02-DEC-2005
Flip Deck Hardware
Once the bolt heads are wrapped and pushed through flip the hardware over.
02-DEC-2005
Install Butyl Cones
Step 4 - Strip some more butyl tape and make another round string. Wrap the string around the bolt threads or shoulder. Knead and work & twist the cones into the threads of the bolt and shape them like a cone.
02-DEC-2005
Apply Butyl Tape To Hardware
Step 5 - Apply butyl tape to the rest of the base. It is perfectly ok to stretch and pull on the butyl while laying it on in order to make slightly thinner. For this project I used 1/2" wide by 1/16" thick gray Bed-It Butyl Tape. I make it available for purchase to readers if this site.
02-DEC-2005
Press Hardware Onto Deck
Step 6- In colder climates you may want to pre-heat the butyl to soften it some. After pre-heating, with heat gun on the warm setting, line up the bolts with the holes and press the hardware firmly onto the deck. I will often stand on the fitting, if possible, to partially displace and seat the butyl.
For illustrative purposes clear polycarbonate was used in place of a deck, another Compass Marine first, but don't worry one of the magazines will surely rip this idea off in no time. (Wink).
This photo allows you to see what actually happens when you bed with butyl.
02-DEC-2005
Apply Backing Plates & Tighten
Step 7 - Install the backing plates, in this case I just used fender washers, and begin to tighten. Please use suitable backing plates. These fender washers would not be the best choice in a stanchion or deck cleat as they are far to thin and a little on the small side diameter wise for a cored deck.
You will be best to have two people or a good way to keep the bolt from moving. Ideally you do not want the machine screw or bolt to spin, but if you absolutely have to, you can slightly soften the butyl with a q-tip and some mineral spirits and go for it.
*****IMPORTANT, IMPORTANT, IMPORTANT*****
Tighten a little bit at a time as the butyl will ooze out slowly because the consistency is quite thick by design. Tighten, let sit, tighten, let sit etc. etc.. When little to none squishes out & the bolt & nut become tight you can stop. This can take DAYS of small tightening events or weeks if you want to spread it out. It does not cure so do not rush it..
If you have a wood deck core DO NOT crush it by over tightening, better yet bore out some core and pot the hole with thickened epoxy. Unlike the "two step" method you are not waiting for the butyl to "cure" or change consistency but you do need to allow it to slowly displace out from under the fitting. This compression & squeezing forces the butyl into every nook and cranny and makes for an excellent seal..
Here I have taken pictures of the underside and the top side of the fitting.
14-FEB-2006
Use Proper Backing Plates!
As I mentioned in the last photo please use properly sized backing plates!
This is a prime example of DIY boat work gone bad. Ouch!! This stanchion base had NO sealant of any type installed. No polysulfide, no a polyurethane, no butyl and not even the dreaded silicone.
As a result of this unbelievably poor installation the core turned to mush. The thin fiberglass deck skins, combined with dinky little washers, could not withstand the forces applied on the 24" lever attached to the stanchion base, and ........ rip!
02-DEC-2005
Butyl Will Squeeze Out
After tightening, the excess butyl will squeeze out around the edges. The easiest way to clean it up is to pull or peel it away first. Use some of the excess butyl to make a small ball that you can then make quick stab & pull motions at the remaining oooze around the fitting. This quick stab & pull with a butyl ball in hand motion will get about 85-90% of the butyl cleaned up.
02-DEC-2005
Clean Up Butyl Ooze
Step 8 - Peel away excess ooze and clean with Meguiars cleaner wax, or a rag slightly dampened with mineral spirits. Do not saturate the rag with mineral spirits as it can creep under the fitting, just damp.
I find a ball of already "peeled" butyl works well at pulling away excess using a stab and pull motion. Stab the ball into the joint and pull away. The butyl will stick to the ball first and usually peel away from the joint. Alternatively you can use plastic razor blades or scrapers.
Contrary to popular myths about bedding all the Bed-It Tape does not squeeze out from between the surfaces even after the fitting is fully tight. This is the magic of Bed-It Tape, but it does take multiple small tightening events, ideally without letting the bolt spin, to get the vast majority of the butyl to squeeze out. If you do spin the bolt a little don't fret about it. Butyl does not harden of change consistency, like in the two step process with a marine sealant, and can take some spinning without causing a leak. Still the less spinning the better.
*****IMPORTANT, IMPORTANT, IMPORTANT*****
I know I may sound like a broken record but people keep emailing me about this issue and the ONLY reason is because they did not fully read or comprehend TIGHTEN SLOWLY..
