I know..Teak decks again..

wazza

wazza

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 Sep 2004
Messages
785
Location
Sweden
Visit site
We really are going to have to bite the bullet and take up the teak decks of our Najad 343 from '81.. 32 years is a long time to have lasted, short of re-caulking the whole lot which may well extend the life of the deck another couple of years (and take forever to do) so I feel I have no choice.

It would be nice to have a rough idea what I'm getting myself in to and more importantly a rough estimate of how long it'll take. I have my Fein, which I bought when I re-caulked and applied Coelan on my coachroof. I'll be drilling out each screw, hoping each and everyone will come out then pull the planks accordingly.

I've looked at youtube and found very little in the way of seeing how others have done. A google search gave me tips in writing but pictures would be good too.

So who's been there seen it done it & got the T-shirt?
 
There is a recent article in PBO on how the Chandler's (of Somalia fame) replaced their Rival's teak deck. Also the book "Boat Interior Construction" despite its name has a good section on installing Teak Decks. Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boat-Interi...oatbuilding/dp/071366357X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

Here is a link to a Google Search of YBW using the phrase "Replacing Teak Decks". It's a well trodden path!

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...60,d.bGE&fp=6e2ef6d76b2c9a7a&biw=1285&bih=639
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm not quite sure what you want to know here. Teak decks are something I do to earn a crust... so I know a little about it ;)

If you are just talking about removing your old decks, I'd allow a weeks work on a 33' boat for removal and then making good. The chances are you will get some patches of gel-coat that need filling here and there, so be careful with your FEIN. Personally I always use an industrial air chisel with a 30/40mm blade, backed up with a small lever/gemi bar and some wide blade chisels and Sandvic scrapers. Get yourself somewhere convenient to start and then move forward, chiselling and levering. You'll normally find some areas come away easier than others and then you'll start to smile, but then hit a patch that feels like its been welded. Don't worry about the screws though, just pull the deck up around them. When they're exposed just remove them with a good pair of mole-grips. They will normally unscrew. Trying to drill out stainless screws in a softer substrate like timber and GRP is difficult to say the least and damn nigh impossible in most cases... and awfully time consuming.

At the end of all this of course is what you're left with, and the cosmetic finish you want after the removal of the deck. Re-gel, painting, deck paint, Treadmaster...
 
wazza said:
We really are going to have to bite the bullet and take up the teak decks of our Najad 343 from '81.. 32 years is a long time to have lasted, short of re-caulking the whole lot which may well extend the life of the deck another couple of years (and take forever to do) so I feel I have no choice.

It would be nice to have a rough idea what I'm getting myself in to and more importantly a rough estimate of how long it'll take. I have my Fein, which I bought when I re-caulked and applied Coelan on my coachroof. I'll be drilling out each screw, hoping each and everyone will come out then pull the planks accordingly.

I've looked at youtube and found very little in the way of seeing how others have done. A google search gave me tips in writing but pictures would be good too.

So who's been there seen it done it & got the T-shirt?
Click to expand...

I relayed the teak decks of my Vindö (from '80) five years ago.
Some thoughts:
Take a lot of pictures of the present deck. Mark the frame pieces and take care getting them off in one piece, they can be used as templates for the new ones.
The amount of work/time will depend a lot on how the existing deck is layed down and on what you find when you have lifted it off.
If you are lycky (like me) the builders have not used a proper bedding compound for the planks but just some silicone. Means the planks will come off fairly easy once the screws are out.
If you are unlucky (again like me) water has entered some of the screw holes and saturated the sandwich core. A moisture meter will indicate where. Means the top panel has to be cut out and core replaced.
Once the under deck is sound, to start laying the teak is fun and rewarding, if you enjoy wood working.
A couple of extra hands are valuable, you also need a lot of clamps and some weights to hold the planks down (tip: 10 litre plastic water containers).
It is pretty time consuming, you would lay the entire deck "dry" first, then take it all off and relay with bedding, a few planks at each go.
Good luck!

(Just realised rereading your post that you might not want to have a teak deck again – if so skip the second part)
 
Last edited:
As said you may be lucky and the screws come out easily and the planks are not stuck down firmly - or you will have to destroy them to get them off the deck!

