Challenge

Arctco Sales, Inc. has been building Arctic Cat snowmobiles for years. So when they decided to launch a line of personal watercraft, they assembled all of their problem-solving suppliers from the beginning. Loctite® had a long track record in providing solutions for their snowmobile line.

According to Ron Ray, Vice President of Manufacturing, “we think of Loctite® as an extension of our engineering team, providing value-added technology and cost-effective design solutions throughout our assembly. We literally put Loctite® on our design team in the product development phase.”

Solution

Arctco's line of personal watercraft sees diverse environments. The products must:

• withstand long-term salt water exposure;
• be impervious to gasoline and oil;
• withstand constant shock and vibration;
• exhibit no leaks in the jet pump area.

According to Joe Lesmeister, Manufacturing Engineer, “if it’s a vibration or sealing application, Loctite® is the first company we call because we want to do it right from the beginning.

For example, we considered using a rubber-stamped gasket in the jet pump, but had continuous failures in our tests. Loctite® offered their formed-in-place silicone to prevent water leaks – and it worked –100% of the time!”

Results

Loctite® products are used throughout the Tigershark watercraft assembly, as outlined below:

Silicone Gasketing Products

• Sealing the jet pump to fiberglass inlet, acting as a gasket to prevent water leaks.
• Sealing the exhaust outlet.
• Sealing the trim rod boot.
• Sealing the front bow-eye.
• Sealing the flotation foam holes in the liner.

Anaerobic Permanent Threadlocking and Retaining Compounds

Note: All hardware is primed with Loctite® Primer N.