Butyl Tape?

On my 36' Albin D/C, the starboard aft bunk gets wet and naturally has old damage. My first line of business is to tighten her up so that I don't have to sleep there with a mask and snorkel. Apart from the windows, I suspect that the base for the ladder access to the FB may be a secondary cause.

Anyone re-seat hardware with butyl tape? If not butyl tape, other suggestions?

I've used butyl tape for bedding and it does work. However it is tough to work with as it has the consistency of chewing gum and sticks to everything it touches.

For new metal or plastic window frames I can recommend butyl tape.

For rebelling old wooden frames I will let another answer because I would never go back to the old style frames.

I use butyl tape for all my bedding. Clamp it fairly tight, let it rest for a while then when it spooges out the sides, sunlight helps, cut it off with some sort of blade and tighten the fasteners again until no more comes out.

I rebedded the footswitch for my windlass. It hasn't been subjected to much yet, but it's dry as a bone when I check it from the anchor locker. This is a good article on the technique.

Re-Bedding Deck Hardware With Bed-It Butyl Tape Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

I bought my butyl tape from Rod since he does so much pro bono work for the boating community.

Good stuff. Use it. Not near as messy as trying to caulk something. It is easy to trim after it squeezes out.

Yes, and I particularly favor it for deck hardware that flexes. Three years ago I bedded some stanchions with Butyl and I left the excess exposed to the sun. I can still pinch off the excess and it is nearly as flexible and gummy as new. No leaks. Be aware that not all butyl tapes are equal. I order mine from Compass Marine and use it as recommended.

Used it on our sailboat deck hardware. It works. Now using it on The Promise.

angus99 said:

I rebedded the footswitch for my windlass. It hasn't been subjected to much yet, but it's dry as a bone when I check it from the anchor locker. This is a good article on the technique.

Re-Bedding Deck Hardware With Bed-It Butyl Tape Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

I bought my butyl tape from Rod since he does so much pro bono work for the boating community.

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I second this. His technique is excellent and the guy is a huge asset to the sailing community. He sell the butyl tape primarily as a service because it can be hard to find in reasonable amounts.

It's one of my go-to sealants. Great for two flat and well supported surfaces like windows and metal plates on deck like antenna mounts. For wood on deck, I favor something with more adhesion, like 4200/5200, Boatlife and Sikaflex...depending on permanency.

I find that I'm using it more and more. Easy to work with, easier to clean up. If you use it in areas to fill, set lightly at first. Come back and retighten a few times and then trim to remove the squeez out. Good stuff! Works well on motor homes also!

Same for me.
Bought mine from Compass Marine.
I use it on anything that I can remove to get at the mounting faces.
Yes, handling it can be a bit of a pain but considering its ability to effect a long term seal the pain is worth the trouble.
If you are cutting it then try refridgerating it. Makes cutting into narrower strips easier.

I've given some of it to friends and they love it.

Tear of a chunk and roll it into a thin bead. You actually want it to be a little warm so it squishes into the gaps better (IMO). Also, a little bit goes a lot farther than you think. You will probably need to re-tighten whatever you are bedding a couple of times to get it really set. The butyl can take a good while to ooze out if it is cold or you use a lot in one place.

A lot less messy than using 4200/5200 sealant. No matter how hard I try it just seems to get everywhere.

Rebedded a port light with butyl just yesterday in fact.

Thanks for all of the assistance here. As soon as it warms up here I'll be sealing all of the suspected spots. One odd thing over the last week - took off all of the sunshades from over the windows to bring them home and clean them up - and during that time I had no leakage on the starboard aft window.

Anyone else have sunshades contribute to holding water and increasing leakage?

No, but it could be where the happen to direct the water. When you reinstall them, see if it makes a difference as to where the water moves when it rains.

Another thing that I have found helpful is Captain Tolly's Creeping Crack Cure I had a very troublesome leak on my current boat when I first bought it. I chased it around forever. CTCCC really works well. I would use it around an area that I thought might be the problem. If the problem didn't go away go to the next suspect fitting. sometimes I would wait weeks between spots because I wanted to be sure I found the spot that leaked. When the leak stopped, I knew that the fitting that had to be rebed. You also can not bother with rebedding it if CTCCC has stopped the leak, but I would imagine that rebedding it would be a good idea anyway.

What was your experience when removing a fitting that you had used CTCCC on to rebed later? Their web site says it is supposed to remain pliable. If so, what did you use to remove the legacy CTCCC before you rebed the fitting?

mike

Islanddreamer said:

What was your experience when removing a fitting that you had used CTCCC on to rebed later? Their web site says it is supposed to remain pliable. If so, what did you use to remove the legacy CTCCC before you rebed the fitting?

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To be honest, I didn't worry about it much. When I removed the offending fitting I just took out the bolts, cleaned up the surface (acetone is what I used I think) and then used a camfer bit with butyl tape when I reinstalled it.