Draining the mast.
All, I can only speak from the experience of creating a drain for my mast base. The E31 mast is deck stepped and over the preceding 11 years the mast was in place, it collected enough salt and fresh water that it turned the aluminum base into nasty almost loose chunks and white powder. I repainted the mast in 2006 and ordered another base from the manufacturer (Le Fiell, 800.451.5971-7). This time I drilled three 1/4" holes or scuppers through it at the aft, port and starboard locations. They were drilled from the inside of the lip near the bottom on a 45 degree angle that just broke through the outside of the base flush with the deck level. So when the mast was lowered over it (massive amounts of Tef-Gel applied to all faying surfaces at that time), a 1/4" gap in the flange can now be seen in all three locations that the mast sits just above. I can actually shove a stiff wire up in there, the thought being that if one or more got clogged, the wire could clear them. So far nothing has gotten in there but it'll be many more years before the mast comes off again for anyone to check to see if the scuppers prevented this cast aluminum base from going south. I had the base anodized by the way after drilling the holes. Probably none of this applies to the E38 but for the fact that there must be some sort of base the mast seats in. If it were me, I'd be tempted to come up with a similar series of scuppers in whatever fixture was down there. Hope this helps create fruit for innovation as it applies to your water collection problem, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA