Sealant under livewell

[Dleopoldi914]

I have a 2021 21se, I was washing the boat and I noticed that the sealant under the livewell seat has seemed to drip out.

Is this something I should be concerned about? Should I take it back to the dealer and have them fix it? Should I just lay down a nice bead of 4200?

What do you think?

 

[Brent]

I guess I would pull it, evalute and try to make it better. Where is water source?

Do you have pics of the entire unit?

 

[Dleopoldi914]

I guess I would pull it, evalute and try to make it better. Where is water source?

Do you have pics of the entire unit?

Water source is I just washed the boat……

It’s a 2021 should I just let the dealer do it….

 

[Dleopoldi914]

This is the general area it is coming from its the livewell seat.

 

[pelagic2530]

Do you want it done free? Or do you want it done right?

For $20 and a hour of time (including prep work- caulking is the same as painting, it’s 90% prep and taping) do it yourself, get a better end result, and keep the boat away from the dealer.

Use blue AnchorTech rather than 4200.

 

[Dleopoldi914]

Do you want it done free? Or do you want it done right?

For $20 and a hour of time (including prep work- caulking is the same as painting, it’s 90% prep and taping) do it yourself, get a better end result, and keep the boat away from the dealer.

Use blue AnchorTech rather than 4200.

Do I need to take up the whole well or can I just lay a bead of sealant in there?

Sorry how would you do this? Do I unscrew all the screws holding the livewell to the floor, lay down a nice bead of this stuff and then screw it back down? Do I need to clean and remove the old sealant?

 

[Dleopoldi914]

I took a better pic. Would it work if I cut away the loose silicone then used painters tape and squeezed in some 3m 4000.

Or

Do I need to take out every single screw and lift up the well. Then rebead the whole entire well and put it down?

 

[Dleopoldi914]

 

[pelagic2530]

Remove the loose sealant. Clean the surface well. Lay a tape line on both the deck and the livewell where you want the sealant bead to be, so that the exposed area between the two tape lines is where the sealant will be. Buy a tube of sealant that goes in a caulk gun, also buy a caulk gun if you don’t have one. (Don’t try to do this with squeeze tubes of sealant.) Lay down a thin bead of sealant all the way around the livewell. Dip your finger in some dish detergent so it doesn’t stick to your finger; smooth out the bead to your satisfaction with your finger. Have extra dish soap and lots of paper towels handy to wipe up the excess sealant. As soon as you’re done smoothing the bead, pull up the tape.

There’s no need to pull up the livewell since you’re not trying to use the sealant as an adhesive, you’re just sealing the gap so that the water doesn’t get under there.

 

[Dleopoldi914]

Remove the loose sealant. Clean the surface well. Lay a tape line on both the deck and the livewell where you want the sealant bead to be, so that the exposed area between the two tape lines is where the sealant will be. Buy a tube of sealant that goes in a caulk gun, also buy a caulk gun if you don’t have one. (Don’t try to do this with squeeze tubes of sealant.) Lay down a thin bead of sealant all the way around the livewell. Dip your finger in some dish detergent so it doesn’t stick to your finger; smooth out the bead to your satisfaction with your finger. Have extra dish soap and lots of paper towels handy to wipe up the excess sealant. As soon as you’re done smoothing the bead, pull up the tape.

There’s no need to pull up the livewell since you’re not trying to use the sealant as an adhesive, you’re just sealing the gap so that the water doesn’t get under there.

Awesome thank you so much, yea I took a second look at it. That sealant you recommended is good stuff it dries in an hour and I can get at west marine.

I also saw lowes makes an edging tool so I can lay the bead and use this to get it laid in nice



Also you would just do where it peeled up, removed the loose caulk and recaulk just that area? I don’t want to redo the whole livewell. I will get a gun I don’t have one I was going to try to use a squeeze tube.

 

[Dleopoldi914]

I know you are against laying it without a caulk gun but this has the same nozzle as a caulk gun. Plus would need less is this ok?

 

[pelagic2530]

Awesome thank you so much, yea I took a second look at it. That sealant you recommended is good stuff it dries in an hour and I can get at west marine.

I also saw lowes makes an edging tool so I can lay the bead and use this to get it laid in nice

View attachment 33989

Also you would just do where it peeled up, removed the loose caulk and recaulk just that area? I don’t want to redo the whole livewell. I will get a gun I don’t have one I was going to try to use a squeeze tube.

