Insulating the Mast from the Step

[Jim Fulton]

I had the mast on our 1975 Bristol 34 unstepped this year for some serious maintenance--rewiring, rebedding hardware, etc. The mast and step are in remarkably good condition. There is some minor corrosion on the bottom 1/4" of the mast, but not enough to worry about. The mast step is a stainless steel plate with four nearly-vertical tabs or ears that locate the mast. The tabs are about 1-1/2" high. My question is this: when I put it all back together, what is the best way to insulate the mast from the step to prevent further galvanic corrosion? I can't think of anything better than a heavy coat of Tef-Gel on all of the contact surfaces. There isn't room to put anything between them that is more than about 1/8" thick (and I can't think of anything that the weight of the rig wouldn't cut right through).

Jim Fulton