Hi All,

Can anyone please advise on the best way to seal keelband screws on a wooden Merlin. It has been suggested for me to either dip the screws in varnish, Sikaflex, calking of silicone sealant.

Has anyone any suggestion/experience? Any advise greatly appreciated.

Dip them in varnish, if you want to remove them again for instance to replace slot gaskets rub them with vaseline or candle wax before you dip them in varnish, if you are confident of never removing them again dip them in epoxy (varnish or araldite etc.)If you are putting the keelband down a bit of wet varnish will help it bed down too.

Varnish is good, Sikkaflex may be better but much easier to get in a mess with!

Avoid bathroom sealant like the plauge, i cringe everytime we get a boat to paint/varnish that's had anything silicone based on it. It always bites you back as the paint won't stick to it and it's a real pain to get off.

If you do dip them in epoxy and want to get them out again some time, then just use the base epoxy with no hardener was the advice I have been given in the past.  Varnish is fine, I used to have a tin just for this purpose in which the surface had hardened as I had left the lid off.  You just pushed the screw through the skin into the liquid gunk below.

Andrew

I agree 100% with secondhand man - if you use silicone sealant you will never get a coat of varnish to adhere to the coat below unless you strip back to bare wood.  It gets everywhere too.  Ghastly stuff and best left to the bathroom.

If you want to get epoxy fixed screws out (or any screws for that matter) before you start chewing the head up with a screwdriver - especially brass - just get a small soldering iron and place it on the head of the screw for a minute.  It won't damage the wood but it will soften the glue and it works a treat and the screws will come out pretty easily.  Basically if you are really forcing the screw out it might snap and then it's a bugger to get the stub out.   But follow the advice above when you come to replacement and you won't have so much trouble in the future.

taking difficult screws out. Turn clockwise first then anti-clockwise.

As I discovered the other weekend putting up a garden gate, the human torso can generate much more torque than the hand can transfer to a screwdriver. Large blisters appeared on my palm very quickly, and I had to put an end to all screwing that weekend.....(fnah fnah).

Thanks All,
Really appreciate the advise, have gone for wax 'n' varnish this time, but I like the soldiering iron trick.
Mags, get yourself an electric screwdriver!! - less friction!!...(fnah..fnah)

Epoxy, with hardener. Coat the screw in slipwax (mould release agent) before fixing.