seam compound

[johngsandusky]

Hi. I'm doing some recaulking on my Friendship.Asking for recommendations, based on your experience, for seam compounds. I put in slick seam 5 years ago, it's held up well. I used tar in some deadwood seams, also good. I won't use anything hard to remove, like 5200 or epoxy. Also, paint the seams? before or after cotton? with what? your experience please. Input?

[Thad Van Gilder]

red lead over the cotton, and compounded with interlux brown.

-Thad

[EASLOOP]

Get some linseed oil putty, some raw linseed oil, boiled linseed oil, a tub of powdered red lead.
Make up some paint with the red lead and boiled linseed oil. User this to paint the cleaned out seams. When hardened drive the cotton in the appropriate way. When hardened off paint again with the red lead paint you have made. When hardened off make up some linseed putty mixed with red lead powder and topped off with raw linseed oil. The idea is to get a fairly stiff mixture with a nice orangey red colour. Us a pallet knife to force this into the seams pushing it ahead of yourself (i.e. do not drag the mix into the seam).
This is what I have done on my 45 year old East Anglian Sloop. After launching (she had been ashore for 11 years) the only place she leaked was where I failed to put in just two short lengths of cotton, DUH!

Good luck
John

[EASLOOP]

Me again,
Meant to say that my boat was last caulked when built using the same stuff I am using - must be good.
rgds
John

[Noah]

I hate the Interlux brown! I reefed all my seams of compound last spring and re-did them all with Interlux Brown. The boat gets pulled each winter, and this spring the Interlux crap is hard and cracking off/out in big hunks. Terrible.

SlickSeam is ok, but when you need to sand the bottom it gunks up the paper very quickly.

I think this year I'm going with some Boatlife or 101. I had hoped that the traditional way would work, but it totally failed. And it was 1 weeks worth of work...

Noah

[pcford]

I don't think Slick Seam should be considered as a seam compound. It is used 'round here as a temporary expedient to slather on seams which are dried out. It is expected to squeeze out when boat goes in the water. Temporary expedient only. Works fine for this use.

[Dan McCosh]

I used slickseam for a couple of years. It is basically filled beeswax, and one problem it creates is not much likes to stick to beeswax. The roofing cement/tar was also tried, and basically is pretty good, but gums sandpaper and is very messy. Interlux was difficult to use, quite stiff. Lately, we've been using something called Neoseal, which is a liquid neoprene. It has been quite good, after a three-year trial. A fresh seam needs some priming, with thinned paint, then caulk, then red lead, then compound.

[imported_Jimmy]

several people have mentioned difficulty in sanding as being a disadvantage of various seam coupounds. I thought it was a very bad idea to be sanding your bottom paint since it is full of toxic stuff. I understood scraping was the preferred option.

The seam compound in my boat is red lead putty, on the bottom anyway, and to the best of my knowledge it goes back at least to the original owner (<1970) and may even be original. A previous owner had a "shipwright" epoxy in shallow wooden wedges in the topside seams. I would NOT recommend that.

[Gary Bergman]

5200 over cotton......removes simply enough when necessary, sandable after 14 days....

[johngsandusky]

Thank you all for your replies. I don't sand, I scrape, paint sticks well to slick seam and tar, some comes off when I scrape. There is orange stuff in the seams now, tenacious and very hard.I cut it loose with a razor, then scrape.

[shamus]

Interlux brown is only meant for use below waterline, I believe, they have a white product for topsides.

[TimothyB]

Originally posted by Noah:
I hate the Interlux brown! I reefed all my seams of compound last spring and re-did them all with Interlux Brown. *snip*

I had hoped that the traditional way would work, but it totally failed. And it was 1 weeks worth of work...
NoahI have to say.. I don't think you could call using Interlux Brown Traditional, Noah ;)

If you used linseed oil putty with red lead added for below the waterline, white lead added for above, then we're talking!

As a side note, fisherman which were(are) still using wooden planked boats up in the northern latitudes I noticed used ordinary exterior window glazing compound after painting the seam with something 'suitably toxic'. DAP 33 is linseed oil based, FYI.

[sdowney717]

Hi Dan,
the neoseal you mention, is it like the soft stuff that builders place in the expansion joints of brick buildings? It is a soft rubbery material that I have always thought would work well in a wooden seam. pressing on it, it feels spongy yet it is real tough.
Where can you buy it?
What is the manufacturer and name and a link that talks about neoseal?

[Hughman]

Window glazing compound, which is essentially linseed oil putty, mixed with whatever bottom paint you are using to thin it out. You can fill a caulk tube with it.

you must paint the cotton, as described above,
and force the compound in, followed by a putty knife.