Teak Floor Caulking?

[TooCoys]

My father tore down two old barns, and I was able to swipe some of the 100 year old rough sawn cypress wood. I have begun ripping down, and will eventually have 1.5"x.5"x60" slats. I will install these over the 3/4" marine ply floors in my 1967 Chris Craft. When I install them I will glue them down with construction adhesive, and use some sort of nail or screws to hold them down. They will also be spaced about 1/8" apart, leaving room for caulking like that found on a teak deck.

My question is what can be used in this 1/8" space? I was looking at the teak floor caulking at West Marine yesterday and all they had was white or black, and it was nearly $40 a tube. I would prefer an off white or cream/tan color if possible, and perhaps something that isn't so high dollar.

Can I use something else instead?

Thanks in advance!

[Sailmonkey]

This, or it’s two part relation is what is normally used for teak deck seams

http://www.boatlife.com/life-calk-cartridge/

[belizesailor]

Teak Deck Systems (TDS) is great stuff, very durable. I have some on both interior and exterior pieces that is now 14 years old. Dont know the current price, but expect its not cheap either.

I have some teak strip floor panels which were laid up on fiberglass backing...something to consider to avoid plywood.

[TooCoys]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Teak Deck Systems (TDS) is great stuff, very durable. I have some on both interior and exterior pieces that is now 14 years old. Dont know the current price, but expect its not cheap either.

I have some teak strip floor panels which were laid up on fiberglass backing...something to consider to avoid plywood.

It's currently about $39 a tube.

The plywood is unavoidable. My boat is a 1967. All of the floors are 3/4 marine ply.

[Suijin]

Why put caulk between them if you're installing these in the cabin? If it's for decorative purposes, I think a better solution is to cut 1/8-1/4" strips and stain them a different color.

A white/light color caulk is going to get dirty/stained. If you try and varnish over it as finish, it's going to crack at some point.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Suijin

Why put caulk between them if you're installing these in the cabin? If it's for decorative purposes, I think a better solution is to cut 1/8-1/4" strips and stain them a different color.

A white/light color caulk is going to get dirty/stained. If you try and varnish over it as finish, it's going to crack at some point.

I agree, there is no need for the caulk on a cabin sole. The only purpose on deck is to keep water from leaking through.

Friends of ours made "stripes" out of white epoxy and after 20 yrs its still looking good.

A couple of years ago we redid our cabin sole using teak and 1/4 sawn white oak for the stripes. Our facing on the oak was 3/4" which made it a more reasonable size/easier to manufacture.

No matter how you do it, its a big job.

Bill O.

[hellosailor]

Teak decking--used on deck, in the exposed air above the hull--is usually caulked, yes. But FLOORING, down below in the cabin spaces? AFAIK is never caulked. You'll see flooring laid up as teak with holly strips separating the boards, but never caulking. It is simply not necessary down below, and might even cause problems.

[TooCoys]

I was going to caulk it 1.) to avoid having to fiddle with 1/4" strips, and 2.) to allow flexing since I'm installing the strips over plywood. Since my floors are hand laid, and not part of a fiberglass mold, I figured there would be more flexing when underway.

But, if y'all don't think its an issue, then I can just rip down some 1/4" pieces of the remaining cypress for the decorative stripes.

I've been going back and forth with the stripes, and trying to decide how important they are to me. I thought about ripping 1/4" strips and gluing them in, I've though about masking 1/4" on each board when staining them to give the look of the stripes, and I came up with this caulking idea which seamed to be the least labor intensive. But now I'm having doubts.

I know its a big job, but this is special wood, and a luxury that I can afford because the wood didn't cost me anything.

[Bill O]

Our cabin sole underlay is also a 3/4" ply fastened to stringers. Don't know if you need access to anything below, but even w/the new cabin sole attached to them we made ours removable to still have access under them.

Also to create more integrity in the new cabin sole, all the boards were interlocked using tongue & grooves. This ensured a tight fit and less mechanical fasteners were needed.

We looked at different techniques used for adding the stripes in the cabin sole. For us it was needed to extend the amount of teak we had to complete the job and wanted the finished product to not appear too dark. As discussed some of the other options are to do stripes with wood/epoxy laid into a routered channel or possibly paint. How you choose to finish the new cabin sole may influence your direction for stripes.

If you do add a different wood for stripes, you'll want to pick something with good stability (less expansion/contraction w/heat and humidity) and other characteristics for marine use. We chose 1/4 sawn white oak due to its stability with that grain orientation, excellent rot resistance and it is an indigenous species on the east coast. Ash might be another good choice.

Not going into a lot of detail of a cabin sole finish as much is described here, but we wanted something durable, easy to maintain and with a good non-slip finish. IMO, while varnish has a nice gloss appearance, it has no business on a cabin sole as it is very slippery when wet.

Lots of choices discussed here, but after it is done you'll appreciate the effort for the new cabin sole.

Bill O.

[VBsail]

I started off with Teak Deck Systems caulk, which worked well, but noticed its characteristics seemed very similar to common PL S30 (black) and PL S40 (white) that are about $6 at the hardware store.

I wanted a cosmetic accent color between tongue & groove.




Practical Sailor article about PL S40

https://www.practical-sailor.com/iss...d_11763-1.html

[hellosailor]

I think the "stripes" are not just for decoration, but also the change in surface supposedly would give you a little traction when heeled over. As long as the floorboards are totally sealed, on all six sides, they should remain nicely stable & last "forever" as long as you keep up the topcoat on them.