How good is butyl tape

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doug748

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I have bedded a stanchion base with the stuff but the inside is now hidden so I can't assess if it is weeping, just now.

For those that have not used it the tape has the consistency of Blue Tack so is not very convincing at first sight. I tightened the fitting down an trimmed off the excess - having not used it before, will it be ok? What does the panel think? Does the butyl actually stick to the components or does it just remain squishy?

I might do another one in an easier position for checking.
 
alahol2 said:
..... Must type faster...
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Its quite OK, it just gives more credence to the Butyl story, the more the merrier. My windows were a mess with various sealants and sealant glues used by previous owners. The frames actually lifted gelcoat off where some adhesive sealant had been used. Work of the devil in the wrong application.
 
Butyl tape should not be fully tightened at first; it's a gradual process over time:- tighten, leave to squeeze out, repeat. It may take longer in cold temperatures.
If it's half-way decent stuff it will never harden.
 
Rebedded some cleats, winches and other bits and pieces with it 5 years ago. Still not leaking.
 
I sure hope it works ok - we have just fitted two Blake seacocks to a friends boat together with a Radice rubber stern gland so will be on board when launched. We used the same butyl tape I used to bed dg units to wooden windows in our extension. I did test it with a cleat on a piece of plywood and it certainly seemed to work ok.
 
I use butyl tape to bed almost all my deck hardware. Great stuff but be aware that all butyl tape is not equal. I bought some from a caravan shop. They had white, black and gray so I bough a roll of each thinking I would use the black on black fittings, etc. The white and the black dried, turned hard and crumbly in a couple of years. Don't think it was the color per se, just that the gray was made by a different company with a different formulation and far superior to the other brands.
 
skipmac said:
The white and the black dried, turned hard and crumbly in a couple of years. Don't think it was the color per se, just that the gray was made by a different company with a different formulation and far superior to the other brands.
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I haven't had much luck with the black BR either. It has dried and gone hard in about four years and now started to leak water again. Admittedly I used the stuff squeezed from a tube rather than the tape, so the latter might be better. But I think that the black absorbs the heat from the sun more and consequently dries out faster than the other colours.

I have also used the grey from the same company, and that has been fine, although that wasn't on the windows and not where it was exposed to the sun, which is perhaps not a fair comparison.

Interestingly, the company has now stopped making black BR, so maybe that says something.

I have now used neoprene tape for the windows, and so far it seems to have worked perfectly. Time will tell though.
 
skipmac said:
Great stuff but be aware that all butyl tape is not equal.
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I've read about the variation before (I think it was on an American blog about a boat refurbishment, where cheapie stuff was found to be poor, but slightly more expensive stuff was really good). It's not so much (or only) the difference in colour, but the difference in quality.

If anyone knows where to obtain branded (e.g. 3M or some other well known brand) butyl tape in the UK, or tape they've used and found to be good, I'd be pleased to hear about it. A while ago I spent quite a while looking without success, as most of the ads just say 'butyl tape'.
 
LittleSister said:
If anyone knows where to obtain branded (e.g. 3M or some other well known brand) butyl tape in the UK, or tape they've used and found to be good, I'd be pleased to hear about it. A while ago I spent quite a while looking without success, as most of the ads just say 'butyl tape'.
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I've been using Arboseal GZ tape mainly because it is a 'known' brand and therefore, hopefully, the quality will be OK and consistent. It comes up on ebay and is available from various merchants.
 
Steeevo said:
Can you use butyl tape to seal wood to the fibreglass deck to raise deck fittings?
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Certainly but only to seal the joint from moisture intrusion. It is not an adhesive so you will have to screw or bolt the wood to the deck for the physical connection. I used butyl to seal the joint between new teak hand rails and my deck. Seven years later has not leaked a drop.
 
I have just resealed a leaky hatch with it and it worked a treat. The beauy of it is that it can be dis assembled without the hours of scraping old adhesive off.
 
Fresh butyl tape will squish out as all have said. It does have an affinity for getting into non-skid. Excess easily removed with a plastic scraper or spatula., in non-skid a ball of butyl tape can help pull it out (I keep a plastic wrapped ball of squeezed out tape just for this purpose) The squeeze-out will hold onto dirt and grit. All said, my sealant of choice above the waterline
 
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