Orana 44: Water Ingress Around Mast

[LoudMusic]

Orana 44 owners (and similar) - have you had any water ingress around the mast protrusion in the salon? Our boat has the goofy wooden cover around that area so I can't even get a good look at where it's entering the salon, let alone where it's coming from on the exterior. Further, this wooden thing appears to be glued into place so I'm reluctant to yank on it for fear of ruining the piece.

With a borescope I was able to get in pretty far and nearly as I can tell it's coming out from under the glossy piece. But I can't see on the outside where it's getting INTO the glossy piece.

As usual, any help is appreciated.

[rmaher]

That is so unlike what I believe I have on my Orana (hull #2) that I would hope you could post some pics

[pstadt]

Loud Music and Rob, we have also been battling this seepage for a couple of years now, with no joy for a solution. We have JADE up on the hard for hurricane season and I just visited the boat on Sunday - if I hadn't already had other work lined up for this trip, I would have cut the aft piece of decorative wood out and started searching for the source.
Prior to haul-out, I had thought it might be somehow coming from the base of the mast on the exterior, so as a fast, last ditch attempt prior to departing the yard, I bought some of that spray on leak stuff advertised on TV (where the guy cuts the boat in half, then puts it together with the same product). Hey it was on sale at K-Mart, so I wasn't out a lot of money....for something that didn't solve the problem. Of course, now the base of the mast looks like crap....hope it comes off.
Next trip down, I will remove the wood around the base in the salon and start looking for a solution in earnest. That wood is starting to delaminate now, as I've drug my feet getting around to fixing the leak.
Keep the string alive if you find the source and better, if you have the solution!
Pat

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by pstadt

Loud Music and Rob, we have also been battling this seepage for a couple of years now, with no joy for a solution. We have JADE up on the hard for hurricane season and I just visited the boat on Sunday - if I hadn't already had other work lined up for this trip, I would have cut the aft piece of decorative wood out and started searching for the source.
Prior to haul-out, I had thought it might be somehow coming from the base of the mast on the exterior, so as a fast, last ditch attempt prior to departing the yard, I bought some of that spray on leak stuff advertised on TV (where the guy cuts the boat in half, then puts it together with the same product). Hey it was on sale at K-Mart, so I wasn't out a lot of money....for something that didn't solve the problem. Of course, now the base of the mast looks like crap....hope it comes off.
Next trip down, I will remove the wood around the base in the salon and start looking for a solution in earnest. That wood is starting to delaminate now, as I've drug my feet getting around to fixing the leak.
Keep the string alive if you find the source and better, if you have the solution!
Pat

Hey Pat that sounds like a great project. Depending on timing, boat location, etc, I'd be happy to come help and learn where our mutual problem exists. We are currently up in New Bern but will be headed south through October.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by rmaher

That is so unlike what I believe I have on my Orana (hull #2) that I would hope you could post some pics

Hi rmaher - you can see the wooden piece at the base of the mast in this boat listing. It's in the second picture.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/201...armaris/Turkey

[pstadt]

Loud Music - we have the same wooden arrangement as the boat you sent a link to. Ours is a 2011, hull #79. JADE is on the hard in Ft. Pierce, FL right now - haven't decided on winter plans just yet, but in any event, drop me a note when you get down this way.

Rob, can you post a pic of your mast base (enclosure) inside the salon? I'm curious what they first looked like in early production.

Thanks,

Pat

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by pstadt

Loud Music - we have the same wooden arrangement as the boat you sent a link to. Ours is a 2011, hull #79. JADE is on the hard in Ft. Pierce, FL right now - haven't decided on winter plans just yet, but in any event, drop me a note when you get down this way.

Rob, can you post a pic of your mast base (enclosure) inside the salon? I'm curious what they first looked like in early production.

Thanks,

Pat

This listing for a boat in Greece shows the area without the wooden arrangement around the mast.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/201...3102954/Greece

Looks fine to me. My concern with removing the wood, though, is that it seems glued in place. I'm worried removing it would result in other damages and bigger cosmetic repairs. I've rammed my USB boroscope in there and wasn't able to identify any bolts or screws holding it together.

[pstadt]

Wow. If our bases are just like those, with the wood facia glued around it, I'm wondering if the leak is just at the interface of the fiberglass deck and salon cap...in any event, I think I'll still be removing the wood to repair it.
I plan on taking a razor knife of some sort to sever the joint of the back piece and the side pieces and then pulling off the back piece (possibly destroying it in the process, but saving the sides). Change Orders are the offspring of "open and inspect" projects, so I'll play it by ear on the repair/replacement steps....

Pat

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by pstadt

Wow. If our bases are just like those, with the wood facia glued around it, I'm wondering if the leak is just at the interface of the fiberglass deck and salon cap...in any event, I think I'll still be removing the wood to repair it.
I plan on taking a razor knife of some sort to sever the joint of the back piece and the side pieces and then pulling off the back piece (possibly destroying it in the process, but saving the sides). Change Orders are the offspring of "open and inspect" projects, so I'll play it by ear on the repair/replacement steps....

