Butyl Caulk

[Justin_NSA]

Slight hijack -
I have to replace/rebuild my halyard winch with this new base. I have Maine's butyl tape. How do you correctly bed one of these? Apply it around the bolt holes on the deck and in the countersunk base holes? Should I bed the perimeter too? It had 'lifecaulk' smeared on the base when I removed it. Didn't see any evidence of leakage.

 

[jssailem]

What I did to install my deck mounted winches Justin, was:

1. countersink the bolt thru holes in the deck
   
2. The insert the thru bolt into the winch base.
   
3. Wrap with butyl tape the threaded section of the bolt that extends up near the winch base building up a nice cone of butyl that will fill the deck hole.
   
   
   
4. fit the the winch base and the bolts into the deck holes.
5. Press down the winch base to spread the butyl in the deck holes
6. Hold the deck bolt on top to stop it moving and tighten the nuts against a backer plate with a wrench.

This way the butyl gets compressed in the deck hole providing a seal.
Images were copied from MarineSail's Rebedding with Butyl Tape article. https://marinehowto.com/bed-it-tape/

The tape and the methods of use are the best I have seen on the internet or in the field, hands down.

 

[JRacer]

Precisely! And, I follow Maine's instructions to do the tightening in stages so the butyl has a chance to compress in stages. Recommend you see his link on it.