brians
Well-Known Member
I have some small areas of teak decking that have lifted. The decking is 3mm teak glued on 3mm 3ply plywood backing. What is the best adhesive to glue this back down?
Adhesive for teak decking
- Thread starter brians
- Start date
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Sikaflex is the most widely available in small quantities.
vas
Well-Known Member
I'd use epoxy, small pots of west systems is available more or less everywhere.
Especially if you can take the offending pieces out, clean carefully, degrease the teak and refit.
Epoxy's advantage is that it's thinner (can be thickened) so you can get a first soaking on both sides then thicken and apply another coat and press.
That's how I've done a couple of sqm for the heads of my boat. Mind that was 10mm thick teak on 15mm marine ply
cheers
V.
Especially if you can take the offending pieces out, clean carefully, degrease the teak and refit.
Epoxy's advantage is that it's thinner (can be thickened) so you can get a first soaking on both sides then thicken and apply another coat and press.
That's how I've done a couple of sqm for the heads of my boat. Mind that was 10mm thick teak on 15mm marine ply
cheers
V.
geem
Well-Known Member
Very good advice. I was just about to say the same thing. Epoxy is far superior to any sikaflex type solution.
pmagowan
Well-Known Member
Epoxy is good although not sure about it for 10mm teak. I think west system advise maximum 9mm IIRC because thicker teak will overpower the epoxy when expanding and contracting due to changes in moisture. It will certainly work with 3mm stuff. Generally with thick teak a flexible adhesive is recommended so that natural movement can occur. This is also why you should use a tape on the bottom of the seam when using caulking. With 3mm teak you can caulk with epoxy blackened with carbon dust but you will likely prefer to use the same stuff as the rest of the deck if it is a repair job.
thinwater
Well-Known Member
Sikaflex includes about 30 products at least. Which one did you mean?
geem
Well-Known Member
Our teak in the cockpit is 24mm thick. It is laid on a high quality structural epoxy 1:1 mix. It is caulked with a high quality flexible caulking. It doesnt move. The high level deck area is a miserly 18mm thick and constructed in the same way. That doesnt move either.
Tradewinds
Well-Known Member
I used a Teak Decking Systems 1:1 epoxy TDS FE-180A + their SIS-440 Teak Deck Caulking.
The previous epoxy (c1980) used by C&N for laying their teak decks was still pretty much securely bonded when it came to removing the old, worn teak (many years in Carib/tropics).
http://www.teakdecking.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28:tds-fe-180a-msds&catid=12&Itemid=134
geem
Well-Known Member
We did a huge amount of research before we replaced our teak. The conclusion we came to was that any fixing solution other than epoxy is for the convenience of the installer rather than to improve the quality of the job. If you want the teak deck to stay put and form an integral part of the deck then use top quality epoxy. Installing with epoxy is more time consuming but worth it in my opinion. Anything other than a 1:1 or 2:1 epoxy is not up to the job. In my opinion West epoxy do a fantastic marketing job for a very basic epoxy suitable for making Mirror dinghies. The cost of epoxy is in the hardener not the epoxy its self. Any epoxy at 5:1 is cheap. Use a proper epoxy. Its doesn't cost any more than West if you shop around.
Concerto
Well-Known Member
The correct Sikaflex is number 298.
http://www.sealantsandtoolsdirect.c...ck_bedding_decking_adhesive_600ml_P27667.html
http://www.sealantsandtoolsdirect.c...ck_bedding_decking_adhesive_600ml_P27667.html
pmagowan
Well-Known Member
That is fine, I suppose time and circumstances will tell. The bottom line is that the epoxy and the wood have a finite strength. Expansion of wood due to moisture changes creates a force which is relative to the thickness of the wood and is perpendicular to the grain. I have seen wood bend bolts and split other wood braces as well as delaminate glued surfaces due to exansion. This is why West system advise a maximum thickness and they seem to have done many tests. Other factors would be; mechanical fixings, treatment of the teak, grain tightness of the teak etc. It may be that you will get away with it but in woodwork one must make allowances for expansion and contraction.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
6mm is the normal maximum thickness recommended by Gougeon brothers. They also recommend just 2mm gaps if using graphite/epoxy to fill seams. Wider seams are better filled with a flexible sealer as the edge bond with epoxy can be poor, leading to cracking.
Se Ch 27 (5th edition) for more information.
pmagowan
Well-Known Member
Yes, you are right, I was relying on memory and 9mm is mentioned as the first size that is probably a bit big although they do mention that slightly thicker teak has been sucessful especially if you only use the epoxy to fix to the subdeck and fill the seams with flexible sealant.
geem
Well-Known Member
Do you think maybe they are not confident about the quality of their epoxy?
Teak Decking Systems in the States are the largest builder of teak decks in the world. They regularly build 10mm decks and fix with 1:1 epoxy. When we spoke to them they advised you could go thicker than 10mm but their clients didnt want to pay for thicker decks so their standard was 10mm. They build them for multi-million dollar superyachts on a regular basis. We used their caulking with tape umder the seam. Vey happy with the results
pmagowan
Well-Known Member
They normally advise that the epoxy bond is stronger than wood but then wood will split with expansion and contraction from moisture if it is not given room.
geem
Well-Known Member
Isnt that why we use teak for decks? High oil content to reduce moisture ingress? The wood can move perpendicular to the grain and the flexible caulking allows additional expansion. If you were using a wood other than teak I can imagine the wood splitting.
pmagowan
Well-Known Member
That is one of the reasons and they do specifically say that you might get away with thicker teak if the caulk is flexible. Teak does still expand and contract. I have a worktop with a 1cm gap in it to prove it! The main reason to use teak is that it lasts a long time and provides one of the best non-slip surfaces money can buy. I am sure epoxy will still work in most scenarios but it is worth taking into account.