Is there a way, after painting the deck, to seal it and what would you use. I own an O'Day 23. It is my hope that by doing so this will help with possible leaks. I am also using Butyn tape around the screw heads of the deck hardware to help.
Thanks
I like Butyl Tape for certain types of hardware which are bolted through the deck cleats and the mast tabernacle. I used it on my mast tabernacle and I also bedded my fore stay chain plate with it. With that said though, there are other caulkings that provide extra adhesion for wooden toe rails which are held in place by wood screws. For this I'll use 3-M 4200 and even hand rails which are bolted. If your gunwale molding is metal like mine, you'd want to use this cauking also.
For plastics, I'm using Dap Sylicone Rubber Adhesive caulking. I've used Dow Corning 795 for plastics in the past and I don't like it. It's too messy to work with. The Dap will stick if you clean the area good.
Most of the leaks that I've found on my boat came from the gunwale molding. Water would get in from the screws under the molding or the ones that hold the molding. Wooden toe rails are prone to leak right where the screws hold them to the deck. I've been able to caulk under them without removing the whole toe rail by removing the bung and the screw which would allow me to use a putty knife to pry it up enough to get a shaved popsicle stick under it to apply the caulking. All I had to do was put the screw back it and adhere a new bung.
I was getting a leak last year around the threads of one bolt in my mast tabernacle. I pulled the whole thing off, countersunk the bolt holes a little and used the Butyl tape to bed it, and so far it's worked out great.
Just recently I removed the Teak mount for my old traveler so I could mount a Harken Traveler that I bought off one of the guys on this forum.
I counter sunks the holes a little bit that go through my cockpit seats where this thing is attached and I used 3M-4200.
I would just check for leaks and fix them as you find them. In time you should get everything sealed up so that your boat is dry as a bone.
Stay clear of certain deck cleaners that contain harmfull acids that can eat out caulking. I learned this one the hard way many years ago. I just use soap and water now and it's good enough for me.
