Repair and Fill for Large Teak Crack

[BigSmile]

1)The beam that forms part of the stern boomkin has a deep crack, that extends from the end to a mounting location for a stern railing pad.

I would love to get some advice on the repair and/or fill. The wood is bone dry now. I'm thinking it is best to do repairs and fills before oiling.

2)Also, some smaller gaps between the lattice. Originally had epoxy, but with expansion and contraction, that didn't hold.

3)There's a small chain roller that mounts on the opposite beam. I'll need to re-bed that. What products are currently recommended for bedding hardware? I'd prefer to use bedding such that it can be taken apart again if needed.


Picture with finger in the lower left is the underside.
Picture with thumb more to the right is of the edge & top.








Appreciate any guidance. Thank you.

[HBWT]

Thickened epoxy should work well for this fill. I don't know of anything else that would work, durable in a marine environment and look decent. Teak filler is for small holes not cracks as large as that. Expansion/contraction should be no where near the level that would make epoxy break. My guess is that UV was able to break down the epoxy. If you use epoxy again, it needs to be covered with a good Varnish not teak oil. Good luck.

[model 10]

That would be to much filler. Run a saw down the crack and cut a shim to fit.

[BigSmile]

Originally Posted by HBWT

Thickened epoxy should work well for this fill. I don't know of anything else that would work, durable in a marine environment and look decent. Teak filler is for small holes not cracks as large as that. Expansion/contraction should be no where near the level that would make epoxy break. My guess is that UV was able to break down the epoxy. If you use epoxy again, it needs to be covered with a good Varnish not teak oil. Good luck.

Thanks for your reply. Helpful comments about epoxy. So, I guess UV is a consideration (epoxy here wasn't covered). There are other areas where a teak oil/polyurethane product has been used with success over epoxy fill joints. My inclination is to use something more flexible for joints tho.

Where epoxy was used to fill in between the lattice edges & the rest of the teak, the epoxy separated from the wood on one side. The expansion & contraction is of the wood. If the wood pieces on either side are moving, whatever is between the two pieces needs to have some flexibility. I've found wood joints tend to pull away from each other in drier weather, as wood shrinks.

Should there be concern about the large crack moving further....wood is actually well aged. Should there be concern about setting a screw across the crack in the beam and into the adjacent piece of wood?

Thanks again

[BigSmile]

Originally Posted by Guy

That would be to much filler. Run a saw down the crack and cut a shim to fit.

And epoxy in the shime...?

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Guy

That would be to much filler. Run a saw down the crack and cut a shim to fit.

+1. I would add a couple of long 316 screws in from the edge to pull the split tight, shim and all glued with epoxy glue, screws set into the timber and plugged. Finish with a thorough sanding an good varnish regime.

[BigSmile]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

+1. I would add a couple of long 316 screws in from the edge to pull the split tight, shim and all glued with epoxy glue, screws set into the timber and plugged. Finish with a thorough sanding an good varnish regime.

G'day and thank you!

How's it down under today?

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by BigSmile

G'day and thank you!

How's it down under today?

Your welcome, here in Sydney overcast winter cold with light drizzle, not my favorite weather.

[jimbunyard]

I would normally agree with the comment to edge drill and screw fasten the area along with glue for the most permanent fix, but the grain orientation will most likely lead to further cracking. Probably a better, more attractive fix is to work some glue into the cracks with a thin piece of plastic or stiff cardboard (a piece of milk carton a half inch or so wide works well). Dip the strip in the glue and insert it into the crack, the idea is to get both surfaces well saturated as far up into the crack as you can.

Before you do this you should have made a trip to the hardware store and bought a clamp like this



which is called a pipe clamp. They come in different diameters; the size that uses 1/2" pipe will be more than adequate for your application. the beauty of this type clamp is one can make it as long as needed, you just buy the right length pipe.

After putting the glue in all the right places, use the clamp to to draw it all back together, clean all the glue that has squeezed out of the joints off as best you can, and let the glue set. After 24 hours or so, take the clamp off and sand off any remaining ugliness.

The clamp may work to draw the gaps in around the lattice too, get a couple if necessary to do the job all in one go.

