- #STAY AFLOAT EMERGENCY LEAK SEALANT PATCH#
- #STAY AFLOAT EMERGENCY LEAK SEALANT FULL#
- #STAY AFLOAT EMERGENCY LEAK SEALANT CRACK#
I had recently remodeled a bathroom in my home and so had a spare ring. When I was researching Stay Afloat, I saw it was being compared to the soft wax ring used to seal the connection between the bottom of a toilet and the drain in the bathroom floor. This wax toilet ring has a color similar to beeswax, but as with Stay-Afloat, the material commonly used is a blend of petroleum byproducts. For leaks that occur while a traditionally planked boat is swelling up after a long period of dry storage, the Stay Afloat stays quite malleable and will squeeze out as the seams close. That test was with a flat, easily accessible surface properly repairing cracks and fractured plywood would likely require the removal of wax-contaminated wood. With a single wipe-down with acetone, water still beaded up, but after three wipe-downs the water soaked into the wood grain, a sign that the wood was ready for permanent repair. The website’s FAQs recommend that surfaces be scraped clean, then wiped down with an acetone-soaked rag.Īfter scraping a test piece to remove an application of Stay Afloat, it still repelled water, as I expected. Stay Afloat is incompatible with adhesives, paint, and varnish, so a permanent fix for a leak stopped with it starts with the complete removal of the stuff from the damaged area. It is very gooey stuff, and a rag is necessary to rub it off. Soap, water, and a rag are recommended for cleaning your hands after using Stay Afloat.
#STAY AFLOAT EMERGENCY LEAK SEALANT PATCH#
The rigid patch provided more surface area to create an adhesive bond strong enough to hold the plug in place. Putting a patch of cloth over the Stay Afloat didn’t help, but a flat piece of wood or metal did. The Stay Afloat wasn’t stiff enough to keep from bulging up after being applied, and ultimately tore away from the sides of the hole.
#STAY AFLOAT EMERGENCY LEAK SEALANT FULL#
A 3/4″-diameter hole held the Stay-Afloat fix, even when applied with a geyser of water issuing up from the hole and with the full pressure from the 26″ water column.
#STAY AFLOAT EMERGENCY LEAK SEALANT CRACK#
A thin crack was fixed with a swipe or two, wider ones needed a bit more. I smeared Stay Afloat wherever there was a leak and soon had my device watertight.Ĭracks, mimicked by saw kerfs from 1/32″ to 1/8″, were easy to seal even with the full pressure. I had caulked the plywood box seams and the pipe-to-plywood joint, but there were several leaks.
I got my first test of Stay Afloat as soon as I filled the pipe with water. I kept the hose running during my tests to keep the water level from dropping when the test leaks were opened up. The 26″ water column might represent a worst-case scenario of rough water. The pipe I had on hand, 26″ in length, would create less pressure than their test, but more than the draft of any of my boats would. Stay Afloat’s documented testing depth of about 9′ provided much more underwater pressure than a small boat’s leak would be subject to. My leak-testing device created pressure equivalent to that of 26″-deep water. Common sense: the bigger the hole the more you use.” It also depends on how much material you use and how big the damage area is. The FAQs on the Stay Afloat website say: “Stay Afloat has been tested…at 3 meters deep for 24 hours with no compromise. It’s a plywood box with a piece of 7″ plastic drainpipe connected to it. To test the effectiveness of Stay Afloat I wasn’t about to poke holes in any of my boats, so I made a gizmo that could simulate leaks. None of my boats had suffered enough damage to let water aboard, but that’s a possibility worth preparing for. Stay Afloat is soft, sticky wax-like material meant to fix small leaks of the sort I get with my older lapstrake boats. If you’ve been lulled into complacency by a boat that doesn’t leak, a little unexpected trickle of water could lead to a sinking. A small boat kept on a trailer isn’t going to sink while it’s idle, but leaks can occur when it’s in use, so it’s a good idea to be prepared to fix them. If you know a boat’s likely to take on a bit of water, you’re going to keep an eye on it and be prepared to do something about the leaks. “ A leaky boat never sinks,” or at least that is what my father led me to believe when he kept a 27′ carvel-planked sloop at my hometown’s marina. Stay-Afloat is a soft, sticky, wax-like material made of treated petroleum byproducts.
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