Hull to Deck Joint

[bearsails]

Hey Guys

I am just in the process of moving my 1984 Hunter 31 (Bear's Mistress) in to my shop for some winter repairs and maintenance. I am planning on removing the toe rail, deck hardware, painting the deck, new non skid, etc.,
My question is - does anyone know what type of adhesive/sealant that Hunter used between the deck and hull flange? I have gotten preciuos little response from Hunter so if anyone could answer this for me I would appreciate it!

Thank you!

Mike

 

[Don Crowther]

Mike
I've got a feeling it's something like 5200 or 4200. Are you planning on taking the deck off? I've used a screwdriver and poked at the bead from inside. It didn't give so I'm thinking it's 5200.
Don't forget to take lots of pictures.

 

[bearsails]

Hey Don

Yea I have a feeling it is 4200/5200 as well, no not planning to take deck off just the toe rail so I can clean and paint under it and then reseal everything when I put the toe rail back on.

Thanks and yes I will take lots of pictures, when I did the major repair/reift of the boat 7 + years ago I took several hundred pictures of everything I did to the boat.

Thanks and good sailing is Saskatchewan, is there enough water in Elbow Lake?

Mike

 

[Steve Dion]

I doubt that they used 5200 ON the toe rail. They may have used it to bond the deck/hull joint.

Why do you want to remove the toe rail anyway? That is really not necessary to painting the deck. Have you considered trying to reconditioning the gelcoat areas with wet/dry sanding like some of the fellow sailors have done recently? Most of the non-skid areas don't have any hardware on them, so all you need to do is mask those areas off.

If you decide to paint, it will limit some the products that you can use to clean your decks. This is not a problem for many sailors, but it is something to consider.

 

[Don Crowther]

Mike
I don't think Steve noticed the deck to hull flange remark. But I agree with him about the paint.
I don't have anything under my toerail just the screw holes have a sealant of some kind, maybe butyl tape. Lots of screws to remove if you want to remove the rail.You could just mask off the rail and paint. Is the gel coat to far gone to polish?

As far as water in the lake there was lots it's really a dammed off river. About 7o miles long and a couple wide and always windy. If you google Lake Deifenbaker you will see our sailing area.

 

[Steve Dion]

Don/Mike:

Am I too assume that Mike is working on the flange? I just thought he was remove the toe rail for ease of painting (which I would only do as a last resort).

 

[Don Crowther]

I thought Mike was removing the toerail. I thought that was only held on by the screws and the flange was put together with 5200 to seal it.

 

[HernandoBeacher]

This video shows Hunter using 5200 to bond the deck to the hull.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDRBhRezmUI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[AtlanticAl]

I removed the toe rails on my boat, (a lancer) and found that what was under it, was tape, I am guessing butyl tape, hard to tell, it was like cardboard.
I think most of the other posters got it right, that its 5200 on the hull deck seal, and butyl tape under the toe rail. If you tried 5200 to bed the toe rail onto, it would be very very messy, but you should use something like that, to seal every screw or bolt when you put the toe rail back on.
I intend to glass the hull deck joint, then bolt the toe rail back on, with butyl tape under the toe rail, and sealant in every bolt hole.
I had an irwin, citation 35, and while i never had the toe rails off, had a lot of problems with the hull deck joint, from inside the boat, i could get my hand up, and feel the hull deck joint, and it was butyl tap that was sticking out, that was what they had used for the hull deck joint.

 

[Steve Dion]

This is a video of the "newer" mfg. method. These newer boats have in inward flange system. The old 83-87 models had a outward flange.

I do not know how they were attached other than the flange is thru bolted through the toe rail. It is easy enough to re-torque the entire rail if needed.

 

[AtlanticAl]

Fiberglass is so brittle, that its not the ideal thing to put self tapping screws into, but that is what a lot of boats use for the hull deck joint. I know for a fact, that hunter use self tapping screws to do this, (dont know about today, that was a few years ago) but its a lot cheaper to pay one man to put in self tapping screws, than two to put in bolts, and when the boat is new, the self tappers are every bit as good as bolts. But over the years, they work loose, and as their is nothing to clamp them, they leak. You can tighten them a bit, but nothing like replacing them with a bolt, where you can really torque it, without breaking anything.