I’m having to replace a lot of bolts and screws for railings and such. What gel do I have to fill the holes with before I put the screws back in?
Newbie questions
- Thread starter CaseyJohn2001
- Start date
Check this stuff out for bedding hardware.. great stuff.. The prep for the seal is important for letting the butyl work as it is supposed to.
Rebedding Deck Hardware With Bed-It Butyl Tape - Marine How To
Rebedding Deck Hardware With Bed-It Butyl Tape - Marine How To
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,390
Welcome to the forum and congrats on your boat.
By Gel I understand you mean caulk to stop water from getting inside the boat. As was mentioned, the Butyl tape is an excellent choice to help seal the holes that run through the deck and fasten a fixture the boat.
Additionally there is 4200 caulk that serves some purposes. Suggest you explore the articles found on https://marinehowto.com/ as suggested by @kloudie1 and Caulk and Sealant Test - Practical Sailor as general resources.
When it gets to specific fixtures and hole filling, there are a number of techniques that were to remove the issue. Some when the boat is wet and some when the boat is dry.
Good luck with your new boat.
Above answers are aimed at sealing the hardware.
But if you're concerned the holes are too big and you want to fill them to get the new hardware to have bite again, I use structural filler in West System epoxy. 105 resin, appropriate hardener and the 404 filler. Over drill the holes, fill with this mixture.
If I want the highest strength and the fasteners to be removable, I'll use microcrystalline wax on the hardware and put the hardware in before the epoxy has set-up. That gives a perfect fastener to epoxy interface and the wax doesn't allow the epoxy to adhere to the fastener. If I don't ever want the fastener to come out, I skip the wax.
If I don't need highest strength, I let the epoxy set and then drill for the fastener hole.
There's probably a dozen other ways to do this...
dj
Not to hijack the post but can I ask, which process would you suggest for under the waterline bolts? As in thru bolts that are located on the outside of hull holding in our rudder port? Along with strength would waxing and putting the bolts in to the soft epoxy also help with sealing them from water intrusion? Or should we just drill holes bigger, fill with epoxy, let dry and redrill?
You want a snug fit around the bolts to ensure the sealant works its way tightly against the gap and produces a good seal.
It is a different problem indeed.
My response above was for structural not sealing. The sealing questions for this specific thread were answered above by others.
I've been watching your other thread and will answer more there. I certainly would NOT wax fasteners used in your under water application.
dj