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Teak deck ??'s

  • August 25, 2011 6:22 PM
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    Message # 684911
    Deleted user
    Hello everybody:
      I introduced myself on the Welcome Aboard section of this forum. I received a lot of friendly  and informative replies. For those who might have not have seen that intro...
    In a nutshell 60,I'm retired and in serious negotiations on WSSF4770975 the boat has been on the hard for 11 years.The owner is very forthcoming about the condition of the WS and the price is more than right. He loves his boat and poor health is his reason for the long lay-up ( thought he could recover and did not)and subsequent sale He is actually willing to accept a lesser offer from me than he has previously refused. He knows I will sail this boat and treat her well ....  so he made me an offer I can't refuse.
      The main defect is a seriously degrading/rot of teak decking and amidships deck drains . There seems to be some water into the cabin in that drain area as water pools on the hinges and locker  opening recess. Haven't been on her during rain it my well be the seriously deteriorated portlight gaskets.
    Wondering if anyone has removed and replaced the teak stripping. More of a cost curiosity, the R&R seems pretty straight forward. An option I'm concidering;     I have never been a fan of teak decks, beautiful yes, hot and problems OH Yes! Thinking of doing away with teak in favor of a complete resurface with  surface molded non skid epoxy. Saw a gr8 product that textures surface to match exactingly many mfgr's nonskid. Essentially an embossed plastic film with total release properties
      It has been re-powered from the original 25 hp to a 50hp Perkins 4 cyl but has original prop on new shaft and gland/stuffing box . Would it be worth my investment to re-prop. I see that some on the  site has done so to good effect.
        Any thoughts, coments or opinions are most welcome.
       Thanks in advance , Jim Nielsen
  • September 06, 2011 12:50 PM
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    Reply # 693208 on 684911
    Deleted user

    Jim,

    Just checking in. Did you get the boat?
  • September 11, 2011 7:30 AM
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    Reply # 696682 on 684911
    Deleted user
    Jim, 

    Welcome to the WOA - it's  an amazing resource.  I am also in my early 60's, and tackled a total restoration/completion of a W32 in '05.  It's just now ready for the water!  I have molded in scupper drains, so I don't anticipate any leakage anywhere, however with the spun brass scupper drains a lot of the boats have leakage.  I'd start with getting a copy of Bud's Maintenance Manual and compare his recommendations with what you have on your boat.  I ended up making a lot of upgrades just to minimize future maintenance/deterioration, however I did keep my teak decks (what can I say, I'm a purist and huge Colin Archer fan).   That being said, they were the single biggest project on the boat.   Mine were in solid condition, albeit needing all new regrooving and caulking.  I tried a variety of tools to regroove and ended up using the Fein Multimaster to recut all 700 linear feet of grooving.   I had to replace a couple of deck planks aft and found that the only practical way of getting most of the deck screws out was to use an impact driver to start the screws out.   Just exposing the heads enough to get a good bite with the phillips head took some practice but once I did a few dozen I got a good rhythm going.   You'll have well over 1,000 screws to pull.  

    Remolding a non-skid pattern seems to be very challenging.  On my coachroof I just sanded down the molded pattern (it was damaged in spots) and recoated with Interlux non-skid paint in gray to hide dirt.  So far, so good.   I like the look and it cleans up with soap and water although the grit tears up rags pretty quickly and I have to sweep up the remains.

    Whichever method you choose I know you'll be delighted with your W32.   In retrospect I could have bought a boat ready-for-sea, but my boat is a reflection of me and I now know every square millimeter of her (and my wife knows where every penny went).

    Tom Koehl  
  • September 14, 2011 1:53 PM
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    Reply # 699596 on 684911
    Anonymous member

    Tom

    I'd like to complete my deck work this year and was wondering how you regrooved the planks in place. I've got a copy of the Fein multimaster but not sure how you control the depth of cut. The foredeck and cockpit planking was done the hard way, by removing everything. I'd like to make the side deck project a little easier.

    scott
  • September 16, 2011 5:40 AM
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    Reply # 701454 on 684911
    Deleted user
    Scott,

    The Fein gives you good control of the sides of the groove, but like you questioned, how to control the depth?  I called Teak Deck Systems and spoke to their tech guys a couple of times.  As they explained it to me, the teak "ledge" is just to do two things: first, to minimize the volume of the groove, and second, to control the spacing of the deck planks.  They said that if I was doing the deck in place I could just take the groove right down to the fiberglass underdeck.  Not really any different than how planking was done a hundred years ago: spacing was maintained by shims and then the caulking was hammered into the goove.  I could also dispense with the taping in the bottom of the groove, but the downside was in the use of more caulk.   Instead of using roughly 40 tubes of SIS440 I used 70.  Still, I'll have the advantage of being able to sand the decks again in the future without having to worry about taking so much off that I'll thin the caulking too much.   

