Stuff That Works, Goop & Goo
Index
Loctite
www.loctite.com
Vibration and movement are always present on a boat at
sea and can easily loosen screws. To avert the substantial problems that
even a single backed-out screw can cause, we use Loctite thread lock fluid.
Use Blue if you want to undo it easily, Red if you want to work at it and
Green if you want to have to use explosives.
Back to Index
Plexus
www.itwplexus.com
It used to be that when we wanted to attach something
to our aluminum hull we had it welded. This requires special equipment
and a skilled operator, not to speak of all the attendant mess and paint
damage. Not anymore, we now use Plexus.
Plexus will stick to just about anything, and without much, or in most cases, any surface preparation. Hard to believe, I know, but we have used it and it works. It even adheres aluminum to itself and to other materials. (A primer is recommended for aluminum, but not required.) We have used it to install a depth sounder transducer into an aluminum hull.
But Plexus is not just for big projects. Our latest use was to glue stainless steel nuts and washers to the soon to be inaccessible back of some wood cabinetry to take the machine screws that hold grab rails. Sure, we could have used epoxy and the nuts might even have stayed stuck if we cleaned everything perfectly. With Plexus we just gooped up some nuts and washers, stuck them on and an hour later they were a permanent part of the cabinetry. We did not even make sure that the nuts and washers were a good fit to the wood since Plexus has great gap filling. We treated the machine screw threads with Tef-Gel (see below).
There is just one drawback with Plexus: It is highly toxic and the fumes are particularly noxious. Don’t even think about working around this stuff without a well fitted respirator with new organic cartridges, eye protection, and gloves.
The manufacturer provides several automatic mixing dispensers.
Plexus is a two part product with a 1:1 mix ratio, which comes in many
different formulations with kick times that range from a few minutes to
several hours.
Back to Index
Tef-Gel
www.tefgel.com.au, www.tef-gel.se and www.wolfwire.com
Maintaining an aluminum boat has made us especially paranoid
about making sure we use an anti-corrosive agent whenever we screw anything
to anything else. We have found that Tef-Gel, a teflon product, does the
best job. Stainless steel screws back easily out of aluminum even after
several years if they've been applied with a liberal coating of Tef-Gel.
We don't order one tube, we order a boxful!
Back to Index