laid teak deck

[EASLOOP]

Hi y'all,

Last summer painstakingly reamed out all the seams of my laid teak deck (East Anglian Sloop), renewed the cotton and backed it up with Sikoflex - suitably primed. Guess Sika doesn't work too well with old wood as this year, super hot weather notwithstanding, I can see daylight through the deck seams which means the rain will see them too. Now considering splining the deck seams (as in the hull approach). Has anybody done this? Does it work? Did the deck explode when it got wet? etc? etc?
Look forward to comments
John

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[LORDNELSON]

Have you tried discussing this with Sika's technical department? They produce good literature describing how to deal with various types of seam and how to clean them up, prime and tape them etc.

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[tillergirl]

I guess I'm not the best to make a suggestion as I finally gave up on TG's teak deck after five years of recaulking.

Question 1, did you put a seam break in the bottom of the seam? If the silkaflex adhered to the bottom as well as the sides in all the expansion and contraction, it will work itself loose. It should go on top of the caulking cotton.

Question 2, how are the fastenings? Silly question in a way because you can't really see but on TG the original teak had been fixed with steel screws presumably galvanised. Over the years damp had got into a few, rusted them and they had given way. Result too much movement for the silkaflex to hold. In the end I found I was recaulking large sections everu three months and I gave up on it and removed it to find some fresh water damage to beam shelf etc. All repairable of coursebut I'm glad I didn't leave it too much longer or the damage might have gone too far. I ducked replacing the teak and put down a high quality marine ply (sapele) which has stiffened her up and I guess will keep her sound for another 40 years.

I think it's worth speaking to silkaflex as suggested but if you did the seam break and primed the seams and they were dry, you're done everything right. I was convinced in the end that the movement in a 40 yr old girl was such that it was asking the caulking to do too much. Much as I regret the passing of the teak, I feel the glassed marine ply is going to give her a longer life.

Good luck

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[LORDNELSON]

Have you discussed with Sika? They are most helpful with advice about materials and techniques

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[EASLOOP]

Yes, to all of the above. I reamed the seams, caulked with new cotton as per the book, primed the seam, put in the Sikaflex etc. I guess the extreme UK weather of late has something to do with it. After we have got back to UK weather a la normal I will recaulk where necessary and then treat the entire deck with Coelan which seems to get good reviews. I had hoped someone might have tried splining the seams - perhaps that has not been done.

Thanks for everyone's input

regard
John

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[tillergirl]

Forgive me if I am repeating something you've already answered. There needs to be a seam break in the bottom of the groove. For the life of me I can't remember whether it goes under the caulking or on top. The point of it is so that the caulking adheres to the side of the planks and does not get pulled away because it's adhering to the bottom as well that's moving at a different rate. If this was meant by your last post, sorry for repeating and being a bore.

As for splining, haven't splined a deck (obviously) but I did spline some nasty shakes in the cabin sides. Wasn't too difficult and seems to have taken well. I guess doing to the deck, the problem will be firstly the look - you'll have lost the look of the trad teak deck but obviously saved on the cost and time of a new deck. I suppose if you use teak, you'll have similar movement in both splines and planks unless this varies with the the thickness of the deck. I don't know enough about that to comment. Do you intend to leave the deck uncovered? I suspect that if you covered it either traditionally with canvas or glass you'll inevitably be sealing in some crud from the existing leaks which might accelerate some problems. Sorry I don't have any relevant experience on this - why not try the classic boat forum.

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