Advice on a cost effective wooden deck sealant

[new2boat]

Can anyone recommend the right (cheap!) product to seal the decks of our MFV? We've looked at sikaflex but that's too expensive, should we use silicone or more traditional methods?

 

[Tranona]

Really depends on the construction of your deck. Assume you are talking about paying the seams, in which case the choice is traditional marine glue - messy and not cheap or a polyurethane based sealant such as Sikaflex. There are cheaper alternatives to the brand Sikaflex such as Saba. However, the secret to success is more in the preparation than the sealant, so arguably if you are spending all the time and effort to clean the seams and prime them it is false economy not to use the best sealant you can afford.

 

[TamarMike]

What are your decks planked with? When I had, the old lugger with pine deck planking I found that sikaflex stuck really well but where there was any movement tended to pull a thin strip of wood off the edge of the plank. Jeffries Marine Glue worked well where the seams were wide enough but I confess I had made some a bit too narrow for anything to work properly . I believe that with teak planking Sikaflex is ideal.

 

[rjp]

Korapur (or Purflex - I believe it's the same thing depending what market it is packaged for?) is about half the price of Sikaflex. I recaulked my teak cockpit with it about 5 years ago and I'm quite happy with it. I did use a primer also on the supplier's recommendation. I can't remember who supplied me unfortunately.

 

[GrahamM376]

You could try this http://www.marinemastics.com/category-11.html