J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Mast drainage

If the mast is unstepped as in my case, can I drill a small hole all the way through the cast base vertically and to let water move to the bilge? Or similarly a horizontal hole through the base casting that could be mated with a similar size hole in the base of the mast?

I just sanded the entire sole in front of the bulkhead yesterday and any steps I can take now to keep water off this area in the future would be a good thing. I see a drain hole between the mast base and the bulkhead, but it looks like water could just as easily drain forward onto the sole into a hole there, so I was thinking of adding a block in front of the base to effectively dam this water coming off the mast and forcing it to drain through the hole at the rear.

The image I've attached is older, but it shows what I'm thinking about. There is a hole through the sole just in front of the mast base. What I would want to do is confine that water from the mast to the fiberglass area next to the base by sealing the edge of the teak and placing a block in front of the mast.

After sanding all of this down to bare wood yesterday I was pleasantly surprised that about 90% of the sole in this area is OK. The problem areas are just some rotted Holly that I think I can figure out how to replace. I'm quite sure that water coming off the mast is responsible for this rot.