Quote:
Originally Posted by FTTRV
This product I sell is used on a truck camper production line used everyday. The camper production company is Superior RV Manufacturing in Vancouver,Washington. I have used this product on a Scamp,Compact Jr, and a U-Haul. I would not sell a bad product to any fiberglass trailer owner or anyone else.
Chuck
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OK I don't know why or how this can be such a heated conversation?
There are different products out there that do the same thing.
One is the older more prevalent standby that is most commonly available and is prone to drying out over time. It is cheaper and easier to work with and thus most manufacturers seem to prefer it and it has been around FOREVER.
The other is a newer and more advanced product and is tough to impossible to work with and it will not get dry or hard over time. It is pricier and tougher to find and because there is so much confusion in the market it is likely not used even where it would be clearly a superior solution.
Yes they can appear similar even enough to fool Francesca who is clearly very technically adept and astute particularly for an Apparition!
This is the clearest description of the two I have found:
Low Tech RVing: It's Putty Tape Time
Notice that the putty is heavily lined on the surface and looks well like putty!
Notice the Butyl is smooth and shiny and also comes in several pretty colors?
Butyl looks more like SillyPutty(rememeber that?).
They are both Putty I guess but clearly not the same consistency.
They just do not look the same to me.
Both will work and both are acceptable but the Butyl is a more modern and longer lasting product and this is obvious to me having used both extensively.
My best example would be resealing the
windows in an Egg.
I have never removed a window that has been sealed with Butyl but there also may not be many yet as Butyl is so much newer for this application?
Once the window is out and the old putty removed I roll a layer of new stuff around the inside of the flange towards the inside of the window perimeter.
If I use the older Putty then positioning the window is just not a big deal. I can pull it and realign and tweak it until I am satisfied with placement.
Butyl on the other hand will simply be exactly where you fisrt place it and if you need to move or tweak its position well forget about it! The Butyl stick so well to all solid surfaces that wherever it first sticks will be where it ends up too!
It is a lot more difficult to work with for sure.
With Traditional Putty you can slice and remove any excess that might squeeze out once the window is tightened in but with Butyl it is nearly impossible to do this unless the Butyl is cold. For this reason I use a lot less Butyl and try to calculate using just enough that trimming will not be required.
Butyl is also available in a runnier form in tubes and is known as Vulcem or Dicor and is the nastiest to use but best roof sealant I have seen or used and is what we use to seal roofs after antenna installation these days haveing transitioned from.....wait for it.....Putty Tape!
On an RV roof this runny Butyl is also Self-Leveling so if applied say around a roof vent it will run to level and fill all the gaps where the Putty Tape relies on even and thorough tightening of all the screws to insure even gap-free seals.
They also use Butyl in a tube to install Windshields but I have never seen Putty tape used for this? Same exact deal there too,once positioned the windshield can not be moved at all.
I am hesitant to use Butyl as it is such a pain to work with but it is also the better sealant for the same reason.
Whew!