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poiu · 01-09-2016, 09:06

My teak decks have worn now and parts, maybe a quarter of the deck area are now so thin there is no groove left to hold in the caulking. The caulking is falling out and it looks a mess. See the sketch below of the cross section of the boards as new and now.

The teak was about 12mm when new. It is now about 5 - 6mm thick in the worst places and with virtually no depth to the caulking. Because the teak boards were made with a lip to help the installation process I am not able to re-caulk to replace the caulk without routing out the 5mm thick lip. This looks like it would be a really tricky process and I don't know how to do it.

Has anyone done it and what is the best way to do it?

chris95040 · 01-09-2016, 09:22

Lotssss of threads on this. You're going to want to take advice from the guys who work on this stuff, like Minaret, if they chime in. Its a real can of worms. They'll want more details about your deck, and subdeck, construction.

Is your deck fastened with screws? If so, your bungs must be getting pretty thin and popping out, too. That'll have additional problems, particularly if you have a cored deck underneath.

I pulled my teak last winter to deal with the deck delamination (separation of the fiberglass from the core material) resulting from leaky fasteners in the teak.

I did it incredibly carefully, labeling everything, and drilling around any stuck fasteners, so that the boards came up in one piece. After rebuilding the subdeck, and reconditioning the boards (new rabbets since my boards were much like yours with hardly any groove left, bored out and plugged the fastener holes, belt sanded...) I glued the old teak back down with purpose-made epoxy from TDS, no fasteners whatsoever. Being "sprung" (boards follow the curve of the gunwale) it was a super pain in the $$## to put back together.

It looks basically like a new deck except in a few crap spots where I should have just replaced the board outright. Oh well. I'll route it out and put in dutchmen in those spots, sometime. Maybe. Also, despite being a no-fastener deck, it doesn't have that ultra clean look since I've still got all those plugs for the old fastener holes.

I elected to use the old boards after getting an astronomical quote for a new deck, which would have used planks even thinner than the 8-10mm I had remaining on my existing ones.

It was a colossal job.

If you don't have the fastener and subdeck problems I had, it seems to me a simple jig for your router could let you cut deeper caulk grooves.

RedHerring · 01-09-2016, 09:34

My experience is with boats half the size and 10% the cost of Oyster 66. In that world, a typical worn out teak deck scenario goes like this:

* pull a few plank fasteners out
* discover a thoroughly rotten deck core under all that teak
* replace that core with something synthetic (huge project)
* put some non-skid finish on it, because teak is way too expensive

poiu · 01-09-2016, 09:37

I haven't actually seen any posts before about routing out the bits of the board, so I would be intrigued to know how to make a jig to do it.

My boards are all glued down onto a fiberglass deck with a balsa core, so with no screws and no plugs. If I were able to pull them up one at a time I could plane off the edges, but I am sure they would break up if I tried to do that.

poiu · 01-09-2016, 09:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedHerring

My experience is with boats half the size and 10% the cost of Oyster 66. In that world, a typical worn out teak deck scenario goes like this:

* pull a few plank fasteners out
* discover a thoroughly rotten deck core under all that teak
* replace that core with something synthetic (huge project)
* put some non-skid finish on it, because teak is way too expensive

My core is intact and I expect it to stay that way due to the absence of screws. I could rip up the teak and go to fiberglass, but that is premature. I only have a quarter of the deck as a problem and the boat value is now still high enough to justify an investment in repairing it. Ultimately, maybe in 10 years the teak will probably have to go.

Kenomac · 01-09-2016, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by poiu

I haven't actually seen any posts before about routing out the bits of the board, so I would be intrigued to know how to make a jig to do it.

My boards are all glued down onto a fiberglass deck with a balsa core, so with no screws and no plugs. If I were able to pull them up one at a time I could plane off the edges, but I am sure they would break up if I tried to do that.

I did the entire process myself over three summers on our Oyster 53. About 400 hours into it and now they look great. The process is much different on an Oyster than on other boats. It's a 15 step process, no shortcuts and it involves the use of a mini plunge skillsaw with the protection guides removed. Lots of hand tool work with chisels and absolutely no use of a router or Fyne tool. It's way too time consuming to write it all down here, can you contact me via phone when I return to America in October or give me a call here in Croatia?

