals on the hatches were also not in good shape. How hard is it to replace these?

If you guys could let me know what the problem is, and what the likely fix would be, I would very much appreciate it!


Sail on!


Here is my 2 cents...

The E27 should have a deck stepped Mast. Look for sign of Compression around the mast and under the mast.
Is their is leaking around he mast it might be around the Mast wires....

My hast is lowered into a Deck mounted mast-step that fits inside the mast. The Shrouds and stays are all that keeps them in place.

Often Ericsons had only one opening port light... a slider style light in the head. My leaked so bad I sealed the slider with silicon and he problem stopped. Also the original gaskets around the windows where a thin double sided thing. My all dried out on my 1971 E29 so I re-bedded them all with new gaskets. Time consuming but easy and cheap to fix.

Good luck
 

jarnold67

Member II
Hole under the mast step

When I did our overhaul of our E26, I had to replace the entire starboard bulkhead because of severe rot. While most of the rot was near the wall, and related to an improperly sealed fresh water deck fitting, I also had some water coming through the wiring chase under the mast step. If/when you unstep the mast (it sits in a bracket bolted to the deck and the mast is compressed (and held in place) by the standing rigging) give a good look to the wiring that runs up to your mast lights.

Here are some images of the bulkhead (as covered with luan, as exposed (ugh!), showing the slight rot at the mast step and finally the lack of any structural stability near the deck fill - gulp). The deck fill was even worse behind the teak trim - there was no contact between the fiberglass tabs and that wall.

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My fix to the wiring issue was to seal the opening with caulking after running new wiring. Attached is a photo showing the mast plate, mast fitting and rats nest of wires during the removal portion of the restoration.

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As an aside, my overhaul started when I removed the headliner to figure out why my mast lights didn't work...
 

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  • Deck Mast Step with wiring.jpg
    Deck Mast Step with wiring.jpg
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  • exposed bulkhead - 1.jpg
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  • mast step rot - 1.jpg
    mast step rot - 1.jpg
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  • covered bulkhead - 1.jpg
    covered bulkhead - 1.jpg
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  • deck fill rot - 1.jpg
    deck fill rot - 1.jpg
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bigd14

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Here is a pic showing the E27 mast step and one showing the riser pipe installed to prevent future leaks (sorry its not easily visible in the second photo). The lines are my effort to center the mast step after failing to properly record reference marks prior to painting!



 
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