Do the whole thing. If part of it’s failing, the whole thing will fail. Pull it all up and do it in one continuous bead, and you’ll probably be good for a decade.

The smaller tube is the same product, it’s just a lot easier to get a consistent bead with the caulk gun since you can easily apply a constant pressure as opposed to trying to squeeze a tube for an extended duration. Plus, the caulk gun tube is only a few dollars more than the squeeze tube, and it’ll last about six months without curing in the tube. Just get out the solid plug that’ll form at the tip of the tube (I usually use a drill bit) and you’ve got good sealant again.

The tools work ok, but honestly a finger works just as well. Up to you.

 

[Brent]

I have a 2021 21se, I was washing the boat and I noticed that the sealant under the livewell seat has seemed to drip out.

Is this something I should be concerned about? Should I take it back to the dealer and have them fix it? Should I just lay down a nice bead of 4200?

What do you think?

Goop - just appeared recently? Is it hard or soft?

 

[Dleopoldi914]

Goop - just appeared recently? Is it hard or soft?

Hard it’s the caulking from under the seat. You can see where it is still attached to the rest of the bead

I will literally take a razor and remove old caulk, clean with acetone, then I put down painters tape on the well and on the deck. I then take anchortek in a caulking gun, lay down a bead. I then use the shape tool shape the caulk. Then I take up the tape and let dry…..

 

[Mudskipper]

If you use that edging tool from Lowe's, you should be able to safely remove the old caulk without a razor. The silicone bead tools work pretty well, but I have found that you want to keep the bead pretty small or the excess piles up on the side of the tool. I'll have to try the dishsoap method myself sometime, I've always dipped my finger in rubbing alcohol, which you are not supposed to use because apparently it inhibits the cure; I still do it because it works better than any tool and I have never seen any curing issues or debonding in many years of doing it on boats or showers/kitchens/etc. Agree with Pelagic though, just DIY and take your time. And it's caulk, if it looks like crap, scrape it out and redo it. Or get over it and go fishing

I wonder now though if something you are cleaning the boat with caused that caulk to fail...? Harsh chemical? Pressure washer?

 

[StrayDog]

Hard it’s the caulking from under the seat. You can see where it is still attached to the rest of the bead

I will literally take a razor and remove old caulk, clean with acetone, then I put down painters tape on the well and on the deck. I then take anchortek in a caulking gun, lay down a bead. I then use the shape tool shape the caulk. Then I take up the tape and let dry…..

The recommendations on caulking are all good but there’s a bigger concern. All livewells mounted on the deck have a water source that comes from below deck to feed the well, and a drain line.
Before caulking I’d want to ensure those hoses are double clamped AND that there’s a “dam” around the hole in the deck thru which those hoses pass. If you seal the seam and you have a tank or hose leak within the livewell the water will be forced below deck which could get into the substructure and cause REAL problems.

 

[Dleopoldi914]

Thank you the biggest part that was a pain was knocking out the old silicone, I used a combo of 120 sandpaper, a plastic razor and then I washed with acetone.

It was my first time ever laying calk. The painters tape helped me. It will work.

I took a nail and put it in the tube of caulk and I then wrapped it with cling wrap and gorilla tape.

 

[pelagic2530]

Better product than you were going to get from the dealer anyway! Nice work.

 

[Dleopoldi914]

Better product than you were going to get from the dealer anyway! Nice work.

I do agree though with the other post the dealer in the off season needs to pull the well in the off season and make sure there are not water issues. From leaky areas. For now this should be ok to end of the season.

What makes me concerned is I am not sure why the sealant would just come out like that unless a leak inside the tank was causing it. I just don’t want to leak water into the core of the boat.

Am I being unreasonable for asking the dealer to address this at the end of the season?

 

[pelagic2530]

If you can get them to do it, sure, go for it. I think that without evidence of a leak, you’ll have a hard time getting them to agree to pull the livewell just to check to confirm there isn’t a problem.

Were you noticing water leaking from under there? Is there anything, other than failed sealant, that would indicate to you that you have a problem with the plumbing? Because a leak under there isn’t necessarily going to cause the issue you had, although the sealant separation might make it more evident in that the water could escape.

Bottom line, if the only “evidence” of a water leak is that the sealant failed, I fail to see justification for pulling the livewell, which is pretty much what I think your dealer is going to tell you.