Teak deck leak repair

[b-rad]

My boat has beautiful teak decks that are starting to leak in a few spots. I have pulled a few pieces of hardware and a deck prism and havnt found and core yet so im hoping to avoid any core work. I would like to drill out the bungs, remove the screws, label the boards and remove them and do a section at a time. Full the holes, reinstall the teak (sealed to deck??) with new fasteners, install new plugs and caulk the joints. My teak is still about 1/2 thick. Anything wrong with my plan, first time playing with a teak deck.

[Cheechako]

No, I doubt that will work on the S43. The last Teak deck I removed came off in broken pieces... as they are bedded to the deck. However, removing all the bungs and rescrewing can be done. As well as removing caulking and recaulking. It's a big job. I fond a shipwright younger than me to do it on my 47 footer. I would coat each screw with sealant. The holes are where your core is going to get wet from. However, It is very likely you have some wet core already.
My friends had a Spindrift 43 I think. The decks were very warped on that boat. They just chose to sail it and when done sailing they sold it as is. They got what they paid for the boat out of it, so essentially their cruise only cost them a mainsail they bought down island. (as far as boat repairs)
Later: I guess my friends boat was a Pan Oceanic 43 not a Spindrift.

[chris95040]

Last winter I did something similar to what you propose.

The wood was bedded in polysulfide, or something else that was black and not terribly strong, and wasn't super difficult to separate from the deck. Being careful, moving along slowly, only a few boards split.

The most difficult part was the screws that didn't want to budge, or had their heads split, stripped, etc. In those cases, I used the smallest hole saw that would get around the screw head and drilled _around_ it. This separated the plank from the seized fastener, which I later removed once the plank was gone. I used a block of hardwood with the same hole cut in it as the guide for the hole saw, since obviously there was no pilot bit (the screw would be in it's way!)

I brought the planks home, cut new rabbets, bored out all the old fastener holes and filled them with teak plugs. Sanded, they looked spectacular.

Back at the boat, I repaired the fiberglass deck underneath, filled all the old fastener holes in the fiberglass, slapped on one layer of cloth to really be sure all those filled holes would stay that way, then glued the teak down with Teak Decking Systems FFE-200, which was MUCH easier to trowel on than their FFE-180.

Zero fasteners.

One season later and they are all still where I put them!

[Cheechako]

Actually, rethinking this.... if you are going to remove all that teak decking, just leave it off. It's down to only 1/2" thick I think you said anyway... Hard to screw and bung that thin.

[chris95040]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Actually, rethinking this.... if you are going to remove all that teak decking, just leave it off. It's down to only 1/2" thick I think you said anyway... Hard to screw and bung that thin.

This is obviously the more sensible option.

(But, to be clear, you don't have to screw + bung. You can bore out and plug the holes all the way through and just adhere the planks with epoxies made for this application. And anyways, 1/2" is _plenty_ of material to screw + bung with..)

[SaltyMetals]

I have a few leaks as well and was talking about it with a neighbour (Discovery 53 "Merlin") who swears by this stuff called "Capt Tolley's creeping crackcure". It has a very low coefficient of surface tension so the idea is that you just inject it around the edges of the window/prism/stancion and it will work its way down the crack in a sort of super-capillary action, then solidify and block the crack. It makes a semi-flexible joint. So i bought a couple of bottles and have injected it and am now waiting to see what magic it has managed to do. Saves so much work of lifting bits of teak deck, or unbolting stanchions, etc. So simple. Not expensive and you will find it on the internet. My boat is in Muggia, near Trieste, Italy and the package was delivered to me within 10 days direct to the marina. Think it was posted from UK.
Best of luck

[ccannan]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Actually, rethinking this.... if you are going to remove all that teak decking, just leave it off.

+1

[robbievardon]

I would be a bit worried by this solution. are you leaving sub deck level rot to flourish? Is the stanchion merely fixed firmly at deck level but will give way if one applies a force at the top end with possible man overboard outcome? I don*t know the product, so just offer these views to see other peoples thoughts. From associated comments, there seems to me to be some confusion/ misinformation. A leak through the teak which is a cosmetic covering is nowhere near as bad as a leak through the glass deck softening the core. I relayed all the teak on my 37 ft ketch which was more time consuming than technical and agree that 1/2 inch is OK for screw fixings. there is a small kit for removing locked fastenings which has something like a counter bore but with the cutting face facing backwards. So you run the drill in reverse to create a cone shaped crater in the screw head. Change to extractor bit and run in reverse again and out comes old screw.Put the drill in low gear and squeeze gently. Will not necessarily free metal to metal, but at worst will give you the little crater you kneed if you wish to drill out the screw head.