My BCC28 had not had its mast removed for many years. Last fall we removed it because we have to at our club. There were no chalks, just a white material that looked like sikaflex or some other sealant. It took almost an hour to remove this material.
Any suggestions for replacement this spring? I see there is a material that looks removable once you make a mold, but I’m my case the gap is very small between the mast and deck.
Mischief has the SLM yard standard Forespar mast and deck ring. Between the mast and the deck ring is a separate heavy duty vinyl strip that can is malleted into place - no adhesive required. That’s not intended to be waterproof - but rather just to immobilize the mast where it goes through the deck ring. Over all of that is a separate mast boot which is hose clamped around the mast, and hose clamped around the outer rim of the deck ring. The boot provides the waterproof seal. All of this can be easily disassembled and reassembled - which is important if you’re going to be doing that every season.
I suspect the heavy duty vinyl piece is original from Forespar. The cross section seems to match the deck ring. They may not make it any more or have any inventory left, but it might be worth an ask. Some traditional wood spar boats chalk the mast to the deck using wood “wedges”. I know some aluminum masted boats have used synthetic door stops as mast wedges. A ring of them all around the mast.
The “boot” is something I bought from Defender when we had the rig down. It’s a conic tubular vinyl piece that can be cut to the diameters needed for your application (mast and deck ring diameters). Get it on before the mast gets stepped and you can avoid having to slit and glue it back together.