Pat

Personally I'm not opposed to removing the wood and not replacing it. So long as the area can be cleaned and not an eye sore, the wood serves my boat no valued function.

When I had my boroscope in there on two occasions I tried to take useful pictures. These are taken from the perspective of starboard of the mast, looking forward. So you can see the overhang above in some pictures, and the ledge below in some pictures. There are stand-off blocks of wood stacked up and glued together and to the outer box. In the picture with the white plastic triangle your view is starboard aft corner of the wooden box looking straight down.

Oh, in the first picture I slipped a piece of card stock down in there so I could identify where the camera was inside the box. It's on the right side of the first picture and is not part of the box.

I get most of the seepage on the starboard side, next to the nav console, but also some port side when it's really raining buckets.

This whole area is also accessible from the outside through the forward deck locker, along with the underside of the mast foot.

[pstadt]

Thanks for the great pics!

Pat

[pstadt]

I finally pried the back piece off the mast base in the salon yesterday. Not only is it held in place to the other wood sections by screws (two on each side and 3 across the top), that entire four piece wooden arrangement is held to the mast base by some generous applications of very stiff silicone (perhaps 5200, that's what I'll call it anyway). After using a razor knife to separate the back piece from the sides and prying them apart a little, we used a long Ginsu knife to cut through the 5200, from each side. Once that was severed, we pried the board loose by pulling it away from the assembly by the bottom...ended up breaking off a portion of the top of that board due to it being held to the horizontal piece of wrap-around wood by three screws - but no damage to the remaining wood sections. It appears that this wooden assembly is put together in a shop (glued and screwed), then attached as a unit to the shell around the mast base by 5200 and some stand off blocks (which are screwed to the fiberglass shell).

All that said, I haven't yet been able to determine the source of the leak, but have cleaned the interior enough to do a water test at some future date and inspect it...and hopefully find the source and fix it. I'll take some pics and post what the interior looks like, now that it's exposed.

If anyone has had luck with a remedy, please share!

Pat

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by pstadt

I finally pried the back piece off the mast base in the salon yesterday. Not only is it held in place to the other wood sections by screws (two on each side and 3 across the top), that entire four piece wooden arrangement is held to the mast base by some generous applications of very stiff silicone (perhaps 5200, that's what I'll call it anyway). After using a razor knife to separate the back piece from the sides and prying them apart a little, we used a long Ginsu knife to cut through the 5200, from each side. Once that was severed, we pried the board loose by pulling it away from the assembly by the bottom...ended up breaking off a portion of the top of that board due to it being held to the horizontal piece of wrap-around wood by three screws - but no damage to the remaining wood sections. It appears that this wooden assembly is put together in a shop (glued and screwed), then attached as a unit to the shell around the mast base by 5200 and some stand off blocks (which are screwed to the fiberglass shell).

All that said, I haven't yet been able to determine the source of the leak, but have cleaned the interior enough to do a water test at some future date and inspect it...and hopefully find the source and fix it. I'll take some pics and post what the interior looks like, now that it's exposed.

If anyone has had luck with a remedy, please share!

Pat

Progress! Thanks for sharing your experiences and I'm looking forward to pictures.

Do you think you will replace the wood pieces or leave them off? On my boat I find them unattractive and honestly a little bit intrusive. They serve no functional purpose and get in my way.

[pstadt]

Michelle came up with the good idea to get a nice piece of wood or other material and have our boat's name carved into it and remount it, in place of the removed panel (which is just a piece of 3/8" plywood with a thin veneer).

I agree that this assembly has no purpose (although on ours, it does hide the wiring to a circulation fan we had installed during commissioning that is mounted near the overhead, just to starboard of centerline), but if we remove all of the wood, and then the standoff blocks (which are also screwed and glued to the fiberglass of the mast enclosure), I think it would leave too many marks, scrapes and other unsightliness that we'd want it covered up again.

I'll try and take some pics tomorrow and post tomorrow night.

Loud Music, are you on your way south yet?

Pat

[LeeV]

Is there any sort of consensus as to which years were affected? The Orana is one of the boats at the top of our list and I'm trying to keep track of issues that have consistently popped up.

Thanks!

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by pstadt

Michelle came up with the good idea to get a nice piece of wood or other material and have our boat's name carved into it and remount it, in place of the removed panel (which is just a piece of 3/8" plywood with a thin veneer).

I agree that this assembly has no purpose (although on ours, it does hide the wiring to a circulation fan we had installed during commissioning that is mounted near the overhead, just to starboard of centerline), but if we remove all of the wood, and then the standoff blocks (which are also screwed and glued to the fiberglass of the mast enclosure), I think it would leave too many marks, scrapes and other unsightliness that we'd want it covered up again.

I'll try and take some pics tomorrow and post tomorrow night.

Loud Music, are you on your way south yet?

Pat

We have started south - we are currently at Hilton Head.