Cheaper spray lube than McLube: is it effectively the same stuff?

B

BelleSerene

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 Sep 2005
Messages
3,423
Visit site
It seems all sailors use McLube Sailkote as a silicone-based spray lubricant. It repels water, doesn't attract salt, and works great up mainsail tracks and in plastic blocks.

But it's very expensive.

There are much cheaper alternatives, volume for volume. For example,

I'm no chemist. What does anyone who knows think about using them for sail tracks, blocks, cars etc? Are they chemically different, or not marinised in some way that matters - or is it just the price of the McLube brand that's been marinised for us mugs to pay in chandleries?
 
I bought the Holt variety from Force 4...under a fiver. The chap in the shop wanted me to buy something else which was about £12 for the same quantity.

I wasn't really able to judge how fantastic its effect was, but I'm happy to believe that hoisting the main would be tougher without a good spray along the bolt-rope.
 
I got that 3in1, hoisted the main slowly,spraying as it went up. Now it drops like a stone rather than needing to be hauled down by hand..good stuff!
 
Hmm, but a respondent reports how he had terrible trouble painting his boat, after someone used silicone lube on the mast-tracks. Seems it's very hard to shift, once it's been applied.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
El Cheapo (cheaper the better, don't want expensive beeswax) spray furniture polish is fairly good for sail tracks, but McLube is much better. Most of the alternatives are oilier, and attract dirt much more than McLube. Not sure what's in it, but it's not oil or silicone.
 
If there's silicone in it, nobody's telling. The key constituent of Sailkote is apparently 'Krytox', which sounds like something used to lubricate Spock's passage into life on Vulcan or wherever it was. Basically, it's PTFE (Teflon). What the other ingredients might be, McLube's website declines to disclose.
 
I was wondering if SailKote really was silicone.

It seems from Rogershaw's and macd's posts that it may be ptfe/teflon


Maybe I did the right thing in buying a PTFE spray from Toolstation after all ... although I did not primarily buy it as a sail track lubricant
 
For the last few years I have used Tesco's furniture polish sprayed on to a piece of sponge wormed into a 3 strand line which I pull up the track with a halyard. Works very well, and the tin was under £1.
 
Do yourselfs a favour, do not use silicone anywhere near your boat, except perhaps breast implants.

Not polish, lube spray, or sealant. It makes all painting, varnishing, GRP repairs, and re-sealing deck gear, nearly impossible. Boats can be silicone poisoned, just like people. Nothing sticks to a surface that has been silicone contaminated, and silicone poisoning of a surface is very very difficult to remove, without removing basically a layer of the material, whilst being careful that the material being removed does not further contaminate the new surface.

Also, be careful using mineral oil based stuff anywhere near non nitrile based plastics, sail sliders, winch parts, polyester sail cloth, deck gear, rudder bearings. It will make the plastic swell, and these wee bits of plastic can often be difficult and expensive to replace.
 
ProMariner said:
Do yourselfs a favour, do not use silicone anywhere near your boat, except perhaps breast implants.

Not polish, lube spray, or sealant. It makes all painting, varnishing, GRP repairs, and re-sealing deck gear, nearly impossible. Boats can be silicone poisoned, just like people. Nothing sticks to a surface that has been silicone contaminated, and silicone poisoning of a surface is very very difficult to remove, without removing basically a layer of the material, whilst being careful that the material being removed does not further contaminate the new surface.
Click to expand...

Good grief! For real? I'm not even sure that the Holt lube-spray I've used actually contains silicone, but if it does, what can I do?

I'd hoped to paint the whole boat in the winter. Doesn't the process of shifting the old paint, also remove any contaminating silicone?
 
Thinks for a minute...

Does painting everything below the waterline with silicone, reduce skin friction?? :rolleyes:
 
dancrane said:
Thinks for a minute...

Does painting everything below the waterline with silicone, reduce skin friction?? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Probably for several minutes!

On dinghies we often spray the spinnaker with silicone to encourage it to slide in and out of the chute.
It wears off after a few tens of hoists.
McLube is better, but not sure it's that much better in proportion to its cost.
 
dancrane said:
Good grief! For real? I'm not even sure that the Holt lube-spray I've used actually contains silicone, but if it does, what can I do?

I'd hoped to paint the whole boat in the winter. Doesn't the process of shifting the old paint, also remove any contaminating silicone?
Click to expand...

To the latter, no. The only thing that dissolves it is the blood of an Alien, and even that's touch and go. The only way to get it off, and it's a bugger of a job as ProMariner said, is mechanically.
To test: thoroughly wash the area in question (to remove any wax, polish) then spray with a fine mist of water. If it puddles, so will paint. It's probably silicone. Orrible stuff.
 
macd said:
If there's silicone in it, nobody's telling. The key constituent of Sailkote is apparently 'Krytox', which sounds like something used to lubricate Spock's passage into life on Vulcan or wherever it was. Basically, it's PTFE (Teflon). What the other ingredients might be, McLube's website declines to disclose.
Click to expand...

Krytox is a DuPont product that is/was eyewateringly expensive. It is used in Automotive applications to prevent squeaking in interior trim or window rubbers.

When it first appeared back in 1998, it was £250 per litre, so you apply it very sparingly.

It really is top stuff, and is extremely wear resistant, and in most uses, a small wipe onto the trim part would last the life of the vehicle.


Cheap it ain't
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top