Practical Boat Owner - January 2016

Fitting new port light seals

Goop – or to give it its full-on American name, ‘Amazing Goop’ – is a marine adhesive which quite a few boat owners haven’t heard of, it would seem. Perhaps

this isn’t all that surprising because not all chandlers stock it, although it has been around quite a long time. It is a very versatile, fl exible adhesive which

dries clear and can repair and seal a wide variety of materials. As well as using it as a general sealant on board I’ve also used it to make repairs to my diving

mask and dry suit. It can also be used on glass, wood, metal, leather, vinyl, rubber and other materials.What I fi nd particularly handy about it

is that it comes both in a cartridge and a tube. Having it in a tube is especially useful because it can be used and reused in small amounts. Often the

problem with sealants and caulking compounds which are only available in a cartridge is that once they are opened they dry out too quickly or go hard before

the cartridge is fithe fridge. This is both expensive and wasteful. The Goop in the tube, however, seals with a simple screw cap and I’ve nished, even if kept in

had no problems with it curing in the nozzle. A 3.7fla 10.2flinclude VAT. It is available from http://www. .oz cartridge is £8.40; prices .oz tube costs £6.60 and

palmermetals.co.uk, tel: 0845 644 9343.

A versatile marine sealant

position, holding it with gentle pressure for a couple of minutes.^9 evenly in the rim and bed it down into Carefully fi t the new seal so that it sits particular sealant, Goop, I used white spirit.^10 clean rag and solvent; with this Remove any excess adhesive with a sealant bonding to it when you screw the port light tightly shut.^11 Put some Vaseline around the internal frame edge to prevent any excess

between 2 and 10 minutes.^12 Refi t the opening part when the sealant has partially cured. With Goop, this takes the pin is fl^13 With the port light open, lightly tap the pivot pin back in place until the end of ush with the frame.

so keep them with the same Pivot pins may vary slightly for each port light frame, TIP

sealing ring for refiIf they are damaged or worn, they should tting.

be replaced.

material takes 24 hours to cure, so only lightly^14 The new seal is now fi tted. However, the
clamp shut the seals for this period.