    I was skeptical about the process, but TDS assured me that it would do no harm and if the deck becomes problematic in five or ten years I'll probably go with a complete deck replacement, or perhaps just revert to non-skid.  As you cut through the teak you will feel the blade going through the bottom of the wood.   You may scratch the gelcoat of the deck, but it's much harder than the teak and if you take your time you won't do any damage.

    Just don't forget to sand the sides of the grooves to give the SIS a good clean surface to bond to.  I used a scrap of lexan (plywood would be just as good) and wrapped 80 grit around it.   It's going to take a couple of days to do each side properly, and you're going to hurt in the mornings, but wear knee pads and take a lot of breaks and you'll be satisfied with the results.    

    By the way, I did have to replace a couple of 5 and 8 foot long pieces of decking on the aft deck, but I did it before my regrooving.  I had experimented with a variety of tools: both routers and saws.  Control was impossible without elaborate guides, and I ended up with irregular grooves and the only remedy was to replace the planks.   I had to plane the pieces to match the worn-down thickness of the rest of the deck, but I still had almost 3/4 inch thickness.   

    If someone could invent a tool or blade that would cut both the sides and bottom of the groove with total control they will be a hero (and probably make some money in the process)!  Best of luck, 

    Tom 
  • March 22, 2012 2:40 PM
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    Reply # 866239 on 684911
    Deleted user
    I am just finishing removal of teak decks from my hull #700, and what a chore it was. I pulled all the screws and lifted all the teak in sections, I kept it intact except for the side decks, they were bent to fit the curve and screwed down so they straighten out immediately. I cut each side in 3 places so now they're composed of four roughly 4' long sections of planking instead of the one 15' long boards.

    I separated all the boards, labeled them, cut out all the caulking and ran them through a surface planer and then routered new rabits for the caulk. I haven't decided if I'm going to put them back down or not but if I do it'll be with adhesive. While they were still on I shot them with a non-contact thermometer and they were 150 degrees in the sun, the bare gelcoat area was only 130-135 degrees. They look nice but they get hot.

    The original molded nonskid was in terrible condition so I ground it all off with a belt sander. I opened each screw hole with a larger bit, walked the bit around to open the bottom of each hole slightly, vacuumed them all out and then injected west system into each one. Then I spread several layers of west system mixed with #407 low density filler. Most of the sanding was with a drywall board to get things as level as possible. I really overdid it trying to get the surface perfect, after all non-skid will hide a lot.

    The jury is still out on this whole approach. One outfit around here does them by laying down several layers of cloth and then covering that with a filler mix. The cloth stabilizes things and prevents future cracking. I may wish I'd done that.

    I primered the decks with Sherwin Williams N10-A-350 amide two-part, it's a mil-spec paint used on oil platforms and runs about $100 a gallon. It doesn't sand anywhere near as well as AwlGrip 545 primer does but I later discovered you can mix the two.

    I have 2 full summers invested in this though I wasted a lot of time figuring things out and experimenting. It's not a trivial job.
  • July 02, 2012 2:11 PM
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    Reply # 992373 on 684911
    Deleted user
    I struggled with a tired teak deck for five years- then removed it. I'd had quotes of £5000 upwards to replace it with look-a-like plastic and £15000 for the real thing. I bought polyester resin and tissue mat, filled the screw holes with epoxy and in good weather condions(not easy in the UK) rolled on 10 coats of gelcoat with a stiple finish. Cost £135 ! Finally painted with non-slip deck paint. It looks great and I hope it will last. I have seen plastic look-a-like teak failing after five years and the veneer teak glued on like on modern yachts doesn't seem to last either. I found the foredeck a little weak so I laminated three beams of sapele and ash to match the main salon and it looks great and when I walk on the foredeck it has a solid feel. Some water had got into the deck core and I managed to blow this out with a bicycle pump.It's been complete one year now and seems intact.
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