The mark of true stupidity...

[Twister_Ken]

...is having one cut to port on your forehead and a matching one to starboard, both showing red.

My tale of re-decking woe is just about at the end of part one, and deck is now waterproofed ready for a change of venue. In the course of removing the old deck, I stripped the slots from just a few of the hundreds of screws that were holding the old deck down. Between other jobs this weekend, decided to use the notch on the end on a pry bar to pull the remaining screws straight out. All going swimmingly until one particular screw needed a bit more avoirdupois, so I got my well-larded body over it and gave a heave. Out it popped, and the other end of the pry bar sprang back and hit me in the head. Being a non-quiche-eater, I carried on and finished the job, which concluded with one more extra-stubborn screw. Same story, whack, ouch.

At which point, a certain stickineness manifested itself on my brow, so decided to wander off to the toilet block and clean myself up a bit. When, from out of ra blue, arrives Jimi, SWMBO and an unbelieveably small rudder (no wonder he breaks so many). SWMBO, last heard of stranded on a sandbar in the Wash, faints at the sight of bloody TK. Jimi invites me aboard Glen Rosa, so he can stitch "yer heid" according to ship captain's medical notes in Reeds. I may be stupid, but not that stupid...

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[BlueSkyNick]

The Damp Proof Course ...

.......looks lovely, but when is the bricklayer going to start laying the slabs?

<hr width=100% size=1>I'm average size, Its just that everybody else is short.

 

[Aeolus_IV]

Re: The Damp Proof Course ...

Would I be out of place if I suggested crazy pathing?

Regards, Jeff.

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[Twister_Ken]

Re: The Damp Proof Course ...

Bricklayers - they're harder to pin down than plumbers.

Don't suppose anyone's got a phone number for an illegal Romanian teak deck layer?

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[johna]

Re: The Damp Proof Course ...

Ken
Your reference to "pin down" makes me ask if your new deck will be similarly "pinned down" if timber or with your supply problems have you considered Tek-Dek?

For future info having reached the clean off and waterproof stage what is the time input (man hours) todate?
John

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[bedouin]

Re: The Damp Proof Course ...

Can't help you there - but I would be interested in your supplier of the illegal Romanian Teak Deck

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[Evadne]

Re: The Damp Proof Course ...

I believe Romanian teak is in short supply this year, perhaps you'd be better off with Polish mahogany?

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[Twister_Ken]

Re: The Damp Proof Course ...

New deck will be epoxied in place with very few screws required.

Time to date (I hardly dare add it all up) is approx 10 7-hour days. 3 days to take out screws*, 5 days to remove teak from incredibly strong 24 year old mastic**, 2 days to scrape mastic off.

*Chisel cap off of screw, scrape out epoxy from screw slot, break screw free with manual screw driver, use cordless screwdriver to finish the job. Number of screws - not counted but three pop-cans full of 5/8ths screws.

** Chisel through plank to substrate. Then use chisel to pry up a bit of plank. Usually plank breaks about 1 inch along, leaving a tiny bit of deck exposed, so chisel off the teak that remains adhered, at the rate of approx 6 inches of one planks worth of deck exposed every 5 minutes. Then sharpen chisel and start over. Some planks lifted more or less whole, if the mastic had weakened a bit or hadn't adhered well when new. Used a pry bar to encourage them to lift for as much of their length as poss. Some damage to deck gelcoat because I was cack-handed with chisel, but more often because plank lifted mastic and mastic tore off gel coat. Doesn't sound possible, but it is.


A shipwright has since told me the pros strip a deck by using a router with a big routing bit, set to a depth slighly less than the depth of plank. They run this over the deck and carve off most of the old teak except for a mm or two. When finished with router they use a band sander with coarse grit to sand off the rest of the teak.

Considered tekdek, but not for long. There are some savings in material cost (but not that much) and it still requires quite a deal of man hours to lay. And you end up with a boat with a trick plastic deck which may or may not be well received on the brokerage market when the time comes to sell. So decided to go the whole hog.


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[johna]

Re: The Damp Proof Course ...

Thanks Ken I have decided to leave mine for at least one more year but I will remember the router and sander tip. I have been able to take up and replace short lengths quite easily and will no doubt do a few more repairs this summer. Most of the articles I have read on teak deck replacement quote about 200 hours for the whole job so you are on track at 70. Do you times include taking off all the deck fittings?

John

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[Twister_Ken]

Deck fittings

Deck furniture has been left for now, as when I started getting my suspicions about the contractor, I decided to keep the boat more or less seaworthy (and without big holes in the deck) in case I needed to move it. They are all still in-situ, (stanchion bases, pad eyes, mooring cleats, sheet tracks, tank fillers etc) standing on little bits of the original deck - I chiselled down around them.

BTW I only had decks to worry about, not coach roof.

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[graham]

I replaced the plywood deck on an old 24 footer I had at one time.The soft plywood was lifting up leaving the bronze screws standing proud of the mahogany deck beams.
An over zealous use of pry bar to remove one of the last out of hundreds caused the beautifull deck beam to crack.

The air turned blue ,could this minor disaster have been avoided if I didnt eat quiche????

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