If you are replacing with teak, do not screw them, but glue down which means laying dry first to get all the planks fitted properly with the right seam gaps, then gluing down in sections. You can use a variety of methods to hold them down while the glue cures. Keeping them flat is sometimes a challenge, particularly if there is a lot of edge set.
 
I am also interested in this as my deck needs redone (teak screwed to ply). I was thinking of ripping the whole lot up, replacing the ply and putting on fibreglass before replacing the teak with the appropriate glue. I am not sure I would buy new teak as the stuff that is there is fine it has only failed due to screws. It has lasted 50 years unless someone replaced it which I very much doubt.
 
You might be able to re-use the existing teak if you can get it all off without damage. It may well be thick enough, but you would have to bung all the screw holes. Chances are the ply sub deck will have some rot, particularly around the screws, but you might not have to replace it all. No need to cover it with fibreglass, or if you have a new ply deck - in fact probably a bad thing to do as it makes it too rigid. Seal the ply with epoxy, paying particular attention to any end grain and joints. Then lay the teak onto polyurethane adhesive.

I am just doing that job onto a ply deck which used to be painted. Scraped off most of the old paint, repaired the localised rot with epoxy and glass cloth. Levelling off with an epoxy filler to take out the worst lumps etc and will then be laying the teak on Saba adhesive. No fastenings.
 
I will not be laying new teak, instead most probably tekdek, but on that side of the job I'm still unsure.
With regards to the bedding compound, I believe Najad used a silicone based product (maybe Sikaflex).
When I've made repairs in the past and removed teak parts I've seen the white material under the teak some has been 'rubbery' and in other places solid as epoxy.
Can that be due to water leaking in?
 
wazza said:
I will not be laying new teak, instead most probably tekdek, but on that side of the job I'm still unsure.
With regards to the bedding compound, I believe Najad used a silicone based product (maybe Sikaflex).
When I've made repairs in the past and removed teak parts I've seen the white material under the teak some has been 'rubbery' and in other places solid as epoxy. Can that be due to water leaking in?
Click to expand...

I'd say given the age of the boat the chances are the deck was bedded on some form of poly-sulphide rubber. How long have you owned the boat? I ask because if it looks like you've got different materials gluing it to the deck... there's a chance that there have been localised repairs to it before. I wouldn't be too worried that its water leaking in if you are going to remove it. You'll soon see if there's been water ingress when you lift it, deal with that at the time. I don't want to come over as glib here, but if you've definitely made the decision to remove the teak deck, just get stuck in and do it... its no big deal. Do it in the way I described above and you'll save a considerable amount of time. Take a few photos if you want a similar design in Tek-dek and you'll be on your way.
 
pmagowan said:
I am also interested in this as my deck needs redone (teak screwed to ply). I was thinking of ripping the whole lot up, replacing the ply and putting on fibreglass before replacing the teak with the appropriate glue.
Click to expand...

Our deck was teak on ply.
Teak was still sort of in OK condition after 25 years. However, the ply was sodden to the core.
I would suggest replacing the ply with either foam or balsa wood and then glass it in.
Not sure if you will be able to save your teak and re-use it again.
We couldn't, but all boats are different and you might be lucky.

FWIW: we replaced or teak with Marinedeck 2000. Very pleased with it.
 
saxonpirate said:
I'd say given the age of the boat the chances are the deck was bedded on some form of poly-sulphide rubber. How long have you owned the boat? I ask because if it looks like you've got different materials gluing it to the deck... there's a chance that there have been localised repairs to it before. I wouldn't be too worried that its water leaking in if you are going to remove it. You'll soon see if there's been water ingress when you lift it, deal with that at the time. I don't want to come over as glib here, but if you've definitely made the decision to remove the teak deck, just get stuck in and do it... its no big deal. Do it in the way I described above and you'll save a considerable amount of time. Take a few photos if you want a similar design in Tek-dek and you'll be on your way.
Click to expand...

We've had the boat for 8 years now, I don't know what repairs have been made before..
A poly-sulphide rubber you say, is that a good thing or a bad thing or does it really matter?
I hadn't intended on drilling out the screws, but will try to screw them out thus needing only to fill the screw holes and mend them.
A weeks work you say? If that's a week for you I'm thinking 2 for me then.
I'll be taking her out of the water in October so will have enough time during the loooooong winter here to get the whole thing off using the weekends.
 
