Need to Re-caulk Cockpit Floor

OK, now Patty is really tearing her hair out (she would have torn mine out, but I was not home)...we are obviously too stupid to use a caulking gun. Yesterday, we called David because the directions on the BoatLife Life-Calk cartridge say "cut tips off nozzle and cartridge" (honest, that is a direct quote), only there IS no "tip" on the cartridge. David says to cut the tip off the nozzle and poke a hole in the cartridge with an ice pick or something. OK, we did that, and got one cartridge applied OK yesterday evening. Today, Patty tried to do the same thing with the next cartridge (two actually). She got about half the caulking out, and then the caulking just stopped coming out of the nozzle. Same thing with the third cartridge. The caulking gun seems to be working fine, the plunger and trigger exert pressure just like they should, but the cartridge will probably explode before anything more comes out the nozzle. It is not clogged, we have run the ice pick down it again, it oozes out, but you CANNOT apply it with the caulking gun. Poof, two $18 cartridges of BoatLife Life-Calk half wasted, AND the job isn't finished. ANY idea what the heck could be going on here????
 
Pat, my guess would be that part of the caulk is setup in the tube (been on the shelf at the store to long) and you are trying to compress a big lump of partly hardened goop. There should be an expiration date on the tube but I would return it for fresh stuff.

stevej
 
Just one more piece of information. It took about three tubes of caulking to seal that dang floor. The gap was pretty big as you can see. That is not right with the inspection plate not revealing the sender wires and grounds. :shock:
 
Pat,
Thank you for posting the photos and the narration! The 5200 looks bad. I have not seen it look like that in any of my boats.

I agree, you got some old "boat life LifeCaulk". Take the tubes back to the dealer and tell them you want replacement tubes. I put all of my caulking into the freezer when not using them. This generally keeps them fresh, and from plugging up. But if they do plug up, I put a flat blade screw driver or lag bolt into the tube thru the aluminum end.

Now the question--does there seem to be any detiorration of the aluminum on the lower outside of the tank? Is the tank 3/4" out of the bilge all under the tank? I would want to varify Surveyor David Pascoe's contention that rubber contains carbon which can be detrimental to the Alumium.

If I under stand, Andrew, that 3/4" thick high density rubber was put under all of the tanks (Plastic and aluminum). But I am confused about the role of the "Shrink wrap tape" fastening the tank.

The other question is the role of the waranttee process in the sealant, the inspection hatch and the tank support.

Thanks,
 
If I remember right I used three tubes on the back seal alone. The gap was a half inch wide in spots and an inch plus deep. Took two months to fully cure but has been tight for over four years.
Interesting to look at the different construction between the years. My deck is actually glassed to the locker bulkheads/dividers and sealed around the edges.
The tank install looks to be close, don't remember if there is some type of support stringer but I think there is. So 95 to 07 12 years and no gas tank problems. Sherewater does not have bilge flow between lockers so the only water that enters the tank area is from hatch leakage and condensation. I don't think I have ever seen more than a 1/4 cup of water in the locker and use a couple of paper towels poked around with a wooden dowel to bail it out.

Nice job and thanks for posting the pictures

stevej
 
On visual inspection, I did not feel the aluminum was deteriorating but just looking at the photos closer, you might see stuff you could imagine to be deterioration. And yes, the big question is whether C-Dory will feel compelled to do anything about it...


thataway":2a7lwry7 said:
Pat,

Now the question--does there seem to be any detiorration of the aluminum on the lower outside of the tank? Is the tank 3/4" out of the bilge all under the tank? I would want to varify Surveyor David Pascoe's contention that rubber contains carbon which can be detrimental to the Alumium.

The other question is the role of the waranttee process in the sealant, the inspection hatch and the tank support.

Thanks,
Click to expand...
 
Pat,
I just looked at the sealing on the foreward edge of the 25's cockpit--and it looks very similar to what you have. Looking at it, it does not look like 5200, I am not sure I want to take it out, but it could be leaking some--I don't worry about the cosmetics, but it does make me curious. I had 5200 on boats for years exposed to the elements and it never looked like this. (I'll take a photo of this later today--might even gouge out a small piece). I agree, that what I have would not clean up with citrius cleaner (I'll try it, and I use citrus cleaner often for fenders, cords etc).
 
FYI,

When I replaced the adhesive around the fish hold on our 25 CD (04 model) I called the factory and was told that they used a Bostic product. Since I was'nt familiar with that brand and had good results with 3M 5200, that's what I used.

Hope this helps, removing that stuff and preparing the surface for a good seal is a challenging job.

Jerry
 
The current boats use large amounts of Bostic. There were certainly places in my 2003 CD 25 where Bostic was used inside of the cabin as a sealant.
 
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