Marine putty/sealant

[mireland]

The previous owner of my boat seems to have used some form of non-setting putty for a multitude of sealing purposes around the boat above the waterline. When you come to take the fitting off again the bond between the surfaces is terrific but once the bond is broken the putty itself comes away and rolls into a nice clean non stick ball in your hands. I have even recycled some of it!

However I now have none left and I am about to fit an emergency tiller blanking plate. If I use Sikaflex or even ordinary silicone the plate will be too hard to shift in that 'emergency' so I am looking for a non setting sealant putty.

Does anyone know of one that I can use?

Thanks in advance.

 

[theia]

is it not plumbers mait!

 

[Ardenfour]

sounds a bit like the stuff they supply with kitchen sinks to seal them to the worktops - comes in a coiled strip protected by peel-off wax paper...

 

[Robin]

I am wondering why you need to use a sealant on an emergency tiller cover plate? If this is a normal screw fit type, all I would do would be to grease the threads or use PTFE tape on them. If this is a screwed down cover plate (no removeable part) then there are sealant tapes available of varying widths and thickness, these can be used to make a soft gasket which will stick to the bottom but not to the plate itself which can then be removed easily.

 

[geoffatstanpit]

Sounds like BluTack. I've used it for sealing/sticking jobs on the boat (including mounting the echo-sounder transducer) and it doesn't seem to have any hidden snags.

Geoff

 

[TobyJug]

Hello,
Adshead and Ratcliffe manufacture a product called GZ tape which is a flat section butyl strip interleaved with waxed paper and is supplied on rolls of different thickness and width but geneally about 12mm x 3mm it is available in black white or brown and has the characteristics you describe ie. similar characteristics to Blu Tack
I have used it with great sucess in sealing frames and fitting etc above the water line which may require subsequent non destructive removal, also white spirit can be used to clean up any edges.
It has a claimed service life of 20 years and stores well as long as it is not crushed.
Best of all it fairly inexpensive and is available from most good glazing suppliers.

Try here http://www.arbo.co.uk/dsheets/pdf/pdf.htm

Trust this helps

Philip