To silicone a bulkead or not?

What do you all do when you install a bulkhead?

Silicone caulk as extra insurance!
or
No Silicone, the gasket's all that's needed!

As long as you have a gasket that fits that is all you need. Just tighten it enough to prevent leaks. I have even made my own gaskets using an old tire tube.

Frank gets the DIY points for the day!

Never, ever, ever silicon a bulkhead.

If you ever need to remove the bulkhead, gluing it in place makes it a huge chore to replace. Plus, the way that a bulkhead works is by applying pressure onto the gasket. If you glue it, you're creating an uneveness and not applying the proper, uniform pressure.

I always silicone my bulkhead gaskets to the bulkhead before inserting. Mainly to hold the gasket in place as I drop the bulkhead down into the hole so it doesn't fall off.

It doesn't add anything to the seal of the bulkhead. As others have stated, it's the pressure fit of the gasket and nut that makes the seal. But it also doesn't create any unevenness because once you tighten the bulkhead all the silicone squishes out. The bulkheads are no harder to remove than without. A simple twist of the bulkhead with the nut loosened will pop the silicone bond.

I don't do it as often as I used to, but when I did this for TFP I must have installed hundreds of them just like that and never had any issues.

Andy