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My plan to reduce water leaks from the deck started with the handrails, which needed freshening up as well.



Sanded them down, drilled the screw holes oversize, filled with epoxy and coated the base. Used masking tape as a dam to hold in the epoxy. Didn't work very well but ok. Found a third of the copper screws had broken and left most of shaft in the wood. Took a bit to get em out. Plenty of holes then to fill with epoxy.




I painted the rails with Cabot's Aquadeck as an experiment. I wanted something easy to apply. Aquadeck is water based, fast recoat, long-life decking oil. I don't expect it to last as long as quality applied marine varnish but then it is gunna be so easy to re-do (and didn't take long to put on), and I can do several coats in one afternoon out on the boat. I got 'New Natural' which I expected to be clearish but it is noticebly brown-yellow.

Cleaned the contact points using my trusty chisel, hand held to scrap off the old goo, then 150 grade sandpaper.



Re-drilled the hole near the front hatch. I could reach the handrail and put the screw in from inside to hold the rail. Used masking tape to hold the rest of the rail. Lightly drilled up from inside to mark the rail. Took rail off, checked for mark, re-drilled all the holes centre of the rail.

Put white butyl tape (from http://www.tapesonline.com.au/double-sided-white-butly-tape.html)
on the rail where it contacts the roof. Also put a small rolled ball of butyl into the countersinking in the drill hole.

I decided to try butyl tape for sealing after reading about it on a USA site http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/63554-bedding-deck-hardware-butyl-tape.html. I could not get the same sort as used in the USA but contacted an Australian company Optiseal http://www.optiseal.com.au/index.php) which to my surprise, was quick to respond to my questions. The guy told me he had sailed and knew the joys of ocean sailing where at night the drips through the deck onto the bunk was most annoying. He suggested I try their white butyl tape so I am.



Bit of an adventure putting sticky gooey tape on seven points on the handrail then putting it in place and trying to screw it down from inside the cabin. Another pair of hands would have proven useful.

All done. Now to see if the experiments with the Optiseal tape and the Aquadeck is successful.

Wow you have done sterling work. QUESTION, how did you know there was water getting in around the grab rails? I am wondering about the hand rails on Night Cap. I bought Butyl tape from the USA (grey) and have used it on the chain plates and on cleats. Very happy with it.

Cheers, John

John, I assumed water was getting in underneath the rail since there were some gaps in places between the rail and roof. Also, the old sealant which I could scratch at with a screwdriver was brittle. When I took off the rail it was easy to see the degradation of the old sealing, what was left of it.

On the inside of the cabin, the old screws were sealed at the screw head with some hard-setting sealant. I cleaned that off and did not re-seal on the inside. Reason being, if there is a leak, I want to see it, not have it simply get in between the roof and liner and stay sloshing around in there somewhere.

Was the grey butyl you bought from Compass Marine (Maine Sail onSailNet forum)? I am interested as the site I saw only sold to the USA.

Good to hear you have had success with the grey butyl as I will progressively work over every deck fitting and use butyl. I have been noticing way too many leaks inside so with the wet season coming, stopping the leaks is becoming high importance.

I'm glad to see there are more butyl converts around. I got some of the grey stuff from the USA. It's so much easier to work with than Sikaflex, and I've had no leaks wherever i've used it.

A question: is Bluetack made of butyl? It sure looks and behaves like it!
Graeme

Update: The Cabot's Aquadeck was looking a bit faded in patches on the top edge of the grab rail so I gave the rails a quick wipe with sandpaper and put on a fresh coat.

Patchy Aquadeck



That's only 3 months since I originally did the rails so I am thinking the product is not so good for the boat. The river has been fresh, getting a bit saltish now, but the sun is a scorcher here in Central Qld so I think that may be what's affecting the Aquadeck. Will see how long this top-up coat lasts. The boards in the backyard done with Aquadeck (seat at base of rainwater tank) last and last but I noticed it only gets a half day of sun and morning stuff so not as bad as all day like on the boat.

A lot of folks make up material ( blue sunbrella) covers for their varnished timber handrails. You would just need a few push studs or some Velcro to fasten it under each grab handle. It would keep the sun off and probably make recoating an annual or biannual job.