Screw holes in mast?
 

I have a 27 year old 40' sloop, with a 27 year old aluminum mast, living permanently in the Caribbean. The 20+ year old Raytheon CRT "green screen" radar/chartplotter gave up the ghost awhile back and I'm going to remove it, the radar antenna unit and mast mount, to reduce windage, weight, and wiring clutter. I'm looking for suggestions on what to do about the holes where the antenna mount is secured to the mast? Put the screws back in? Silicone? Epoxy? How about the holes (top & bottom) in the mast that the radar cable runs through? Thanks!

Assuming there is no structural issue where the screws were, I have always just used silicone caulk to plug the holes. I don't like the idea of putting the screws back in since they invariably are galled by the time I want to remount something there. But I can't swear this is reasonable from an engineering standpoint.

Thanks Stumble - anybody else care to weigh in? I had been planing on just filling the small holes with a dab of silicone, then the larger cable entry/exit holes (probably close to the size of a dime) got me to wondering if there might not be some better idea out there.

Options
 

Hi,
Fasteners, whether rivets or screws, will work for the smaller holes. Or those, as well as larger ones, can be filled with thickened epoxy or the like, sanded and painted.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

My spars are anodized, not painted, so I want to avoid sanding. I have always used silicone to fill unused screw holes. However, it occurs to me that you might be able to rubber grommet in the larger ones as a start and fill the center of the grommet with silicone.

Jim Fulton