Thursday, April 14, 2011

BoatLIFE sux

This is one sucky caulk!
Caulk is one product that all boat owners have in common. On a wooden boat, caulk is used in so many different ways, that its important to make friends with it from the very beginning. Weather you are sealing around  screws, or caulking in between hull planks, never underestimate the potential of this seemingly innocent  product to completely ruin your day. I speak from experience when I say choose your friends wisely.

To prevent water from penetrating into the deck pay special attention to all screws. To reseal them, remove each screw,   scrape off old caulk, dap new caulk into the screw hole, tighten screw and wipe off excess caulk.  

All caulk is not created equally. For years we have used Boat Life caulk, mostly because it was what the pros used, and, since it also happened to be the most expensive caulk, we figured it must the best. Its NOT! Last year, by accident, Travis purchased the West Marine brand of caulk, simply called Multi-Caulk.  It has become our best friend ever since!

All screws have been resealed and caulk neatly wiped off.
Its not often you find a product that is both cheaper and better then its more expensive competition, but that is exactly what we discovered with the West Marine Multi-Caulk.  At $11 per cartridge, compared to  $18 per cartridge of Boat Life, this caulk seems firmer and much much easier to control then the runny and gooey Boat Life. This is important because caulk can spread like wild fire, ending up in strange places, like the end of a Q tip for instance, which can not only ruin your day, but throw off your balance as well.  This leads me to the next and probably most important positive quality of the Multi Caulk- its ease of clean up. This stuff wipes off easily with paint thinner, both off the boat and off your skin.  This is in sharp contrast to Boat Life which only seems to smear around both your hands and the boat, oftentimes leaving hands dirty for days.

Notice the lack of frustration as "the wiper" cleanly removes excess caulk. 
As a final straw, you would think that Boat Life, after the mess and the boogery hands, would at least reward you with a nice end result. But the kicker is that over time, this stuff has yellowed!  So I officially say- Boat Life Calk- you suck!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agreed!

Mid-Life Cruising! said...

Thanks for sharing what you've learned! Now we know what "not" to buy!

Travis and Maggie said...

Wish we knew about this three years ago. It would have cut down on all the cursing during clean up.