A little trick to stop pesky little deck leaks from the Historic Vessel Vega

[H/V Vega]

Just thought I would share this with you. It really does work and is easy to do. Having a 118 year old wooden boat we often get little leaks from checks in the wood or around spike plugs. They can be monsters to solve. Meggi recently came up with this easy solution that uses Super Glue. Here's how it works. First there are two kinds of Super Glue - one is very thick and does not work well for this, the other is very watery and works great. Once she has isolated the culprit she slowly feeds the crack or around the plug with the super glue. Gives it a few minutes to set then goes at it again until it will not take any more. Just be careful to put something under the leak down below as the first time she had super glue drip through onto my pillow! Take your time and let each application set before applying another. Since she found this we have heard it works well on fiberglass and a multitude of other little leaks. We put this idea in our newsletter a few months ago and seems to have helped a lot of our friends keep their bunks dry or maybe dryer. If this stuff is useful I can post more from our experiences.

 

[oldsaltoz]

Be assured ALL tips are useful, feel free to post more.

Thanks and Good luck.

 

[H/V Vega]

Where to find more of our tips and tricks

We try to let our friends know when ever we find a new trick that works or saves headaches or money and all that. In short share our sometimes hard learned lesions so our friends don't get caught in the same traps etc. If you want there are a lot in our old newsletters on the website at http://www.sailvega.com Meggi also always puts in what she has discovered about living afloat and her experiences on how to eat better and all.

 

[nimbusgb]

Be assured ALL tips are useful, feel free to post more.

Thanks and Good luck.

And tips that solve leaks are *particularly* well received

 

[Searush]

Thanks for the tip, but it surprises me. With a new (1973) plastic boat I don't get leaks yet, but my experience of super glue suggests some difficulties.

The super glue I use dries hard & will crack if flexed. How does that cope with leak fixing?

The super glue I use also reacts with water, going opaque & less effective. Copious flushing with water is recommended for removal when skin is accidentally glued up. My super glue is not recommended for items like crockery that are frequently washed.

Am I using the wrong sort of super glue?

There is a commercial product (probably much dearer) that does the same function, I think it is called somethning like Captain Tolley's(?) leak cure. No idea if it is any good or not, but I would hope it would at least have some flexibility when cured and be waterproof.

 

[SHUG]

A tradional and flexible solution is to use Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure. This is , I think, a very thin silicone sealant and is excellent for cracks , sealing around windows etc. Details are here:
http://www.captaintolley.com/index.html

 

[Ubergeekian]

There is a commercial product (probably much dearer) that does the same function, I think it is called somethning like Captain Tolley's(?) leak cure. No idea if it is any good or not, but I would hope it would at least have some flexibility when cured and be waterproof.

I tried it for leaking window seals once and found it utterly useless, though other people seem to have had better results.

 

[H/V Vega]

About Super glue

If you notice I did say there are several types of super glue. The thick one is not at all good for this but the very thin "watery" one works a champ. You can tell by shaking the bottle. We only use it on wood but should work even better on plastic. Mind you it is not meant to be a full fix just a stop leak over bunk solution.

 

[Searush]

If you notice I did say there are several types of super glue. The thick one is not at all good for this but the very thin "watery" one works a champ. You can tell by shaking the bottle. We only use it on wood but should work even better on plastic. Mind you it is not meant to be a full fix just a stop leak over bunk solution.

Yes, I did notice, but I've never seen the thick stuff anywhere. Perhaps there are several variants of the thin stuff too.

 

[davidej]

Yes, I did notice, but I've never seen the thick stuff anywhere. Perhaps there are several variants of the thin stuff too.

Yes - you can get very thick, thickish, not very thick, quite thin, very thin etc etc. Go into your local model shop and ask for Zap.

 

[SAMYL]

Superglue Gel - available in most shops.

Great too for getting rid of verrucas. Paint the verruca with superglue gel (the runny stuff is no good) on a daily basis and allow to dry before replacing socks etc. Do not wash off the previous coating.

Verrucas will die off if deprived of air so the idea is to seal it completely for a few weeks. Superglue bonds to the protein in skin forming an efficient seal.

It really does work when most of the convential treatments do not.

 

[RobBrown]

PVA?

I've used Captain Tolleys crack cure successfully to stop window surround leaks on my fibreglass vessel, but recall reading the suggestion somewhere that slightly diluted PVA glue was just as good, tho' never tried it- still have some Tolley's left!

Don't know if it works for verrucas!

 

[angelsson]

A tradional and flexible solution is to use Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure. This is , I think, a very thin silicone sealant and is excellent for cracks , sealing around windows etc. Details are here:
http://www.captaintolley.com/index.html

Absolutely, a great product, have used it in many areas never fail to surprise me how good it works, sometimes takes a few applications, also protect the inside where the leak drips in, once Catpain Tolleys starts to show you know the crack has been filled. Love it.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I tried it for leaking window seals once and found it utterly useless, though other people seem to have had better results.

I also tried it and also found it was useless several years ago - ended up replacing the perspex etc and that certainly cured the leaks.

 

[BlueLancer]

Superglue very useful in the First Aid Kit. Works a treat for those little cuts that plasters wont stick to

 

[Ubergeekian]

I also tried it and also found it was useless several years ago - ended up replacing the perspex etc and that certainly cured the leaks.

I think the problem in my case was that the leaking rubber seals had water in them, which diluted the CTCCC as I applied it and stopped it working. Perhaps it would have been better if the crack had been bone dry, but that just wasn't an option.

 

[VO5]

I've used Captain Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure upside down to cure tiny leaks in window seals. The gap fills by capillary attraction but the cavity has to be bonre dry for this to work.

 

[KAL]

Try CT-1

Tried Creeping Crack cure - hasn't worked for me so far. SWMBO shudders at the name - reminds her of a medical condition...

I recently found out about a sealant/adhesive called CT-1. It's just amazing and there's no other word for it. It was being used by a technician in a swimming pool.

Can be applied to wet surfaces (or even underwater!). Remains completely flexible, is mould-resistant, totally VOC free so doesn't smell and, best of all, wipes off fingers really easily!

Comes in all sorts of colours from (completely) clear to black. I bought the 'no gun needed' version for the boat - only comes in white, but have so far used it to seal several leaks including one on my calorifier - totally. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Link to video demo here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oRIAvIrjuE

 

[H/V Vega]

Electronics and seamanship

I think Valiente hit the nail square. Why go to sea if what you really want is to bury yourself in the artificial world of unHollywood or have your brain turned to mush in other "entertaining" ways? There must be a reason why seamanship, navigation, and sailing are all called arts. Sailing is not something you buy in the DVD shop and then sit back while it happens to you. It takes effort to learn and even with the best will and application some of the learning experiences can be rather frightening or funny after they are over. BTW nothing against cats - I wouldn't want my son to marry one though - just the usual jibes from us real boat owners, says he with a big laugh. But you must admit the advertising world has attracted a large number of big pocketed non-sailors into buying them.

 

[H/V Vega]

Peskie leaks et al

Our problem is we have a 118 year old historic vessel and are pretty limited in what we can get away with. Can't have things not looking original...well withing reason that is. This little trick works well for wood checks etc. Sure there are better products for plastic and metal. Was just trying to pass along our experiences...mostly for deck leaks and leaks around plugs. In any case this is turning into a very educational link.