Marine Adhesive & Marine-Grade Sealants
Marine adhesives and sealants are important for routine maintenance and fall into many categories, including caulks and sealants for waterproofing, glues for bonding, and tapes for masking when applying gelcoat, paint, and nonskid. » Read More
Learn More About Marine Adhesive & Sealants
Contents
Types of Marine Adhesive, Caulks, Sealants, & Tapes
Marine adhesives come in many different formulations for many different applications. Here are some of the more common types in the marine industry, with examples of specific products.
Adhesive Sealants
When most boaters think of marine sealants, they’re thinking of adhesive sealants, which look and work much like the caulking you’d use around the house. Most have adhesive properties, but their primary purpose is sealing, not bonding. These sealants usually come in either a small tube or a 10 oz. cartridge for use in a standard caulking gun.
There are several formulations, including silicone, polyurethane, polysulfide, polyether, and elastomeric. Each has its strengths and weaknesses: Read More
Marine Glues
Various types of glues are commonly used in boat building and boat repair to bond parts together. They offer some natural water resistance, but their primary purpose is bonding, not sealing. Read More
Butyl Tape
Although not as well known for marine applications as the various adhesive sealants, butyl tape is an excellent choice for bedding deck hardware. It has low adhesion making disassembly and removal easy, remains pliable indefinitely rather than curing, is compatible with all plastics, resists UV, and, maybe best of all, is mess-free and requires no masking for installation.
Masking Tapes
Masking tape is widely used in all aspects of boat building, repair, and upgrades. Quality basic masking tapes like Shurtape General Purpose, Shurtape Contractor Grade, Shurtape Blue Painter’s Tape, and FrogTape Multi-Surface Painter’s tape are also useful.
For special applications, we also carry FrogTape 325 and FrogTape 225 for high-temperature use. These tapes are not only resistant to high temperatures but also are highly conformable for use in compound and tight-radius curves.
Tef-Gel Corrosion Eliminator
From Tef-Gel, we have this corrosion eliminator caulk. This has been designed to provide a protective barrier against corrosion caused by dissimilar metals being in close contact with one another. It can be used to stop stainless steel nuts and bolts from galling and seizing. Which is ideal when you need to disassemble parts and components.
How to Apply Marine Adhesive?
When it comes to applying adhesives, it depends on what type and by which brand. Whereas some come in small tubes that can be squeezed out in a controlled fashion when you are re-sealing, others need to be used as a dispensing tool.
The application for most of these types of adhesives is relatively similar, squeeze the container and apply it to the area you want to create an airtight environment.
Contact Us
If you’re having trouble finding the exact part you're looking for, the best first step is to take a picture and give us a call.
Our customer service team is here Mon-Fri 8am - 5pm and would love to help you track down the exact hardware you need.
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