Teak decks what do you think?

[RobTryon]

How Gazelle got her grooves back, or what I did after everything else was done.

The last year I have spent two or three hours a day working on the worn out teak decks. I didn't want to work too hard and I'm pretty lazy but small bites got it done
All the big stuff is finished, just a few touch up spots, but here it is. Before and after. I did all the work myself and cut over 2500 teak bungs by hand. I had to buy three plug cutters b/c I kept wearing them out.
I think the key to this job for me was the Fein caulk cutter blade. What's cool is the blade is $70, but the multitool to run the blade from Harbor Freight was $40 (the Fein tool was $400!). I had to buy two blades, but the multitool is still working great and we've used it for other things, it's my new favorite tool.

The cutter just grabs the bottom of the groove and pulls the old caulk with very little effort. Then a change out to sanding attachments to get the sides clean of any leftover caulk and it prepares the wood for the new caulk.
Then I pulled all the old fasteners, most of which were showing their heads anyway. Using a forstner bit, I opened the holes and then epoxyed in my new bungs.
Next I cut the plugs flush with a sharp wood chisel. Two rounds of sanding with the caulking done in between left us with what you see.
Now that it's done, it should be good for as long as we'll own the boat. In fact, we saw some well-cared for teak decks that were over 20 years old, and they looked perfect. This was the biggest job I had to do on the boat. It was strictly cosmetic, but wow, what a difference!


1.This is what most of the deck looked like. The caulk prouder than the teak and most of the screw heads showing.

2.Caulk cut, hand-cut plugs epoxied in.

3.The Fein caulk cutter. They come in different widths for different sized seams. I wore one out completely, and the other is well on the way.

4.The el cheapo Harbor Freight multitool, with Fein attachment, in action. It would have taken years with hand tools!

5.Sam prefers the smooth deck over the rough one. No more splinters!

[JPA Cate]

You get a big gold star from me, that's a heck of a lot of work.

A.

[bletso]

Yep, been there, done that. It is amazing the number of screws on the deck!

[robert sailor]

Good on ya, that's lots of work. Your lucky your not dealing with a newer boat. When your boat was built the teak came from old growth forests and it was installed quite thick. Today it's plantation teak and really thin and could never last 20 years unless it was put away somewhere. The positive side of todays boats are that there are no bungs or screws as its glued in place. I was looking at a new Benni on the next dock and the teak was lifting in one area of the cockpit and while i didnt measure it id say it was closer to 3/16" thick. Looks great on the boat but plantation teak doesnt last anywhere near as long as old growth and its probably way less than 1/2 as thick as your boat. Congratulations on a big job. R

[NahanniV]

One question ?
Not sure from your description.
Did you replace the fasteners after drilling out the holes with the forstner bit ?
Or, are the boards just stuck down now ?

If not replaced: How did you seal the fastener holes ?

[markpierce]

Rob, your tale provides good reasons to avoid teak decks.

[KJB]

Very nice job!

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Rob, your tale provides good reasons to avoid teak decks.

I’ve done the same job myself over a three season period. Teak decks are awesome... and well worth the effort. Our next boat... if and when... will also have a teak deck. I’d gladly do it all again if necessary.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I’ve done the same job myself over a three season period. Teak decks are awesome... and well worth the effort. Our next boat... if and when... will also have a teak deck. I’d gladly do it all again if necessary.

Goes to show ya... one of the immutable no-nos during our search for what turned out to be this boat was... NO TEAK DECKS! They can be lovely to look upon on OPB, but for me... no way, Jose!

Jim

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by RobTryon

How Gazelle got her grooves back, or what I did after everything else was done.


..................

Nice job Rob, well done

Having done a couple of teak decks myself (but not as big as yours), I can truly appreciate your efforts. Great looking result, I'm sure you are chuffed with it.

Hope you didn't make the same mistake as I did (on the first time); I failed to place a non-stick paper tape on the bottom grooves to prevent the caulking from getting attached to the bottom of the groove. This failing of mine shortened it's life somewhat considerably. Next time I knew better!

[bletso]

Originally Posted by NahanniV

One question ?
Not sure from your description.
Did you replace the fasteners after drilling out the holes with the forstner bit ?
Or, are the boards just stuck down now ?

If not replaced: How did you seal the fastener holes ?

I don't know if Rob did, but I did. Some of the screws broke off and they took some special techniques to remove, anything from using 'unscrew-ums' to needle nose pliers. Then the Forstner bit, countersink, epoxy new screw, epoxy and bung. When I couldn't remove a screw end the hole was made deeper and epoxy and bung inserted. As the planks are sealed an occasional missing screw is no problem. Screws were there to hold the plank down until the caulk cured.

I never had 100% luck with the chisel so used the Fein and a fine tooth blade #159 & 157 on the multimaster.

[minaret]

Try a kugihiki. No set to the teeth means perfect flush cuts without marring the surrounding surface. I will refrain from comment on the Fein tool for seam work..

[bletso]

Yep, I have used one of those as well. Kugihiki blades are really nice cutting bungs in curved areas.

[FutureStories]

Your before and after is why I want to do team decks at least once!

[zeehag]

teak decks are wonderful, as long as the boat was not owned previously by a modern yottie with no knowledge of their maintenance.
your decking is beautiful. i wish i had patience and manual dexterity to do that work. is well worth the effort.