I'd be happy to assist. Where are you and the boat located? Before I returned to my nursing career, I worked as a grand piano rebuilder and in the construction industry for fifteen years, so I'm handy with tools. How about you?

Ken

chris95040 · 01-09-2016, 10:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by poiu

I haven't actually seen any posts before about routing out the bits of the board, so I would be intrigued to know how to make a jig to do it.

My boards are all glued down onto a fiberglass deck with a balsa core, so with no screws and no plugs. If I were able to pull them up one at a time I could plane off the edges, but I am sure they would break up if I tried to do that.

OK good so it's just a cosmetic job then.

Assuming its a sprung deck, you'll need to secure a piece of guide material that curves and runs alongside the section of groove you are cutting.

That's easy enough to get setup with a pencil and a ruler, but how to secure the guide material down in a way where you won't dork up the rest of the deck... ???

Hot glue?

...And it sounds like Kenomac has actually done this before, and it didn't involve any of this stuff, so probably worth calling him.

poiu · 01-09-2016, 10:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I did the entire process myself over three summers on our Oyster 53. About 400 hours into it and now they look great. The process is much different on an Oyster than on other boats. It's a 15 step process, no shortcuts and it involves the use of a mini plunge skillsaw with the protection guides removed. Lot's of hand tool work with chisels and absolutely no use of a router or Fyne tool. It's way too time consuming to write it all down here, can you contact me via phone when I return to America in October or give me a call here in Croatia?

I'd be happy to assist. Where are you and the boat located?

Ken

Thanks Ken for the offer. A mini plunge skillsaw? I wonder how you follow the edge. The boat is in Antigua now. 400 hrs is a lot, but for me it will be less as I only need to do a part of the deck for now.

Kenomac · 01-09-2016, 10:55

There's no way a router can be used for any part of the job. The very first tool I purchased for the job was a long straight edge to be used as a guide. It didn't get used a single time, it's still brand new.

bletso · 01-09-2016, 11:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by poiu

I haven't actually seen any posts before about routing out the bits of the board, so I would be intrigued to know how to make a jig to do it.

My boards are all glued down onto a fiberglass deck with a balsa core, so with no screws and no plugs. If I were able to pull them up one at a time I could plane off the edges, but I am sure they would break up if I tried to do that.

No jig, just get down on your belly and use a small plunge router with the proper size bit. Go Slow and do not get in a hurry. It will work great. If you try to hurry the router will try to go off in its own direction. I have heard of the small skill saw and dado, but never found one.
Main Deck | Sailing Vessel Vigah
Stbd aft cockpit | Sailing Vessel Vigah
Hatches | Sailing Vessel Vigah

Kenomac · 01-09-2016, 11:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by bletso

No jig, just get down on your belly and use a small plunge router with the proper size bit. Go Slow and do not get in a hurry. It will work great. If you try to hurry the router will try to go off in its own direction. I have heard of the small skill saw and dado, but never found one.
Main Deck | Sailing Vessel Vigah
Stbd aft cockpit | Sailing Vessel Vigah
Hatches | Sailing Vessel Vigah

Been there, tried that, didn't work.

Kenomac · 01-09-2016, 11:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by poiu

Thanks Ken for the offer. A mini plunge skillsaw? I wonder how you follow the edge. The boat is in Antigua now. 400 hrs is a lot, but for me it will be less as I only need to do a part of the deck for now.

That's what I thought in the beginning, but you'll quickly figure out that the rest of the deck is almost as bad after you begin removing the caulking using a box cutter, which is the easy part.

CAELESTIS · 01-09-2016, 12:00

I just finished a complete sand and recaulk. I had pros do it and they did not use any saws or routers. PM me if you need to know more.

chris95040 · 01-09-2016, 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenomac

There's no way a router can be used for any part of the job. The very first tool I purchased for the job was a long straight edge to be used as a guide. It didn't get used a single time, it's still brand new.

Not saying you don't have a superior way, but a router can absolutely be used to cut new grooves.

Before I realized that I had wet core, I re-cut a groove on one length near the outboard edge. For that, my guide was easily attached to the toe rail. Using a flush cut bit and a guide that went right up to the target groove, it was easy to verify its location and modify the shims between the guide and the toe rail. Pretty sure this is like router 101 stuff.

Granted I never solved the problem of what I'd do for the rest of the boards, but I was thinking I'd either grow my guide further inboard, or use hot glue / weights / etc to clamp it.