Sealant

[feeez]

When we took delivery of our boat it had a rather elaborate canvas set up that encompassed the cockpit. The canvas was long past its life span so we removed it. This has left us with "numerous" canvas snaps attached to the boat.

I want to go around and remove and re-install the snaps and re-seal them where ever I can. I was thinking of using 3M 4000UV. Thoughts and opinions of this would be appreciated.

We will also be undertaking a re-caulking project on this boat as the existing is getting old and dirty looking. What would be the best material for this and I would appreciate any experiences with a similar project.

Thanks
Fraser

[tomschauer]

almost anything made by the Minnesota mining and manufacturing company (3M) is of top quality. If you are not reinstalling the snaps in the same place and the old holes would be visible, I would consider marine tex to fill the existing holes. If rebedding or installing new fasteners in existing holes 3m 4200 or 5200 will last for many years. The 4000 and 4200 are fast cure and limit your working time, the 5200 is most likely the original sealant used when your boat was build. It seems to be able to last 15 - 20 years, but is very slow to cure.

[feeez]

Thanks toms..... if nothing else I now know what 3M stands for.

[Viper]

For that particular fix, I prefer epoxying them in especially in areas where the snaps/canvas will be undone for access. The constant pull and load is not caulking friendly especially in hot summer sun.

[feeez]

Qr Bbpost For that particular fix, I prefer epoxying them in especially in areas where the snaps/canvas will be undone for access. The constant pull and load is not caulking friendly especially in hot summer sun.

Thanks Viper,
Most of the ones I will be working on do not have canvas attached as they a leftovers from previous canvas configurations. What specific brand of of epoxy would you recommend?

Cheers
Fraser

[Viper]

I'd use West System's standard epoxy for that. If it's just for show, you can use anything but if it's being used for canvas, epoxy is the way to go IMO. If the repair extends beyond the snap such as chipped gel and you want it to look right cosmetically, then polyester and gel should be used for the repair.