Epoxy Putty

[BigEasy]

Anyone have experience using Sea Goin two part epoxy putty in a wet environment?. Will not be used precatalyzed underwater, but will be used in wet/moist environment.

 

[Urban Hermit]

I have used CPES epoxy putty with great success. Once it sets up it can be worked exactly like wood, with woodworking tools.

 

[BigEasy]

I have used CPES epoxy putty with great success.

Great! Waiting on delivery of Sea Goin epoxy expected in a few days. The Beneteau shaft seal cooling water nipple is leaking very very slowly & I want to address before experiencing any surprises. With the thru hull valve closed, the leak stops. Not sure if the epoxy fillet around the bronze nipple has detached from the fiberglass stern tube or the nipple has lost its seal. Inspected the nipple 6 months ago & it was found to be solid with no corrosion. So, I plan to cut the water hose off the nipple & check the nipple attachment to the stern tube as well as the epoxy fillet attachment. On past haul outs, I have unscrewed the nipple from the stern tube, inspected, & reinstalled by placing a layer of teflon tape & 4200 on the nipple & screwing back thru the fillet & into the stern tube. if the threads in the fillet & stern tube are compromised, I will place a single layer of teflon tape on the nipple threads, apply epoxy & reinstall. If the epoxy fillet around the nipple & stern tube has failed, I plan to rebuild the epoxy fillet. I don’t want to haul out to do this repair, thus the Sea Goin epoxy that can be used in presence of water. I have contingency plan to block off nipple attachment hole with stainless hose clamp & rubber gasket in the event that things go south. I regret not replacing the Volvo shaft seal with a Radice seal (has a bronze nipple incorporated in the rubber seal); that would have allowed glassing over hole in the stern tube & eliminating the nipple attaching into the stern tube & epoxy fillet.

 

[thinwater]

The important tips for working with under water epoxy pastes are:

• Gloves.
• Prep the surfaces. Wet is OK, but they should still be clean and sanded rough.
• Keep you gloves wet while neading the epoxy, otherwise it will tick something terrible. Mostly, you roll it around as a bowl on you palms.
• Press and work it into the surface unti it sticks. Press it out to a thin edge. Keep working it. Basically, you are squeezing all of the water out from between the epoxy and the surface, and it will take 10 minutes of steady, gentle, rubbing. Expect it to take some time.

Done properly, the bond is quite strong and will stop leaks. It is NOT as strong as other epoxies, so create a good covering.

Petit Splash Zone is well known, and JB Water Weld is stiffer and fast, great for stopping active leaks (so long as the pressure is no more than ~ a few feet of water, or about 0-1 psi.

 

[BigEasy]

Done properly, the bond is quite strong and will stop leaks. It is NOT as strong as other epoxies, so create a good covering.

Many thanks for the advice. Appears that you have some good experience working with epoxy in a wet environment. Hoping that the existing epoxy fillet remains attached to the FRP stern tube & all I have to do is reline the existing nipple hole with epoxy on the nipple surface & threads. I considered JB Water Weld, but it sounded thicker / stiffer than I wanted. Hadn't seen anything about splash zone; however, coming from Petit I would expect it to be good stuff.