Sealing a 2-piece hull

[Radboat]

I have a Stratos fish and ski and get quite a bit of water in the boat when moving. It appears to be coming in at the seam between the upper and lower hull. The prior owner put silicon caulk it the area under the seam cover which is now loose and coming off. What is the best method to repair this? Clean and re-caulk? I there a sealant better than bath-tub silicone?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Sealing a 2-piece hull

Welcome to Iboats Radboat.

I am assuming you mean the hull/deck joint ?

How do you mean its coming loose ? The rub rail ?

Welp.. remove the rubrail ( insert first if it has one ) .. label each one as it comes off.

Scrape as much silly cone off as possible. you could try a red scotch bright pad to get most of the rest off.

Take a Die grinder ( or Dremel ) and grind the mating edge of your hull/deck seam in about 1/4". Acetone your grindout well .. Tape the deck lip coming down and the hull around your seam. ( kinda hard to explain but basically tape both under and upper side of grindout ). get a tube of 3m 5200 and a plastic spreader. Caulk seam..get spreader and try to push as much in joint..go around and put small bead after that..take spreader and remove excess 5200.. then remove tape.

Caulk every hole around rub rail with 5200..install rub rail. You can put a small bead on the top of the rail..but do NOT caulk underneath it.

Hope it helps m8..

YD.

 

[danond]

Re: Sealing a 2-piece hull

That actually answers a question I had about mine...it looked like it had caulk/sealer underneath, but that must be old wax and other junk. I was going to seal it up, but now I'll pass and just clean it.

 

[Radboat]

Re: Sealing a 2-piece hull

Thanks Yacht Dr. I was not very clear in my question. The rub rail is not loose, the clear caulk used on the underside of the rail by the prior owner is coming loose and peeling off. Would cleaning that mess out and applying the 3M 5200 make an effective seal without replacing the entire rub rail?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Sealing a 2-piece hull

YD is right..... there is just some confusion. You really should remove the rubrail to seal and tighten things up and the re-install your rubrail..... use the old one and do not replace.

 

[Radboat]

Re: Sealing a 2-piece hull

Great idea. Sounds like a fun weekend project! Thanks