Update on bow eye, and water leakage down electrical line leading to pulpit

[Cevin c Taylor]

Today I spent the morning fixing the bow eye.  I'm pleased withhow it's turned out, but have not yet put any stress on the bow eye.  I pulled the U bolt out, cleaned it up w/ a wire brush on a grinder.  Then I cleaned up the weak wood in the interior of the bow, put Minwax wood hardener on it (several coats), and let it harden up.  Then I put the U bolt back in, put 3M 5200 on the little stainless steel plate that the U bolt goes through on the outside of the boat.  On the inside, I put a double thickness of aluminum plate sandwiched between the old (now hardend wood), and the washers and nuts on the ends of the U bolt. I would have liked to have used a strip of stainless, but couldn't find any.  I doubled up the aluminum for added strength, though one might have been enough.  Here is a pic:


While inside I noticed that water is leaking down the electrical line that leads up to the light on the pulpit.  It appears to be following this line down, and then dripping from its lowest point directly into the triangular area in the interior of the bow.  With the good amount of rain the last couple of days, I had about a quart of water up in that compartment.  I covered the boat yesterday, so no new water, but I want to take care of this.  
Here is a pic of the wire that the water seems to be following down from the pulpit area:


Here's my question:  is it better to 1) remove the pulpit by taking out all the bolts, and then clean things up and put the 3M 5200 on and reinstall, or 2) just clean things up in place and then put a fine bead of 5200 around the base of all the places that the pulpit attaches to the deck.  Option 2 is easier, and has the advantage of not creating any problems that don't already exist.  However, easier isn't always better, and it would be nice to fix this for the long term.   Anyone have any experience with this?  I suppose water could also be coming in where the pieces of the pulpit are riveted to the bases (bases attach with screws with nuts in the cabin).  If these riveted places are the problem, the only option appears to be to fix in place with the 5200.

[Norm]

What is with all of this 5200?  Just use a good caulk.  I had the same problem and used a good marine caulk.  5200 is an adhesive.

[Bob23]

Wolf:
   Definitely remove the bow pulpit and clean up the areas. Rebed with 4000 is more than adequate. 5200 is recommended for below the waterline so as a bedding compound, it's way overkill.
Bob23

[Cevin c Taylor]

Thanks for the note on the 4000.  I was using the 5200 in part because I already had the tube open and on hand.