Chain Plates

[ebb]

Sorry to butt in on a minor point.
BoatLife is the company.
They make Life-Caulk which is a polysulfide.
I think they were the first to market the hybrid silicon/urethane caulk called
LIFE-SEAL.
Most forum people out there on the net get it wrong like I did, so any anecdotal reports on Life-Seal are nulified as they may have gotten the name wrong.
Polysulfide is notorious for not sticking to teak mostly and BoatLife has a specific primer for promoting a bond to that wood and other suspicious material. I haven't seen Life-Seal firsthand either. For the chainplate install I would choose something that will allow disassembly but still is a great water barrier, a tenacious, long lasting, always flexible caulk. Maybe Life-Seal is the stuff, maybe not.

Life-Seal does not require a primer. There isn't any so far as I know. When I ran into the endless spec sheets that Bostik has for their silicon/urethane hybrid products, they boast in places that the caulk does not need primer - other than clean dry universal surfaces. ANY surface!

And I believe, tho out of frustration may have dreamed it, the hybrid has a projected 40 year service life. One tube caulk that can do everything almost brings tears to my eyes. Go to www.boatlife.com to read the spec sheet on LifeSeal. Open time on a complicated install is important. To me, anyway, since I'm so slow. LifeSeal is quick to skin over and may become problematic. Dunno, have not used it yet.

By the way, it is a fact that polysulfide can only be used on three common plastics: epoxy, delrin (acetal) and nylon. All other common plastics are attacked by p.sulfide: like polycarbonate, acrylic, pvc, abs, styrene. And it has another unique feature: if you have used it to caulk the coaming/deck seam, Cetol will turn that into a gooey mess when you violate your coamings with it! Gotta wonder what's in Cetol to cause that to happen? Polysulfide is resistant to solvents and everyday boat chemicals. Polysulfide imco is great under water and under the beauty-plates around chainplates.
I may use LifeSeal because it supposedly STICKS TO METAL better. If using highly polished s.s. for chainplates, that's a good reason right there. And I believe it has a longer (projected) service life and because of the silicone part may do better on a hot deck.