Leaking hull to deck joint: Cure?

[Puggy]

Hello all,

Back from my boat chasing rain water leaks, and I would value anyone's thoughts on curing this one:

I have a leak from the hull to deck join - it weeps through the actual joint for about 6 inches. The original grey sealant in the join in that section has slightly separated and the bolts are not that tight indicating that things are not as tight as they could be. The joint is a fibreglass overlap with aforesaid grey sealant, through bolted with an aluminium toe rail on top. The boat is a 25 year old Nauticat.

So what I am thinking is to remove the bolts in the affected section and probably a few more on each side, carefully prise the joint 1/4" apart from the inside, rake out the old sealant as much as I can, and clean up. Squirt in lots of Sikaflex, and bolt back together nice and tight with lots of Sikaflex around the bolts.

Anyone got any thoughts on whether this is a good approach or had any better results with some other approach?

Best wishes

Piers

 

[rivonia]

Hello all,

Back from my boat chasing rain water leaks, and I would value anyone's thoughts on curing this one:

I have a leak from the hull to deck join - it weeps through the actual joint for about 6 inches. The original grey sealant in the join in that section has slightly separated and the bolts are not that tight indicating that things are not as tight as they could be. The joint is a fibreglass overlap with aforesaid grey sealant, through bolted with an aluminium toe rail on top. The boat is a 25 year old Nauticat.

So what I am thinking is to remove the bolts in the affected section and probably a few more on each side, carefully prise the joint 1/4" apart from the inside, rake out the old sealant as much as I can, and clean up. Squirt in lots of Sikaflex, and bolt back together nice and tight with lots of Sikaflex around the bolts.

Anyone got any thoughts on whether this is a good approach or had any better results with some other approach?

Best wishes

Piers

Sounds good to me, thats the way I would go.

Good luck

Peter

 

[PabloPicasso]

Make REALLY REALLY sure its all dry before re-sealing. Most of this type of self-do jobs that fail are because the dampness was not fully removed.

Use a fan heater and then acetone to ensure absence of dampness, otherwise it'll leak again pretty soon and you'll end up having to doing it again

 

[Puggy]

Make REALLY REALLY sure its all dry before re-sealing. Most of this type of self-do jobs that fail are because the dampness was not fully removed.

Use a fan heater and then acetone to ensure absence of dampness, otherwise it'll leak again pretty soon and you'll end up having to doing it again

Good Ok will do. Thanks