DO NOT try and tighten the hardware to fully tight right away. Bed-It Tape relies on a slow compression to do it's job and seal properly. It takes time for it to compress, displace and move into every nook and cranny. The larger the deck fitting the MORE TIME it takes for this process to take place. Because of the density and formulation of Bed-It Tape it takes time for it to get displaced and squished out the edges of the fitting. When it stops you can stop making small tightening adjustments.
Bed-It Tape is pretty dense, and the perfect consistency for bedding marine deck hardware, but you must be patient when tightening the hardware. Remember you're not waiting for the butyl to change consistency, harden or cure so these tightening adjustments are not time constrained at all. If you can't get back to it for a month just pick up where you left off.
I sometimes take about two to three days of small tightening events to bed the hardware. Yes this is more labor intensive but the finished product, when done correctly, can still be bone dry beyond 30 years as it has been on over 80% of our own boat. Yes, over 80% of the deck hardware on our boat is still un-rebedded at 33 years old and still NOT leaking.
In colder weather butyl flows slower than in warm so just adjust the tightening adjustments based on temp and how fast it is displacing..
02-DEC-2005
View of Bed-It Tape O-Ring-/ Seal After Tightening
This is a view after tightening to full tight, and then removing the nut and washer. You can see how well it actually seals and also the o-ring seal of very thick butyl created by countersinking & butyl cone. The butyl o-ring created by countersinking the deck side is evidenced and can be seen by the darker colored ring of butyl around the bolt.
02-DEC-2005
What is Bed-It Tape?
This is Bed-It Tape. Bed-It Tape was developed after this article was originally written & published.
It all began when I started to get nasty emails saying the butyl tape folks purchased did not behave or perform as I had described in the article. Some boat owners had even purchased "butyl tape" that was water soluble. I went ahead and began ordering various butyl tapes, despite some only being sold is case lot quantities, and testing it.
I quickly discovered the butyl tapes of today, thanks to changes in EPA standards, were not what they had been in the 70's & early 80's. The products I tested were so horrible I was driven into developing a true marine quality product specifically for this purpose. Bed-It Tape is not a simple run of the mill butyl tape it's a hybrid elastomeric butyl based tape with properties specifically formulated for bedding deck hardware. Bed-It Tape is a Compass Marine Inc. product. This formulation is not licensed to any other companies.
Bed-It Tape is 1/16" thick by 1/2" wide X 50' long. It is specifically engineered & formulated for bedding marine deck hardware and best of all it is manufactured right here in the US supporting US jobs! Even the corrugated packaging is made here in the USA.
Many builders used to use butyl tapes, CS Yachts and many others did, but they all stopped because using butyl in a production environment is significantly more labor intensive, read slower, despite being a better mouse trap.
The benefits of Bed-It Tape are numerous:
#1 It never hardens and remains at the same thick consistency for well over 30 years.
#2 Because it never hardens it always remains flexible.
#3 It is multiples more flexible than a cured polyurethane.
#4 It sticks extremely well to clean gelcoat, fiberglass, plastics, aluminum, bronze, stainless, acrylic, polycarbonates etc. and has been specifically tested on these substrates.
#5 It's NOT a glue, and for through bolted deck hardware you do not need a glue.
#6 You can easily remove hardware sealed with Bed-It Tape in the future, without destroying your decks.
#7 Bed-It Tape is specifically formulated to resist cold flow or creep once properly tightened.
22-JAN-2008
The Original Butyl at 29 Years Old
As I mentioned a quality butyl tape is VERY, VERY flexible. This photo represents well over 1000% elongation of the original squished thickness and this pre-EPA butyl is still stretching and much of it has not yet failed.
You will also notice that it is still perfectly adhered to the deck and the cleat and never let go of either despite its very low 10-20 PSI bond strength, when compared to some polyurethanes gelcoat destroying 700 +/- PSI adhesion.
Butyl tape also cleans up easily. Remove the fitting and clean the surface with mineral spirits and a rag. That's it!
Because butyl can be softened with mineral spirits the one place I won't use it is on fuel fills or fuel vents. If you normally clean your decks with potent solvents, doubtful, then just be careful around the butyl bedded hardware.
22-JAN-2008
No Leaks After 29 Years! Bone Dry Core!!
Here is a look at the below deck view of that cleat pictured above.
This cleat had been bedded 29 years prior to this photo with butyl, and frustratingly, with no beveling of the holes. Despite the lack of countersinking/beveling it was used for 29 years covering over 50k+ nautical miles. Butyl is an exceptional sealant and the deck, even after 29 years and 50k+ miles, was still 100% bone dry, not delaminated and confirmed dry with a moisture meter and soundings.
You can see the pure white core and no signs of moisture damage.
