Stopping

[wrr]

Draiocht reaches her half century next year. Although I do not want her to resemble moulded Tupperware, the topsides could do with some cosmetic improvement. The caulking is fine but the topsides stopping has cracked in places and her seams are not flush. I propose to rake out some of the stopping, refill and paint.

The question is what stopping compound to use. Tradition dictates white lead putty and pragmatism suggests Sikaflex, followed by a steady hand with a razor blade. Views please.

 

[chippie]

I would go with sikaflex. After all most boats were, and are upgraded throughout their lives which wiil probably be extended by more modern products.
The exception would be those 'absolutely authentic' museum pieces.
If you use sikaflex try the blue masking tape;---it might make the job a little easier.
All just an opinion, It will be interesting to see how others view the question.Good Luck

 

[Castletine]

I'd agree with Chippy on this one - the use of modern materials on an older boat doesn't neccesarily detract - as long as it supports the character of the boat and doesn't deflect from her identity.

Molly had her topsides done about 10 years ago with a mixture of old and new technologies. The seams were packed with caulking cotton, then red lead putty, and all finished off with Sikaflex - not a crack in 10 years and she has been down to the med and back twice!

 

[ianwright]

Putty, with or without white lead paste. It takes primer and paint better than the other stuff and if the first lot lasted fifty years or so why change?

IanW.

Vertue 203, Patience

 

[Mirelle]

I followed Ian's advice earlier this year. Mirelle's seams were showing as the putty had got very hard; it's quite an easy job to rake the stopping out of the seams, harden up the caulking as needed and renew in a couple of places where it had "gone" due to rain water getting in, put a coat of primer in the seam and re-stop.

I used, on Ian's advice, putty with about 1/5 white lead paste mixed in, to which I added a smear of tallow. You can get both of these from Classic Marine by the way.

It seems to me that if you use Sikaflex and a bit of the seam goes, you have the d...l of a job to cut out the Sikaflex to get to it. When Mirelle had bare teak decks (before I discovered Coelan!) the seams were done with Sikaflex over cotton, and there were always a few spots where it came away from the wood.... yes, I did cut back to clean new wood, use the expensive primer, etc...

I will be sticking (literally!) with putty.

 

[Guest]

A possibly cheaper and easier to use option for modern sealants. I have use industrial polyurathane sealant bought from builders merchants at about £3 50 per tube!! I tested the bond by glueing two bits of good ply together and the ply delaminated before the joint failed. In 3 years no trouble but thats not long in wooden boat terms. The only down side is it is only available in grey but if you are painting over it no problems. The suppliers usually have speck sheets available and provided it is listed for durable salt water bonding to wood I cant see why we have to spend a fortune on american imports just to get a pic of a boat on the tube. By the way the stuff I got is made for sealing joints on marine lock gates!

Roly, Voya Con Dios, Glasson, Lancaster