Tips on removing deck caulking with a Fein Multimaster or equivalent?

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Gerry

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I need to re-caulk my deck and am thinking of buying a Fein Multimaster Quickstart (£165 including VAT) plus their special-purpose 5mm cutter blade (6 39 03 202 01 9 £29 plus VAT).

But there are lots of cheaper machines, some of which take the Fein blades.

So I would very much like to hear the thoughts of someone with experience of tackling this job with a Fein or something less expensive.
 
I have used a Fein Multimaster and the 3mm caulk removing tool. It worked very well. The caulk removing tool is expensive (as is everything Fein) and I don't know of any other supplier but I think you could use it with another make of machine.
 
A friend used a new Bosch Multitool when fitting oak flooring into a hall and it was trashed by the end of the weekend. The Fein is built for hard jobs and prolonged use and will be useful in the future. I have found mine so efficient in many awkward to cut places on the boat and at home. So don't be too tempted to go for lowest price in case you lose out on the quality premium and have to buy again.
 
Buy the Fein, you will not be disappointed. I used a long steel rule and a very good Stanley knife, to cut down the edges first, this stopped the fein chipping the edges of the grooves. In places I couldn't get the fein, cutting the edges and using a small chisel also worked fine, so well in fact we didn't use the fein much atall, preferring the "by hand" method. An old small screwdriver came in useful also. We have just completed a 57 ft x 15 ft, motor sailer with 2 1/2" wide planks, raked decks, so a hell of a lot of caulking and over 2000 screws to deepen and re-plug.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
A friend used a new Bosch Multitool when fitting oak flooring into a hall and it was trashed by the end of the weekend. The Fein is built for hard jobs and prolonged use and will be useful in the future. I have found mine so efficient in many awkward to cut places on the boat and at home. So don't be too tempted to go for lowest price in case you lose out on the quality premium and have to buy again.
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Strange, I burned out my Fein and had to get an emergency replacement (the Bosch Pro one) and it is working well in regular commercial usage and I actually like the "handle" of it a lot better. The thing I find with them both is the blades are not very long lasting and as with all power tools its best to have a sharp blade, let it do the work and not give it too much pressure. Truth to tell I think not following that maxim is what buggered my Fein.
 
I have a cheapo Bosch multitool, and it's done loads of work without complaining (new kitchen, new utility room, new bathroom). I can't see that paying more for a Fein would have been beneficial.
 
Unless things have changed in the last year or so you'll find that the Fein caulking blade only fits the Fein machine, the reason I know this is because I bought the cheaper multi tools TWICE & subsiquently returned them both (1 being a Bosch) and bought the Fein because NONE could have the fantastic Fein blade.
It made my job(the coach roof) so much easier and when I continue recaulking the rest of the deck it'll help me through..
 
Buy a Fein, they're brilliant! I've had mine for a couple of years now and it's one of my favourite tools for the boat. You can use one of the saw blades to remove old deck caulking (sikaflex) by cutting along the edges of the seam. You don't need to buy the special caulk removal tool they sell for boats ...
 
pvb said:
Doesn't the Bosch multitool use the same blade fitting as the Fein?
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The GOP 250 I bought had an adaptor in the case to take them, I know it works because I am still using some of my old Fein blades, some of the smaller Bosch units may not, from memory I could have bought a new Fein for the same price as the GOP 250 but it was a "need it now" situation, frankly after using them both I prefer the Bosch, but I am comparing like for like, not a cheapo version against the Multimaster 250.

There is a company that make good quality adaptors that will fit most multi tools. http://www.joaliff.com/
 
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It's not just about tool life or effectiveness. I've noticed that at least one of the cheaper machines (Worx) has a lot more handle vibration than the Fein, a serious consideration for long term use.
 
savageseadog said:
It's not just about tool life or effectiveness. I've noticed that at least one of the cheaper machines (Worx) has a lot more handle vibration than the Fein, a serious consideration for long term use.
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Exactly so, and one of the reasons I like the GOP over the Fein is its "handle" during continued use as i said earlier.
 
I recaulked the deck on my 1966 S&S 36 last winter. She has a swept deck, 1/2" teak on 9mm ply.
Used the Worx version of this type of tool together with 4mm & 3mm Fein caulk removal tool (there is an adapter that works well).
The combination worked perfectly.
I agree with one of the comments above about digging into the planks - my technique was to make a very gentle cut along the caulk first to establish a 'track', take most of the caulk out in the next pass and then another pass after that to clean any remainder. The angle of attack takes a little practice - I'd initial expected to run along the seam with the blade perpendicular to the surface but dragging it at an angle worked better. You can usually spot the areas where the tool might wander into the teak by looking at the grain or imperfections in the boards but with 300m of caulk to remove I accepted there'd be the odd mistake !!
In my case the reason for recaulking was that the teak has worn down in many places making the seam too shallow to hold the caulk. Fortunately she still has around 9-10mm of teak so I was able to deepen the seams using the Worx tool with a diamond coated segment saw - worked well ... easily controlled and sanded the seam as it progressed !
Hope that helps.
Final words of caution - allow a lot of time (took about 3 times longer than I'd anticipated !), use knee pads and make arrangements for a back massage afterwards :-)
Martin
 
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