If it were me, I'd use unthickened epoxy, with UV inhibitors if you can get it, if not the majority of the glue joint is going to be covered by wood so the inhibitors are not really that important. If you go with epoxy it might help to use the same thin strip technique to 'wash' the crack out with acetone to get any oil inherent (or added later) in/on the teak off, though, from the pictures, this might not be necessary. At any rate the more 'bare, clean wood to bare, clean wood' interface you have, the better

If the edges of the structure aren't perpendicular, or nearly so, it may be necessary to use wedges to make them (temporarily) so to provide even clamping force and to avoid scarring the wood.

If this lets go after a while you can always go to plan B, sawing out the crack and gluing in a shim or scarf. It's just less attractive and more work is involved.

Of course, if there's no 'give' in the crack (i.e. you can't close it a little with your fingers), plan B may be mandatory, or even plan C, just troweling some kind of filler in and sanding it smooth, For that I just mix wood dust from an appropriately colored wood with epoxy to the thickness of peanut butter. The dust needs to be pretty fine, at least that produced from 100 grit sandpaper or finer...

[bletso]

Originally Posted by Guy

That would be to much filler. Run a saw down the crack and cut a shim to fit.

That would also be my method of choice. If you try the clamp bit the repair will be under tension and will part again. At least you don't have to more than what I see. I had to remove the rear piece due to rot. Pushpit rebuild | Sailing Vessel Vigah

[zeehag]

whatever you place into cracked dry teak will again force cracking once th e wood i s soaked with sea water.
first thing to do is make sure you have th e wood wet with salt water. then figger out how to make a metal wrap/brace for it-- bronze or stainless-- to keep strength.
as teak is an oily wood, fg does not bond well. nor does epoxy.
ask minaret what he would do. minaret is smart.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by zeehag

whatever you place into cracked dry teak will again force cracking once th e wood i s soaked with sea water.
first thing to do is make sure you have th e wood wet with salt water. then figger out how to make a metal wrap/brace for it-- bronze or stainless-- to keep strength.
as teak is an oily wood, fg does not bond well. nor does epoxy.
ask minaret what he would do. minaret is smart.

Lol, you know better, I'm the worst! Always the most expensive answer.


In this case, given the visible check in the end of the plank right next to this split, I'd replace that plank. It also has some not great grain orientation. Split at a 45 one way, check at a 45 the other, only inches apart-this plank is meh. But that's easy for me to say, as it'd probably take me less time to fit a new plank than repair the old one. Not sure that's true for everyone!


Also, after replacing or repairing, I'd replace that screw the split came from with a through bolt with a clear hole. All of them, obviously. If they were already bolts, looks like the hole wasn't clear and they were tapping into the wood.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by minaret

Lol, you know better, I'm the worst! Always the most expensive answer.


In this case, given the visible check in the end of the plank right next to this split, I'd replace that plank. It also has some not great grain orientation. Split at a 45 one way, check at a 45 the other, only inches apart-this plank is meh. But that's easy for me to say, as it'd probably take me less time to fit a new plank than repair the old one. Not sure that's true for everyone!


Also, after replacing or repairing, I'd replace that screw the split came from with a through bolt with a clear hole. All of them, obviously. If they were already bolts, looks like the hole wasn't clear and they were tapping into the wood.

but, is price of proper repair more expensive than the failure of this item when holding your weight in ocean...i go with minarets opinion, as he is goood at his stuff, which is just this.

[SailRedemption]

Minaret, and I know the best would be what you mentioned about replacing it. Besides that, could you not drill a hold through the board at the end of the crack to keep it from running. Similarly as you would do with a metal crack. Mix up welwood glue, glue it and clamp the crack shut. Then shove and glue a plug in the hole and then set it all with a through bolt.

That's what came to my mind when I saw that. Would that be a worthy fix?

See more @ redemptiverepair.com

[Cheechako]

I would use a couple long SS Sheet Metal screws from the edge as mentioned. #10 or #12 probably.
-Pre drill and fit, sink them so you can plug with teak plugs,
-clean it all and put in epoxy liberally with taped end so it cant run out.
-Tighten the screws and let it set up.
-sand as required.
-I'm not sure you will draw that crack tight, but the screws should help from getting worse and filled with epoxy it will look fine.


The suggestion to cut out a strip and put a new piece of maybe 3/4-1" wide teak in and then sand flush is a good one too, ...more work/more difficult for the layman.

I'm assuming that's fairly thick teak...? I appears to be more of an aesthetic issue than anything.