I'm very interested in your project wazza, we have identically-aged teak decks and you are doing what I intend doing but continue to procrastinate about when. My plan is to strip off all the teak planks, epoxy-fill the screw holes, grind smooth and paint with Kiwi-Grip.

With the myriad of plugs I have renewed over the years every screw came out easily so I would expect your case to be similar.

A friend with an even older HR Monsum did much the same - although using a standard deck paint - and it looked fine. So much so that when he died his widow had no problem selling. No old teak deck for a potential buyer to use as a lever to beat the price down with the story of the many thousands it will cost to replace.
 
Barnac1e said:
I'm very interested in your project wazza, we have identically-aged teak decks and you are doing what I intend doing but continue to procrastinate about when. My plan is to strip off all the teak planks, epoxy-fill the screw holes, grind smooth and paint with Kiwi-Grip.

With the myriad of plugs I have renewed over the years every screw came out easily so I would expect your case to be similar.

A friend with an even older HR Monsum did much the same - although using a standard deck paint - and it looked fine. So much so that when he died his widow had no problem selling. No old teak deck for a potential buyer to use as a lever to beat the price down with the story of the many thousands it will cost to replace.
Click to expand...

Yes of course you do, we even have 'Coelan' in common.. The bullet needs to be bitten ;-)
Not sure what I'll be laying instead, at the moment I'm swinging towards tekdek, but who knows...
 
wazza said:
Yes of course you do, we even have 'Coelan' in common.. The bullet needs to be bitten ;-)
Not sure what I'll be laying instead, at the moment I'm swinging towards tekdek, but who knows...
Click to expand...
Ah yes, that #§*¢#! Coelan - don't remind me.

I have had good results with TekDek on another boat but almost as expensive as real teak.

And another thing ... today has just seen the end of a period of heatwave here in the northern Adriatic, a period when I nearly deserted the boat as being totally untenable with afternoon to late evening temperatures in the cabin nudging 40°C. Below, with the mosquito screens in limiting air circulation - no wind anyway - pouring with sweat, I went to the hanging locker for something and was met by a wave of pizza-oven air on opening. Built under the side deck the heat radiating down from the deck-head was palpable; all due to the teak that, during the day, is not to go barefoot on here. I keep deck shoes in the wheel-house just for that. TekDek has the same attribute of heat absorption, although perhaps less through transmission.

I quite envy you your northern latitudes sometimes ... :)
 
Last edited:
Wazza,

Absolute pain in the butt in my case. Teak was 22 years old, now very thin, probably excessive brushing by previous owner(s). Some screw caps had popped off, others were vestigal. I elected to do the removal myself to save money - maybe a bad decision.

It involved removing every screw - there were hundreds if not thousands. Most had epoxy in the crosshead, from the gunk that had been used to glue the caps in place, so I had to tap the screwdriver down to break out the epoxy, before I could remove the screw.

With the screws out the planks wouldn't move. They'd also been glued to the decks. The GRP deck (when I got to it) had the classic diamond non-slip pattern moulded into it, so the glue (usually epoxy, but mastic in some places) gripped like buggery.

I had to chisel each plank off inch by inch, sometimes taking the top surface of the GRP with it. Even on a 28 footer without a teaked coachroof, that's still a lot of inches. Occasionally I could take up a few inches of plank just by pulling, but that was the exception where the underlying glue hadn't been sufficient or had failed.

The yard that redecked her first had to use belt and detail sanders to take the remnants of glue off, then make good the damaged parts before they could start to lay the new deck (which they did very well).

Got the tee-shirt, but I'd rather I hadn't!
 
Kev - lucky you.

I also tried a Fein that had been lent me, and although it would get under the planks, it got gummed up with the glue/epoxy/gloop it was trying to cut through, heated it up and started it smouldering.

The yard suggested that it would have used a router set to just less than the plank thickness and routered most of the teak off, sanding the last of it. I could only imagine the clouds of teak dust blowing across Southampton Water like a golden-brown smog!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

B
Halberg Rassey 31
2 3 4
Replies
71
Views
2K
ashtead
ashtead

Share this page

Top