Boatlife Life Seal Longevity

[bbwhitejr]

I have used 3m 5200 and found that it has a very short shelf life after opening. The 2nd time I purchased more, I put it in the refrigerator in a ziplock bag and it lasted for quite a while. Upon Dennis' recommendation, I am going to try Boatlife Life Seal for caulking my vents, edge of cockpit countertop, around base of arch, etc. My question is...Is the Life Seal like the 5200? Does it go bad very quickly, or will it last a week or two?

Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[bmac]

My experience with Boatlife Life Seal is that if you leave the applicator tip on the tube, the sealant will cure in the applicator tip, but all you have to do it remove the applicator tip and you'll have fresh sealant waiting at the top of the tube. The cured sealant easily comes out of the applicator tip as a solid piece.

I have used 3m 5200 and found that it has a very short shelf life after opening. The 2nd time I purchased more, I put it in the refrigerator in a ziplock bag and it lasted for quite a while. Upon Dennis' recommendation, I am going to try Boatlife Life Seal for caulking my vents, edge of cockpit countertop, around base of arch, etc. My question is...Is the Life Seal like the 5200? Does it go bad very quickly, or will it last a week or two?

Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[Lazy Daze]

5200 will sometimes even dry out in an UNOPENED tube. :smt013

I do the same thing as above - as I start to screw the applicator tip down (which is already full of sealant), I let a little bit of the sealant ooze out between the tube's threads and the tip. Makes a perfect seal. I've used some tubes a year or two later and has always been fine.

A plastic ziploc baggie is a better "applicator" than the applicator tip, anyways. Squeeze some into the corner, cut the tip off to make the appropriate sized hole, twist the bag and squeeze. Think "cake decorator bag".

FYI, if you ever have some type of sealant that you don't have a cap for... bubble a little of the sealant out - enough to dribble down over the threads a bit and also a little higher than the threads. Same as above - I've had tubes on the shelf for who knows how long and it never dries out.

 

[JimFromMD]

I've started having chunks of the original caulk come out where my windshield joins the hull exterior. Also noticed that the caulk seals/bedding around the "skylights" in my cabin deck are looking dry and cracked. I've used LifeSeal previously to reattach my blower vent covers and do some sealing around the rub rail, but was wondering if LifeSeal would be good for these new projects. Other options include LifeCaulk, or also 3M 4000 which was one recommendation at the local WM.

Any input is welcomed.

Also, I plan to scrape out the old caulk at the base of the windshield and replace with whichever new product. I'm a little more nervous about removing the current caulking/material around the deck skylights. If I scrape down but do not completely remove the skylights will either LifeSeal or 3M 4000 bond with the old caulk/edge of the plastic skylight material and deck well enough to keep water out.... or will it just pop loose? I have seen on here where others have completely rebedded the skylights, but am not sure that's something I want to tackle personally.

 

[ZZ13]

James, I had my interior skylight trim piece off on my 300DA to fix a stripped screw hole for the trim piece. That exposes the cut edge of the decking. Pretty easy to remove the trim ring and then check the cut edge to see if you have any leaking going on. If not, I'd just scrape out old and fill in new caulk rather than rebed. Also you might want to do some more research to see if that outer caulking is anything more than cosmetic filler for the trough formed by the mold for the skylight. The actual protection may be sandwiched between the skylight lip and the decking. This is just a thought - I have no specific knowledge of how it's constructed.

 

[bbwhitejr]

Thanks for the input guys! As for 5200...I have one of the small tubes that I bought back in June. I have used it 2-3 times since and it has been good. I have kept in a zip lock in the refrigerator with the cap screwed on. I picked it up today and squeezed the tube a little and it felt good, but don't know. The 5200 seemed very "watery." It would run very easily when I used it-not thick like normal caulk is. Is it all this way?

Thanks again...l

 

[ttmott]

bbwhite - 5200 is an adhesive and will be difficult to use as a caulking as it doesn't "tool" well at all. I tried 4400 and 4000UV to re caulk the engine room vents and when I went to tool the seam it dragged and balled up and basically made a mess; finally ended up cleaning it out and starting over. Tried the 4000 again in short 1 foot sections and had better results. I would stay with the Lifeseal as it is a caulking where the 5200, 4400, and 4000 are adhesives. Note that the Lifeseal has silicone modifiers which help it to be tooled onto the seam.

as far as storing the 3M stuff and the fact it cures when exposed to moisture, for the large caulking tubes, I vacuum bag them; seems to work well. For the small squeeze tubes I put them in ziplock bags but at best a couple of months until no longer useable. But I live in 95% plus humidity which doesn't help.

 

[bbwhitejr]

Dennis sent me down the road with the Life Seal as a caulk for my vents and other "caulking" jobs. You are 100% correct about 5200 not tooling well at all. I wondered it the big caulk gun tubes were that watery as well, but had already decided to go with the Life Seal for my caulking jobs. I also like the fact that the Life Seal has UV inhibitors and is not supposed to yellow. Thanks for the advice.