Bed-it

[Blue Streak]

Now that RC has closed down his web store, where should I go to get the best butyl tape for bedding deck hardware?

Although I am brand new here, I sent a small donation out of appreciation for his legacy of useful information.

 

[Christian Williams]

All I can say is that I bought West Marine butyl tape maybe seven years ago, and it was a failure. Sticky. Gooey. Useless after a year or two.

RV suppliers may have a better product.

In the meantime, until Maine Sail's store comes back (maybe), I am going to return to caulk when my supply runs out.

 

[Blue Streak]

Thanks for the heads-up.
There is a bewildering array of butyl tape on the net.
This looks interesting. At least it is the same width and thickness.
For that matter, I should order a few different brands, to see which ones work best.

 

[G Kiba]

RV's use butyl tape to seal openings. I found a roll at a local ACE Hardware store that seems to work fine. I did hear a rumor that it is no longer available in California? Is that true?

 

[JPS27]

the first roll of butyl tape I ever bought was from Sailrite. Maybe not as good as MaineSail's, but it has worked fine for me. I just looked and they still sell it. I still have about half a roll of each type even after rebedding just about everything. Stuff goes a long way.

 

[Tin Kicker]

The only butyl I have ever had a problem with was the cheapest stuff I saw one time on Amazon.
Go figure.

The black automotive stuff at NAPA auto parts absolutely ALWAYS works, but you need to be ready for the "ick" factor. It's like the Tar Baby in being almost impossible to get off and dirt LOVES to stick to any of it that is exposed.

 

[dhill]

I recently bought Bed-It butyl tape here:

Compass Marine Bed It Butyl Tape — Original Marine Supplies

High quality marine grade butyl tape!! Bed-It Tape is gray in color, 1/16" thick and 1/2" wide and comes in a 50' roll. Designed to survive the long term in the marine environment, it is the perfect consistency & width for bedding deck hardware. rolls are sold individually.

originalmarinesupplies.com

But they seem to be sold out now...

Dave

 

[Reefpoints]

I discovered this when doing some vacuum bagging of a fiberglass layup: https://www.fibreglast.com/product/gray-sealant-tape-00581

Upon inspection, it looks suspiciously similar to the butyl tape from Maine Sail's site (Compass Marine).

 

[bigd14]

it looks suspiciously similar to the butyl tape from Maine Sail's site

Reefpoints, were you able to compare them in hand? The vacuum bagging material in the video looks a little "wetter" to me than Maine Sail's butyl tape but it's hard to be sure. Hoping RC can recover and reopen his business but until then it would be great to have an alternative source.

 

[Pete the Cat]

I bought some butyl tape from Amazon and it worked fine. Maybe I was lucky.

 

[Reefpoints]

Reefpoints, were you able to compare them in hand? The vacuum bagging material in the video looks a little "wetter" to me than Maine Sail's butyl tape but it's hard to be sure. Hoping RC can recover and reopen his business but until then it would be great to have an alternative source.

I do actually have both products in hand, bed-it at the boat and now my vacuum-bagging stuff at home. I'll try to compare them side-by-side this weekend. This is something I've been meaning to do anyway.

 

[bigd14]

Maybe I was lucky.

I went through a couple rounds of crappy butyl tape before finding Bed It, so I approach other brands of butyl tape with some skepticism. I found one roll of butyl tape at an RV store but it was utterly useless. It was rock hard and felt like it had chalk mixed into it. It barely stretched before breaking and didn't stick well to metal. I used it on a couple fittings but got nervous about how well it would work, so removed them and went with some butyl tape I found at a marine store. This butyl was also much stiffer and less stretchy than Bed It. I used it for some fittings but it was difficult to tighten fasteners and took several tightenings over a few days. I haven't heard of it leaking from the current owners of that boat, but it wasn't as easy to use and stretchy as Bed It. All this sounds nitpicky, but I have had absolutely no leaks from anything I used Bed It on, and it's really easy to use.

 

[dcoyle]

Now that RC has closed down his web store, where should I go to get the best butyl tape for bedding deck hardware?

Although I am brand new here, I sent a small donation out of appreciation for his legacy of useful information.

You can order the same butyl tape that Rod sold from Hamilton Marine in Searsport Maine, Rod lives in Falmouth Maine. Last box I bought was around $20.

 

[Reefpoints]

For completeness I'm following up. The sticky-tape from fiberglast seems the same as bed-it (though it is a thicker at about 1/8", and with a slightly different shade of gray). I took about 1.5" of each and stretched both over 30" and figured it's similar enough. Though the sticky-tape does look glossier - it had the same consistency and feel. Photos will follow later.

 

[Reefpoints]

 

[Christian Williams]

Good testing!

 

[Blue Streak]

View attachment 42612View attachment 42613View attachment 42614

Yeah, but did you compare the taste?

 

[Navman]

I understood that Main sail is back online answering questions although he is slower on generating responses than he used to be. His recuperation has been slow but steady. He may be able to process orders again, but i am not sure. It is worth a try though!

 

[Blue Streak]

You can order the same butyl tape that Rod sold from Hamilton Marine in Searsport Maine, Rod lives in Falmouth Maine. Last box I bought was around $20.

Theirs is Brand-X too.
https://shop.hamiltonmarine.com/products/butyl-tape-1-8--x-3-4--x-30ft--sold-by-the-roll-59523.html

 

[Christian Williams]

For the record, here is the current status of Maine Sail (April, 2022):

At this time we’ve been forced to close the Web Store Compass Marine Inc. (my electrical installation business) and the on-line consulting business. I am also currently unable to answer emails.​

I am permanently disabled (left side paralysis) so crawling around boats and running a thriving on-line business are out of the cards at this point in the recovery process.​

Over the I have kept this website 100%free! I’ve written these articles, never asking for anything in return. This web site costs a ton of money each year to run and maintain. I used to underwrite this as part of my business but with close to 800,000.00 in medical expenses (53 days in the hospital and continual in-home nursing, PT,OT, & speech therapy the medical bills keep piling up! If you can help us support this web site during this tough time it would be greatly appreciated! I hate to have to shut it down. No matter how small the donation it all matters! As of now I have zero income for the mounting medical bills or a way to compensate for this loss of income. I am back back to writing how-to articles as you’ll see by scrolling down.​

IMPORTANT UPDATE Hardly a day goes by that we don’t get a question where somebody is asking when I will be back online? It may be a very long time before that happens with any sort of regularity. I am very busy with recovery, a full time job really. The best bet is to find me on-line checkingin on my Facebook group (nearly 30K members)My FB group is affiliated with this web site & is; Boat Electrical Systems(link)​

Please do your part to help keep this site alive!​

-Rod​