Installing Mast Boot with No Mast Collar ?

[MikeTurner]

The foremast on my Lazyjack 32 schooner is leaking at the partners - lots of water running down the outside of the mast below deck in rain and heavy seas.

The mast is keel-stepped. The deck partners are sealed with caulk. I could see cracks in the old caulk; I've dug out the old caulk and re-caulked with Life Caulk but the leak persists.

I'd like to install a mast boot but there is no mast collar on deck. Where the mast passes through the deck there is a flat "pad" slightly higher than the rest of the deck; it looks similar to decks I've had on boats with deck-stepped masts. It's not high enough off the deck to serve as a base for a hose clamp or similar lower attachment for a mast boot.

Any suggestions for anything I could use to seal off the mast at the partners or create somthing that could serve as a collar for attachment of a boot? I've thought about mast boot tape but don't see how I would make the transition from the horizontal surface of the mast, to the vertical surface of the deck.

I'll also be checking the main mast as I think I have a similar problem - haven't seen any water running down the mast but I think it's being trapped in the overhead. The partners on deck at the main mast have a lot more caulk than did the foremast, which leads me to think the PO was trying to stop leaks there.

I don't want to drop the masts so would ask for suggestions I can try with the masts standing.

Thanks in advance.

Mike Turner
Lazyjack 32 schooner "Mary 'Lis"
Mobile Bay, AL

[svcambria]

There is a product called Spar Tite:

Spartite

which actually does work, albeit kinda expensive. Only saw one boat that had a problem with it, a BCC 32 - the mast/cabin roof space was wider at the bottom so the SparTite made a plug and made pulling the mast very difficult.
Sometimes that drip is from the cabin roof instead of the mast collar (or lack of collar).

Michael