Sealing Railing Stanchions

[Mark Laurnen]

I have a 2004 Albin. Although I store it under cover, I suspect that one, or more, of the bow rail stanchion bases may be leaking slightly where they are screwed to the deck. After 20 years this does not surprise me. Ideally, I assume it would be best to remove the rail in its entirety and replace it with new sealant at all screw points. The rail is continuous from the bowsprit to about 2/3 of the boat length back on each side. I would like to avoid hauling the boat for this, and do not think I could safely accomplish this alone. Alternatively, do any of you experienced skippers think that I could get by with simply removing each screw individually and the replacing it after filling the screw hole with new sealant? I was thinking of utilizing 3M Marine Adhesive Sealant 5200, removable not permanent. Would any of you recommend method or another product here? I appreciate all feedback and advice. Thank you.

 

[trihartsfield]

I have added cleats using this method and it seems to work great.

Chris

Bedding Deck Hardware With Bed-IT Tape - Marine How To

Originally published December 2003 *Moved & Edited September 2017 Bedding With Bed-It Tape 5/20/2022 IMPORTANT UPDATE BED-IT TAPE IS BACK PURCHASE BED-IT TAPE Countersunk/Beveled Hole Over the years,

marinehowto.com

 

[Comodave]

First off I would not use 5200 for something that may need rebedding in the future l

I rebedded the bow rail on a previous boat. A friend helped me do it. We unscrewed all the bolts, it was through bolted, and lifted the rail up and supported it above the deck while we rebedded it. It wasn’t easy but it is doable. It could be done in the water but I actually did it over the winter when that boat was in the barn.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. ML. We rebedded our "bow" rail prior so selling her. Rail was about 1/3 length of boat. Removed all screws and carefully lifted rail inboard to rest on deck. Cleaned up and coated (Cetol) cap rail then rebedded with butyl tape as described by Mr. t's link (post #2). Would also strongly advise NOT to use 5200. You WILL have to do it again at some point in the future.

 

[Datenight]

Mark, I rebedded the rail on my NP 39. Was not leaking, preventative maintenance. Similar to the methods described above. I would un screw about 4 stanchions at a time, lift, rebed then fasten about 80%. Move on to the next. Came back the next day and snugged everything up. Would use butyl tape the next time.
Rob

 

[Mark Laurnen]

Thank you all for the savvy advice. I was doubting my thoughts about using 5200 as even the removable formulation hardly seems "removable". I suppose that if I do this at the dock, I probably should have a supply of replacement screws ahead of time!

 

[Mark Laurnen]

I will find out soon enough, but I am not certain that my railing stanchions are actually through bolted. I do not know how I will access the underside if in fact they actually are. Each of the numerous bases has four fasteners and they are small enough, and close enough to together, that I suspect they are screws rather than through bolts. The excellent "How To" video makes a point explaining that the through bolts should remain stationary, not rotated, once they are properly sealed within the unmounted deck fixture. Assuming that I am looking at deck screws, vs bolts, I am not sure this product would work as well for resealing screw mounts. Do any of you have recommendations for a non-silicone sealant that would be liquid enough to form a decent seal around screws when they are reseated? I appreciate the advice to do one section at a time, at least my contiguous railing will keep me from loosing the freed section overboard. Many of you may laugh as I continually fret about "what could possibly go wrong" ... don't ask!

 

[GoneFarrell]

I use BoatLife Life-Caulk sealant with good results, reasonable to work with.

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This stuff is designed for your project, is polysulfide, not silicone.

Lift/clean/prep/paint 3 or 4 stanchion areas as described above, apply goo and screw down, then clean up bead around the baseplate.

If you go with butyl be very careful trimming it around the baseplate so as not to cut through the rail coating/paint as that will cause the paint to lift over time.

 

[Mark Laurnen]

Fantastic! Thank you!

 

[SIBERNUT]

Lost hardware- I saw a picture somewhere of guy working on pulpit. He had an open umbrella underneath. (Upside down of course). When I do my rails I'll get one from starvation army & bend one side flat.

 

[Mark Laurnen]

Excellent innovation.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. GF. Re: Your post #8. When "trimming" excess butyl tape, I use a plastic putty knife. Works a treat.

 

[Comodave]

I would use butyl tape for this application if the rails are through bolted. If they are screwed down then I would use a caulk. Butyl needs to be compressed and screws may not have enough clamping power to compress the butyl properly. I also like to countersink the holes to enable the caulk or butyl to make an O ring around the screw or bolt.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. C. I agree screws must have enough purchase to be able to be tightened enough to compress the butyl tape. Sort of self determining IMO. ie: Those screws that are too loose should be removed and the holes filled to provide sufficient bite for screws when re-installed. When I did ours there WERE some that were sloppy so I filled with thickened epoxy and wood (teak) "toothpicks" then re-drilled.

 

[SteveK]

When using caulk do not tighten screws all the way, leave 1/16~ left to go. Then when the caulk sets tighten all the way.

 

[luna]

Provided the underside of the stanchion base and the surface of the boat are reasonably smooth and parallel, why not use a gasket?

I just put in 9 new thru hulls, not an ounce of caulking was used just pipe dope, o-rings and gaskets. No leaks.

 

[Comodave]

I would not do that since the stanchions will work as people lean and pull on them. Ideally butyl tape is the thing to use, if you can compress it properly, since it will stretch when the stanchions work. A gasket will not stretch.

There is a great article on marinehowto.com on how to bed things.

 

[luna]

I would agree with you if your stanchions are screwed down. If they are bolted and the whole assembly moves as one, I would use a gasket.

 

[Bacchus]

I have used BedItTape with screwed attachment and it worked fine. It did take a few days of retightening in warm Wx.
Butyl itself doesnt need to be " squeezed out" to perform well as it seals very well and is sticky. Just try putting some tape between a clean surface and a deck fitting... press into place w/o fasteners and then try to pull it off. If both surfaces are clean the adhesion will be rather strong.
As far as letting caulk set and then retightening fasteners guarantees the bond to the fastener is broken...

 

[Hippocampus]

Agree with above. Butyl is the way to go. Read MaineSail for proper procedure. For continuous SS railing think you should always rebed the entire structure. If one failed the rest will soon enough. A bear of a job so do it once and do it right. Use a dental tool to make sure there hasn’t been water migration lateral to the holes. If so fix that before proceeding.