Re cutting teak deak caulk groove

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Peter

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Going to re caulk teak deak this summer, 30 mm teak on ply so plenty of teak thickness left, 14m yacht so plenty to do. Due to wear most of the orginal groove depth as gone, so part of the job will be re cutting the grooves. Not looking for ways of getting the caulk out as I have these tools. From research so far the 2 methods quoted seem to be

Router with pins acting as guides or a "screwed" batten acting as the router guide with one article suggesting a router could be used free hand.
Mini circular saw using the above as guides or free hand

Looking for advice on which method to use with pros and cons for either. Which tools used, how you did the job, any advice, tips etc. trying to get a consensus before I go out and buy tools and start practicing.

Note grooves are not straight but follow curve of hull.

Peter
 
Worked on a boat some years ago which had 2" thick iroko decks. We deepened the caulking grooves as you propose using a router (three actually, it was a big boat) with pins fore and aft through the base plate. Need to get rid of most of the old caulking first. It was not super fast because of continually having to clear the pins and cutter but it was faster than the alternatives, very accurate and accommodated curved joints.
 
Hadenough said:
Worked on a boat some years ago which had 2" thick iroko decks. We deepened the caulking grooves as you propose using a router (three actually, it was a big boat) with pins fore and aft through the base plate. Need to get rid of most of the old caulking first. It was not super fast because of continually having to clear the pins and cutter but it was faster than the alternatives, very accurate and accommodated curved joints.
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This is the way I'd go too. One addition would be to fit a swarf catcher attached to a vacuum cleaner. Not only would it make the job tidier but it should make it quicker too by reducing the number of times the guide pins get clogged and stuck.
 
Don't, whatever you do, try to use the router free hand. A few years ago I resplined my top sides (different job but same principle). I used battens fixed parallel to the seam which worked well enough but even then I had the occasional router slip. I got better as the job went on but the more care you can take to prevent slippage the better. It was relatively easy to disguise my mistakes with filler and paint but on teak decks you've got nowhere to hide.
 
I would definitely suggest a small circular saw,the model I have used on a huge amount of teak decks is a Elu biscuit jointer with a six mm tungsten tooth blade. blade diameter about100 mm. The blade obviously has to have depth control but they all do anyway.There are other models I've seen that are available. The advantage of the saw is that it only wants to pull in a fore and aft direction so being easy to control, whereas the router will always veer very strongly towards the direction of the rotation and can be disastrously difficult to restrain and control. With practice you'll be able to use a saw like this without guides, but this work does take practice or you can make a hell of a mess. Good luck though!
 
nigelmercier said:
That is an excellent idea, I may just buy one: http://amzn.to/1xywvc3

Don't even consider using a router freehand, you need guides.
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No thanks, I value my fingers and regrettably Einhell are not rated as quality tools - they come in somewhere just above absolute **** and silverline / blackspur junk - maybe unfair to Silverline - some of their tools are ok for amateur one off use.
 
Hi Peter,

I just remembered, that Fein has special blades for that. Look for the Fein Multimaster tool and you can use this: http://www.tool-net.co.uk/p-350469/fein-4mm.html?gclid=COqK78Xc_cICFWTHtAodECcAjw
Or this: first http://www.fein.de/de_de/multimaster/zubehoer/schneiden/
http://www.fein.de/de_de/multimaster/zubehoer/schneiden/schneidmesser-best-nr-6-39-03-200-01-7/

and then http://www.fein.de/de_de/multimaster/zubehoer/fugen-entfernen/

I just bought one for the same job but have not tried it yet.

Good Luck!

Findus
 
findus said:
I just remembered, that Fein has special blades for that. Look for the Fein Multimaster tool and you can use this: http://www.tool-net.co.uk/p-350469/fein-4mm.html?gclid=COqK78Xc_cICFWTHtAodECcAjw
Or this: first http://www.fein.de/de_de/multimaster/zubehoer/schneiden/
http://www.fein.de/de_de/multimaster/zubehoer/schneiden/schneidmesser-best-nr-6-39-03-200-01-7/

and then http://www.fein.de/de_de/multimaster/zubehoer/fugen-entfernen/

I just bought one for the same job but have not tried it yet.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

He'd need more than luck! You can't accurately deepen the grooves in a teak deck using those tools.
 
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