Lifeseal experience...

[No Mas Films]

Hi all! I'm about to reinstall all my deck hardware. For solar vents, hatches, cleats and such I'm thinking about using Boatlife lifeseal. Has anyone had any experience with this caulk, good or bad? Thanks, Chris

[Jason K]

Hi Chris,

I used it on Mojito, with good results. I don't believe it is safe for plastic portlights, though, so be aware of that (use white butyl caulk for those).

Don't try to clean up excess until it cures. Go out the next day and it will come right off, often in one piece. You won't need to use rags or solvent and it leaves behind almost no residue.

I've had it on some boat parts for over a year; it looks fine and there are no leaks.

[Robert The Gray]

I used the life seal. worked fine but the white will turn yellow under the sun's UV so clean up all the excess or paint over it. it is nice that it comes in white black and brown.

r

[Tim]

There might be some confusion here. Or if there's not, at least this may prevent it.

LifeSeal is the polyurethane/silicone blend sold by Boatlife. It's OK on plastics.

LifeCaulk is polysulfide, comes in several colors (black, white, mahogany), and is not suitable for plastics. The white color tends to yellow in the sun, just like 3M 101 polysulfide.

I've never used LifeSeal. I have used LifeCaulk with good results, and particularly like the mahogany color (when working with (duh) mahogany).

Boatlife should have named these products better, because I can never remember one versus the other. I had to Google it to confirm what I thought was right.

[No Mas Films]

I agree Tim! I had to look it up before I posted too. I figure that silicone with poly, but without the tenacious grip of 5200 should be a good thing. I havent heard much about it though...

[Case]

I'll chime in... LifeSeal is my personal favorite sealant. I like it better than 3M's stuff. An opened tube will last a year or so in my experince while 3M's caulk can often turn totally hard. So far, a tube of LifeSeal usually lasts 1-2 years for me. That's if its kept in a relatively cool spot. One tube that was in a warm area hardened in a half year. I do need to use a nail or something like that to break up the hardened part to get the good stuff at times.

LifeSeal is the easiest to work with caulk I have used so far. It does likes to go all over the place if you're not that neat but thats pretty much true for any caulks anyway. It cures reasonably fast, much faster than LifeCaulk. LifeSeal skinned over by 20 mintues, often less for me. As Mojito said, its easy to remove after its cured, often goes off in one long piece if you do it right. No residue in most cases.

There is 2 differences between LifeSeal and LifeCaulk... You shouldn't use LifeSeal for any sealing with wood. Its only for plastic, fiberglass, metal, any combination of those things. For wood, the label on the LifeSeal tube strongly suggests LifeCaulk to be used. The last difference is a totally personal thing... I HATE the smell of LifeCaulk. That one has the most sickening smell of any caulk I have smelled in my life. I use it for sealing any items on wood but... I do dread opening it up.

My two cents. - Case

[Rachel]

I agree about the names - who came up with that bunch of confusion? I have finally come up with a way to remember the difference; I think of LifeCaulk and remember that you could use it for caulking wooden decks (a customary use for polysulfide, I believe), and then LifeSeal is "the other one."

I was on the phone with the company earlier this year (trying to get color samples of the difference between the two browns - I think they were mahogany and teak, but I had a customer wanting to match spruce), and I suggested that the names might possibly be changed to make the products easier to identify. They didn't sound like they were going get right on it though.

--- R.

[Tim]

I HATE the smell of LifeCaulk. That one has the most sickening smell of any caulk I have smelled in my life.

That is very true...it is pretty nasty, particularly in large open quantities (such as caulking the seams in a deck).

LifeCaulk takes a long time to cure, as do most polysulfides. It took two weeks (at around 60?) for the black LifeCaulk I used between teak planks on a couple projects to cure enough to sand away the excess; I was surprised by this at the time, but now I know to expect it.

My own opinion is that LifeSeal, with its significant silicone content, is best used for those plastic parts where you can't use polysulfide--ABS hatches, deck plates, ports, that sort of thing. Don't expect polyurethane performance out of it, but it will probably work and stick better than 100% silicone in these applications. Use it instead of silicone, but not where you might use some other type of sealant. I admit, though, that I have never actually used this product, so I'm speaking only in generalities.

I am just not a fan of silicone, or products that contain it. I think there are better sealant choices in all cases, at least where boats are concerned. However, I could see trying LifeSeal for something like a plastic deck plate or Lexan ports, though I've found that butyl caulk works really well for this--albeit very messy to work with because of its "stringy" texture. Butyl has the added advantage of being dirt cheap at the hardware store.

I still like polysulfide best for most routine bedding and sealing. I believe I actually prefer working with LifeCaulk over 3M 101--odor notwithstanding!

[Ceasar Choppy]

If you don't like the smell of polysulfide, try 3Ms 4000UV. I've had great results with this stuff and use it for just about anything. It is a low grade polyurethane I believe and is slightly less tenacious than 4200. The best part is that it doesn't yellow and crack. I've had good results with it for anything from thru hulls to deck fittings.

I did make the mistake of using it on the windows (metal and safety glass with some flex) and will try the butyl next time.

[Robert The Gray]

sorry for the loosness of my vocab. it is the life caulk that i have used. thanks for the clarity.

r

[No Mas Films]

You know... now that I think of it, Life Caulk tastes bad too... :-)

[Jason K]

Dear Chris,

Don't eat the caulk.


Sincerely,

Jason

[Hirilondë]

I know the manufacturers of polycarbonate and acrylics say to use silicone only for bedding. I know that they say that polysulfides (Boatlife Lifecaulk) and polyurethanes (5200, 4200, Sikaflex 209 LOT) are not suitable. But for the life of me I don't know why.

5200 or 4200 are certainly way more tenacious than called for but Sikaflex is my favorite bedding of all. I find it works very well on polycarbonate as well as all hardware applications. It cleans easily with mineral spirits and I never see any etching of the plastic. Lifecaulk works quite well also but isn't quite as easy to clean and has a shorter working time.

If I can forsee removing the object I use Sikaflex, if I doubt I will be removing it but want the option and a very strong bond I use 4200, if I am hanging a keel and removal isn't even a concern I use 5200.