can i do it ? (teak decking)

[jana]

I have some old teak science benches and would like to deck my cockpit out with this wood. Can anybody talk me throught the procedures, for instance cutting and planing the wood and what do I stick it down with. Any tips gratefully received!

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[tillergirl]

Not sure I can help but I fear you about to machine away a lot of teak.. I assume you are talking of putting teak strips on top of glass locker and cockpit tops? If so you will need them to be quite thin. Robbins of Bristol sell teak decking which is 6, 9 or 12mm thick. If you are lining the top of robust lockers or cockpit coamings you will only need something like 6mm. How thick is the bench top. If it's like the mahogany one I got, that was 25mm thick and it would be a criminal waste of teak to machine it down more than a mm or two. Maybe you should see what you can get for the teak if this is the case and then buy the ready prepared stuff.

Between the strips you will need a caulking material to provide the black lines - Pur-Flex is probably the best. Lay the teak strips with a 4 or 6 mm gap (into which you need to put bond breaker tape) and then fill the gap with the Pu-flex. It's the messiest job to do but when it's dry you can sand off the excess and quite easily get that just laid look. As for sticking the teak down, that's too difficult for me as I'm a wood to wood man and I don't know what would stick to your gel-coat. If I got this all wrong and it's onto work, then I would use epoxy having degreased the underside of the teak (Blakes do a surface cleaner).

Wouldn't it be nicer to have a really nice teak cockit table (you can buy ally legs that slot into a nice neat bracket) or have you enough for both.

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[vyv_cox]

I did the same thing many years ago, also with old lab benches. Advice given to me by the joiner at work (those were the days, there isn't even a workshop any more!) was to get the cutting and planing done by a shop. So long as you are certain there are no nails or screws in the timber they will not charge a lot for it. Saves an enormous amount of time and effort, and scrap wood.

Sikaflex make all the adhesive and caulking products you will need for the job. Try their website <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.sika.com/cmi-marine-products-index.htm>http://www.sika.com/cmi-marine-products-index.htm</A>

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[tillergirl]

I forgot - have you worked out your design? You could do either fore and aft runs or get really flash with the outer strips forming a box with mitred corners (not too exacting given that you have the caulking strip between the otherwise mating faces) and then fill the 'box' with fore and aft strips. I guess you would need to think through how square the 'boxes' would be. Ok perhaps if they rectangles but not if they had angles other than rightangles ie a non rectangular parrallelogram (I've just realised that the first time I've used that word since leaving school in 1966 - knew it would come in handy some day but I can't remember wether it was two r's and one l or the other way around so I given you both - I'm rambling, I'll got and put another coat of varnish on the new locker doors.

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[snowleopard]

i did this last year. i chose to lay strips with gaps in between to let the water drain away and avoid the wet bum i had suffered from previously. i had strips machined to 50mm x 10mm and rounded on two edges.

the glue recommended by my chandlers was a rubbery stuff like sikaflex but water got into the gap and a lot lifted off. second attempt was with west epoxy and mictofibre filler for thickening. they are now firmly stuck. the vital thing is to de-grease.

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[PBrooks]

Hi, I did this last year with some old pitch pine beams. The principles will be the same for your teak. I opted for 6mm thick 50mm wide strips with a 3mm by 3mm "L" on one edge. We machined the timber with a very good table saw (with a skilled operator). Although there is some waste, good cutting can make it pretty cost effective. There was no need to plane once sawn (a good saw blade, I guess). The strips were then cut / angled to size and fitted to the locker tops using epoxy / thickened epoxy. Rather than fixing with screws, I made up a jig to hold everything in place on the outside of the locker lid and weighted down the strips with bricks on battens. Make sure you keep the grooves (formed by the 3mm by 3mm "L") clear of epoxy (as best as you can). When set and roughly sanded, I then filled the grooves with sikaflex type black gunge. When this had dried, I sanded with a belt sander until smooth. I'ts all relatively straightforward if the locker lids are flat and easy to work with - and assuming you have access to a good saw (and somebody to operate it to tight tolerances). However, curves and water channels will make it much harder. I'm told that thinner teak is better as it doesn't overstress the glue joint with expansion / contraction. If you use thicker teak (say 10mm), then you need to fix with screws in a bed of sikaflex.
I hope this helps. If all this puts you off, I can find a good home for the teak benches, if they're in your way!

Good luck, Paul

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[JOHNBOY]

Have a look at http/mysite.fresereve.com/Patikisdeck hope its not much a read.
Note cap P = Patiki

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[Strathglass]

Try this

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://mysite.freeserve.com/Patikisdeck>http://mysite.freeserve.com/Patikisdeck</A>

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[jana]

thanks to all - you've given me the confidence to go ahead with this project. I'll post a picture when done!

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[Anchorite]

What space did you leave between the strips (and would you do it again the
same way?)

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