Teak Deck - My Mistakes and Lessons

[capt_douglas]

Boatsmith's idea of doubled up blades in a circular saw is novel, at least to me. We use either a dremel or router with special bit. Getting the bad caulk out is an exercise in slow, detailed work.

We do the teak in sections and use tape only where the seam butts against glass or stainless. A lot of the work is manual and slow. We use Sikkaflex or TDS caulk if we can get it and find that an air powered gun does a good job but an experienced caulk applier can do about the same.

We try to avoid getting too much caulk on the teak as it can be tough to get off. It's harder than the teak and we're trying to keep as much teak as possible. We're also big fans of vacuum extractors attached to the orbital sanders. It can reduce the cleanup considerably and give you a very good indication of the sanding progress and quality.

I can't stress how dangerous this task is. The air will be filled with caulk, detritus, teak dust, grunge, and eventually sawdust and caulk. We wear breathing masks and full face shields. Those doing the caulk removal will sometimes wear Tyvek suits to keep the contaminants off their skin and clothes.

[Cheechako]

Nice Job!
"I've done a fair bit of teak work. I'd caulking before sanding and then sand the whole lot. There's really no need to lay down masking tape then "
yep...the pro's that did mine just caulked the whole thing and then belt sanded it to perfection.... that taping is tedious!!

[palagic456]

Speaking of mistakes.........I am about 1/2 way through replacing the cockpit teak decking on my mid-80s Beneteau. The product I opted for is made by a company in Surrey, BC called Teak Marine. It's basically pre-fabricated panels to match your decking templates. I'm generally happy with the raw product, but whomever cut the shapes out of idid an extremely poor job. I have found some panels are as much as 1/2" too short! As my installation does not have edge perimiter pieces, the only option is to load on a bunch of caulk to fill these voids. Very frustrating after spending $3000 on raw material. The worst problem now is that whomever did the layout in the manufacturing reversed the port and starboard cockpit seat panels. This resulted in them aligning the layout with the wrong edge! When you put the panels where they go - the strips run at a diagonal to the boat. Teak Marine refuses to stand behind their product or workmanship and I have no recourse but to dispute the credit card charges now. My advice to anyone comtemplating this job........steer clear of Teak Marine in Surrey BC, or Teak Marine Products in Bellingham, WA. The outfit in Florida seemed competetive, but I don't have any experience with them.

[tangle]

glad you mentioned that Pelagic...I also am currently doing my decks for the first time and this thread has been great. We used stripper this week to assist removal of several layers of cetol in prep for TDS caulk,,,was not sure if I should use stripper but so far so good...the trick here in BC is getting enuf dry weather so I have tarped the area I am working on. Next a teak cleaner and then perhaps the caulk and sand method mentioned above..I am concerned about the thickness of the deck - seems about 7/16" and several screw heads have appeared...not sure if the deck has been sanded down to them or wether they have risen or been installed and painted over...??? I have one of those 30 years old decks mentioned above and have some concerns now about sanding too heavily if the boards are worn too thin. Anyone know what thickness they started out with?

[chris07732]

Another way insure the caulk doesn't adhere to the bottom of the joint ( and get stressed in 3 dimensions), besides taping at bottom of seam, is to lay in a small twist of caulking cotton thread prior to caulking.

Thanks for the step by step pictures. Hopefully, these tutorial posts can be collected for easy access to newbies down the road.

[Cheechako]

yes, the problem with sanding is usually the screw heads, Mine had to all be removed, redrilled and replugged. I wouldnt worry about the teak getting too thin..assuming your fiberglass doesnt rely on the teak for stiffness.