Teak deck maintenance advice please

[superheat6k]

The paying lines on my teak deck are raised in places ~ 1 - 2 mm, more so in the heavy wear areas. This is due to 30 years of wear to the teak between the lines, leaving the wood strips below the paying lines between.

The teak planks are 15mm thick and have zero signs of lifting nor water ingress, just the surface wear of the teak making the paying lines stand proud.

In some places the retaining screw heads are showing.

Overall out of ~ 800' of paying lines I can see ~ 2' of paying has actually loosened and lifted out.

It has been suggested I need to remove the entire 1500', re-rout the lines to ~ 5mm deep and repay the lot.

I think this advice is absolute nonsense.

In reality I need to deal only with exposed heads and loose paying with decent mastic for paying lines.

It has been suggested I lay the paying lines flat with a belt sander, remove and deepen any screws with exposed heads, including any that reveal as I sand, then repay only the loose areas. But this remove further timber prematurely and actually accelerates the wear of the deck.

Can I have opinions on fixing this please, ideally from those with practical knowledge of teak laid decks who have dealt with this.

How did you achieve an acceptable new surface ?

My own view is this is something to live with on a 34 year old boat and simply deal with the exposed screws only and any loose / lifted lengths of paying as they may occur.

 

[johnalison]

I can’t give you a complete advice, but I had to deal with some proud caulking a few years ago, though with no apparent detachment. I had been informed that it is better to deal with the proud bits because walking on them may actually induce detachment, and thus wither ingress. I used one of my very sharp woodcarving gauges with a very slight curve. I sharpen them with a slight inside bevel, making them easy to steer up and down. However, I have generally seen advice to use a knife whose name I forget but which I think is used on carpets, with a central blade and guards either side. I’m sure someone will come up with the name.

 

[superheat6k]

I can’t give you a complete advice, but I had to deal with some proud caulking a few years ago, though with no apparent detachment. I had been informed that it is better to deal with the proud bits because walking on them may actually induce detachment, and thus wither ingress. I used one of my very sharp woodcarving gauges with a very slight curve. I sharpen them with a slight inside bevel, making them easy to steer up and down. However, I have generally seen advice to use a knife whose name I forget but which I think is used on carpets, with a central blade and guards either side. I’m sure someone will come up with the name.

Perhaps also a stanley blade in a window paint removal tool. Thanks for your advice as I will now consider trying a gouge.

 

[Tranona]

Are or were 15mm thick? How far you go depends in part on how much teak is left. The fact that screw heads are now exposed suggests loss of maybe 3 or 4mm of the original thickness at least in the areas where the screws are. If the loss is of that extent over the whole of the deck then the first bit of advice is sound and not a piece of nonsense. If it is variable then patching - that is dealing with smaller areas by reducing the raised caulking, removing the screws and setting them lower before re-plugging and levelling is also viable. HR sell screws with thinner heads for just this purpose. However this is a "Forth Bridge" type operation - you could be doing this every year as new areas need attention.

You will no doubt get variable advice because it is never clear cut what is best. If you intend keeping the boat a long time you may think it worth the effort and cost (assuming there is enough teak left) to effectively start again with a flat deck, new caulking and lower set screws. On the other hand dealing with the worst areas as you go along will keep the deck looking reasonable at a lot less effort and cost.

 

[searocket]

We have a teak deck on our boat, we use a Mozart trimming knife Mozart knife on the caulking. If the caulking is too proud of the teak then there is a danger that it will loosen.
Naturally the teak wears faster than the caulking. I would not use a belt sander, trimming with the Mozart knife is pretty quick, we did our deck (34' boat) in a couple of hours.
If the deck has worn to the extent that the screw plugs have come out then it is important to replug these promptly. Remove the existing screws, assuming there is enough teak, the screw holes can be drilled a bit deeper (we use a 10mm forstner drill bit for this). And then re-plugged. There are low profile screws available e.g. Hallberg Rassy Teak Deck screws and plugs which will give a few more mm of depth for the teak to wear. Glue the plugs in with something that has a bit of flex e.g. G-flex epoxy, PU, We use a small japanese pull saw to trim the plugs, others use a sharp chisel.
If any of the caulking is loose then this needs re-caulking - I would only do the loose sections.

 

[Ammonite]

They sell knock off versions of these on eBay for £15 with 6 blades compared with £50 for the original. I've not used either so just a FYI
Floor Carpet Trimming Skiving Tool Vinyl Flooring Welding Cutting + 6 Blades UK | eBay

 

[johnalison]

We have a teak deck on our boat, we use a Mozart trimming knife Mozart knife on the caulking. If the caulking is too proud of the teak then there is a danger that it will loosen.
Naturally the teak wears faster than the caulking. I would not use a belt sander, trimming with the Mozart knife is pretty quick, we did our deck (34' boat) in a couple of hours.
If the deck has worn to the extent that the screw plugs have come out then it is important to replug these promptly. Remove the existing screws, assuming there is enough teak, the screw holes can be drilled a bit deeper (we use a 10mm forstner drill bit for this). And then re-plugged. There are low profile screws available e.g. Hallberg Rassy Teak Deck screws and plugs which will give a few more mm of depth for the teak to wear. Glue the plugs in with something that has a bit of flex e.g. G-flex epoxy, PU, We use a small japanese pull saw to trim the plugs, others use a sharp chisel.
If any of the caulking is loose then this needs re-caulking - I would only do the loose sections.

Yes, that’s the one. You will also need knee pads.

 

[Metalicmike]

Many years ago I made block prints from vinyl tiles and used special tools to cut various sized grooves. You can still buy them from Amazon or Art shops they are called lino Cutters

 

[superheat6k]

We have a teak deck on our boat, we use a Mozart trimming knife Mozart knife on the caulking. If the caulking is too proud of the teak then there is a danger that it will loosen.
Naturally the teak wears faster than the caulking. I would not use a belt sander, trimming with the Mozart knife is pretty quick, we did our deck (34' boat) in a couple of hours.
If the deck has worn to the extent that the screw plugs have come out then it is important to replug these promptly. Remove the existing screws, assuming there is enough teak, the screw holes can be drilled a bit deeper (we use a 10mm forstner drill bit for this). And then re-plugged. There are low profile screws available e.g. Hallberg Rassy Teak Deck screws and plugs which will give a few more mm of depth for the teak to wear. Glue the plugs in with something that has a bit of flex e.g. G-flex epoxy, PU, We use a small japanese pull saw to trim the plugs, others use a sharp chisel.
If any of the caulking is loose then this needs re-caulking - I would only do the loose sections.

Thanks for your advice re the Hallberg Rassy low profile deck screws. I have ordered these complete with the deck plugs. I ordered the cheaper skiving tool from Ebay which looks identical so I will see how that works.