Every boat I have owned has navigation lights wired though the bow rail and then directly through the deck under the bow rail flange. They all leak !

When I look at other boats they seem to be the same. The wire leaves the rail in open hole and water must fill the bow rail piping. The wire simply goes through the fibreglass deck sealed with Sikaflex. It seems very hard to seal the wiring exit in the top of the rail.

Is there a better way to do get wiring into the bow rail under the flange ? Is there a gland that fits under the flange perhaps ?

Andrew

Here are some shots :

Bedit Tape maybe. (Brutal-Mastic Tape) And put a drain hole near the bottom (of the tube) so the pulpit tube doesn't hold water.

www.pbase.com:443/mainecruising/rebedding_hardware&page=2

Or.....remove them from the bow rail and mount them on the side of the cabin trunk or on the bow topsides.

Stunning looking yacht Steve! I would just drill a small drain hole at the base.

Hi Andrew,
It's important that the wire exiting the pulpit has a 'drip loop'.
That is, it exits the pulpit in a downward direction then travels up into the device its connecting to thus forming a U shape.
regards,
allan

I sicka-flexed both holes at top of rail and at base no problems.

Use butyl tape. It is very forgiving and the best solution for sealing deck fittings, far better than sikaflex. Make a small drain hole as low as possible at the foot.
At the top where the wire emerges at the light, make sure it does so via the bottom of the tube, make a drip loop and seal it as much as possible. Oh, and check all over your pulpit to make sure there are no other holes.

If you do all that, you'll be ok until you bury the bow in green water!

Cheers, Graeme

Thanks for the suggestions which I will use.

In this case it is a reasonable job to remove the bow rail, re-drill, remove water damaged core, dry out, inject epoxy, re-wire, re-seal, new bolts etc. I wanted to be sure that it doesn’t leak again. My current setup fails on two counts : no hole to let he water out at the bottom and no loop at the top (see below).




I have had quite a bit of success with Butyl and might order the fancy stuff from the states for this job.

As an aside, I found that a big blob of Butyl covered by an old cut up credit card makes an excellent temporary water proof deck patch. Providing all the surfaces were cleaned with acetone, it even holds up to the foot traffic of clumsy crew.

Hi Andrew,
Looking at the photo, to me, the solution is simple.

1) Remove all the stuff surrounding the cable exiting the pulpit.

2) Set the cable so that it exits the pulpit in a downward direction, then travels upward to the light.

3) Using Self Amalgamating Tape, beginning at the lowest point of the cable, tape it to the pulpit in an UPWARD direction past the point where it exits the pulpit. You tape in an upward direction so that each upper layer of tape overlaps the lower so that water will not penetrate between layers of the tape.

Unless there are other points where water is getting into the pulpit, this is all you need to do to solve your problem.

regards,
allan

Select to expand quote

Datawiz said..
Hi Andrew,
Looking at the photo, to me, the solution is simple.

1) Remove all the stuff surrounding the cable exiting the pulpit.

2) Set the cable so that it exits the pulpit in a downward direction, then travels upward to the light.

3) Using Self Amalgamating Tape, beginning at the lowest point of the cable, tape it to the pulpit in an UPWARD direction past the point where it exits the pulpit. You tape in an upward direction so that each upper layer of tape overlaps the lower so that water will not penetrate between layers of the tape.

Unless there are other points where water is getting into the pulpit, this is all you need to do to solve your problem.

regards,
allan

Good advice, but be careful the wire isn't bent too sharply over the edge of the hole. Maybe slip a piece of split insulation over the wire to prevent chafe.

Select to expand quote

wongaga said..

Datawiz said..
Hi Andrew,
Looking at the photo, to me, the solution is simple.

1) Remove all the stuff surrounding the cable exiting the pulpit.

2) Set the cable so that it exits the pulpit in a downward direction, then travels upward to the light.

3) Using Self Amalgamating Tape, beginning at the lowest point of the cable, tape it to the pulpit in an UPWARD direction past the point where it exits the pulpit. You tape in an upward direction so that each upper layer of tape overlaps the lower so that water will not penetrate between layers of the tape.

Unless there are other points where water is getting into the pulpit, this is all you need to do to solve your problem.

regards,
allan

Good advice, but be careful the wire isn't bent too sharply over the edge of the hole. Maybe slip a piece of split insulation over the wire to prevent chafe.

Thanks Wongaga, forgot to cover that....