One of my priorities this winter project season has been speed of product application and drying. All of my wood has been scraped down to bare wood sanded with 80, bleached, then finish sanded with 120, and finally 220. The word on the street is 90% of the effort is in the prep, 10% in the actual varnish/paint. But no one ever talks about drying time!

After my first hatch which I sealed with the regular Life Caulk and its cure time of 7-10 days, I swore never again. Boat Life makes a 2 part polysulfide called Type P. I used it on my last two hatches: Main Slide and Seahood. The Type P was tack free in one hour and dry the next day. I gave it 48 hours before I busted out the sandpaper, just to be sure I wasn’t going to pull any seams out. It dries a bit harder then the normal Boat Life polysulfide, but is still soft when pushed on. I’m happy with it so far, and thrilled that I’ll be done varnishing these hatches before I was even able to begin sanding the last hatch.

*Update 01/20/11

The Type P sucks. It has cracked and shrunk, leaving a hollow spot between the planks. The caulk is spider-webbed with cracks, and looks horrible. Never EVER get Type P caulk. The other normal Boat Life Caulk is holding up well.