Glue Tool
Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 1:44 pm
I spoke a while back about using a diffent type of polyurethane then the 3M 5200. It's a lot cheaper (this 28 oz tube was $6), same material, it's just the ugly duckling cousin of 5200.
Well, we finally got some non-rain weather here, so I got a few jobs done on the boat. One big one was to seal the seam between hull and deck. I was getting water wicking up through there when the toe rail was in place. I decided to seal the seam at the fiberglass overlap and I'll likely do the same under the toerail.
The dilemma was in how to get the caulk up into the seam far enough to seal past the screw holes. Found an air driven grease gun on sale for $15. The gun shoots a metered amount of product with each pull of the trigger--very easy to control!
So, I made a nozzle out of a brass nipple that fit the threads on the grease gun. Cut off one end of the threads, heated it up with my mapp torch to keep splitting to a minimum, and tapped away with a hammer to pinch down the end. Ran a grinder over it to further taper and smooth the edges.
This nozzle easily pushed well up into the seam and the grease gun provided the rest of the work. As you can see, the caulk/adhesive fired well into the seam as evidenced by it's pushing out the screw holes as well.
Now, what about clean-up, you may ask. Well, my time is worth more than $15, so the greasegun was a one-use purchase from the get-go. First mate helped me with catching any blow-out, probably took us 30 mins including masking the hull with tape.
Sweet!
Well, we finally got some non-rain weather here, so I got a few jobs done on the boat. One big one was to seal the seam between hull and deck. I was getting water wicking up through there when the toe rail was in place. I decided to seal the seam at the fiberglass overlap and I'll likely do the same under the toerail.
The dilemma was in how to get the caulk up into the seam far enough to seal past the screw holes. Found an air driven grease gun on sale for $15. The gun shoots a metered amount of product with each pull of the trigger--very easy to control!
So, I made a nozzle out of a brass nipple that fit the threads on the grease gun. Cut off one end of the threads, heated it up with my mapp torch to keep splitting to a minimum, and tapped away with a hammer to pinch down the end. Ran a grinder over it to further taper and smooth the edges.
This nozzle easily pushed well up into the seam and the grease gun provided the rest of the work. As you can see, the caulk/adhesive fired well into the seam as evidenced by it's pushing out the screw holes as well.
Now, what about clean-up, you may ask. Well, my time is worth more than $15, so the greasegun was a one-use purchase from the get-go. First mate helped me with catching any blow-out, probably took us 30 mins including masking the hull with tape.
Sweet!
