I fully appreciate your perspective. From my point of view as a purchaser of a previous owner's boat, having to reseat or replace rigging, deck hardware such as cleats, winches etc. it is a real PIA when the PO did not think far enough forward that if it's placed on a boat, it will need to be maintained in the future. You haven't restarted a war, everyone gets to do their repairs how they choose.
As an example, I have a planned anchor roller upgrade in my future. I am not looking forward one bit to removing the existing stem fitting and cleaning off the silicone or whatever the factory had used to bed the stem fitting. This needs to be done so that I can install and bed the new roller and stem fitting. What should be a pretty simple (though awkward under the bow's fore deck) operation to unbolt the stem and bow eye strap will probably have about three to four hours of scraping and cleaning added just to prep the surface for marine grade Bed-It butyl tape. This cleaning would still need to be done if I were to rebed with 5200.
The above example is the reason folks don't care for 5200. It's not a bad product but it makes future routine maintenance a real chore. In the case of a sailboat it really isn't an ideal choice IMO.
George
George,
I think this may be where our perspectives differ a little, and that's perfectly fair.
I don't necessarily regard having to work a little harder to disassemble something as a major drawback if the tradeoff is a durable installation that may not need to be disturbed for a very long time, if ever.
And admittedly, I'm probably a little odd in that respect.
I love working on boats. Even the miserable jobs are challenges to me — dragons that need slaying. There's a tremendous satisfaction in figuring out how to do a difficult job well and then enjoying the results.
Your stem fitting is actually a great example. You're not removing it because its bedding necessarily failed; ( although, if it's the factory original silicone, I'd bet my lunch money it has failed.) you're removing it because you want to modify the boat and add a bow roller. That's a perfectly legitimate reason to take apart something that might otherwise have happily remained undisturbed.
And yes, regardless of what was used, you've still got to clean the mating surfaces before rebedding it. Try heating a putty knife with a heat gun.
Where I think the discussion gets interesting is deciding WHICH inconvenience we'd rather accept.
If something like a stem fitting is properly prepared and bedded with a tenacious, durable sealant and I someday spend some extra time cutting that bond apart because I want to modify the boat, I can live with that.
The alternative can be bedding that is wonderfully easy to remove...because it stopped sealing years ago.
Catalina's extensive use of silicone is a pretty good cautionary example. I'd personally rather spend an afternoon patiently removing stubborn bedding than spend considerably longer repairing wet or rotten deck core because water spent years getting past bedding that didn't do its job.
And 5200 removal really doesn't frighten me anymore. I've learned not to fight the whole bond at once. Heat where appropriate, thin blades, safety wire or braided fishing line through the bond line, patience and finesse. Interestingly, 3M themselves recommend mechanical removal of cured 5200 with knives, razor blades or piano wire.
So I completely understand your preference for butyl, and there are plenty of places where I'd choose something other than 5200 too.
I just weigh the inconvenience differently. I'd rather have something be a little difficult to remove when I WANT it apart than discover it was too easy to remove when I needed it to stay together.
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