New crack in teak deck

I get on the boat yesterday and find this crack in a teak deck board on the port side of the flybridge. The side to the right of the crack is raised up pretty significantly. Maybe 1/8" or so higher than the left side. Crack seems to have come from nowhere as wife and I have no memory of any crack or issue in that area (or anywhere else for that matter). Haven't a clue. Only thought is that we have had much, much, MUCH rain over the last week and maybe it chose now to absorb it, swell, and crack in an opportune place but...that doesn't sound right to me...just don't know.

What caused it isn't my question as much as what to do now that it has. Seems like two options 1) replace the plank totally, pull the cracked one and put a new in place. Sand down or band saw it to the right thickness so it matches the deck or 2) Rout out the crack and fill with deck caulk maybe? Not sure. Any comments appreciated.

Greetings,
Mr. fb. Wait until it dries out THEN decide what to do. Is there any way you could easily and temporarily cover it to keep more rain off it? Remember, it's gotta be well ventilated IF it's covered.


When it's dry, if it ever is, the board may lay flat(er) again. A fix might be as simple as carefully pouring epoxy into the dry crack and sanding a bit.

Most of the medium to small cracks I've had I just fill with epoxy - no problems. For real big cracks where it seems that the whole board is wrecked, I've just cut the area of board that was bad and put in a new one. Used a planer to make it the same thickness as you mentioned. I have also filled some areas with the black deck caulk - that ends up looking crappy. I also tried sawdust mixed with epoxy, but that looks crappy too.

For that crack I would do the epoxy method. Put a screw in temporarily on the side that is lifted to hold it down flat until the epoxy hardens, then remove the screw and enlarge the hole to 1/4 or 3/8 inch and pop a bung in there. 20 minutes of labor and you're good to go.

Nothing ever seems to just take 20 minutes.

Comodave said:

Nothing ever seems to just take 20 minutes.

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Reading this thread tool less than a minute!

Do you have a soft deck (rotten core) under the teak on the left side of the crack? Check for that - something must have caused the teak strip to crack.....

Art said:

Reading this thread tool less than a minute!

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Not when you have to look the big words up.

After further review of a picture taken a year ago when we bought the boat, below, the crack was there. Just looked like grain I guess. Also notice that it is the only plank that has had a second screw/plug added so something was going on in the past. There are no soft spots around it or anywhere that I can find. My working theory is that I cleaned the decks real well with the Teak Decking Systems 1 part cleaner not too long ago. Maybe I cleaned out all of the gunk that had collected in the crack but was helping shed the water. Now it is all nice and clean and just aching to collect moisture. Good job firstbase. Hey, I'm a newb, we have theories you know.

Yes, drying would be a prerequisite for doing anything. The bimini doesn't go out far enough to protect it but I could put up a temp tarp between the side flybridge handrails or on top of the mesh bimini extension that covers the whole flybridge deck. Will put up something to cover and then uncover to let the Florida sun, if it ever returns, do its work. Covering locally won't work as the water will just drain down from further forward of course. Go from there once it is dry. I would think that if I could somehow shoot some epoxy up under it, preferably up under the plank and not just into the crack, and put a couple of new screws/plugs that would be ok. Best would be to replace the plank but how far do you go on this type of thing, not sure.

I do know that I am not doing anything for a while as it continues to pour in South Florida. Day after day. Everything is beyond soaked and swollen. I think I now have a Grand Banks 42 3/4' with Ford Lehman 139's.

Comodave said:

Nothing ever seems to just take 20 minutes.

Click to expand...

It only takes me 20 minutes on the boat to find 3 jobs that will take 4 hours each. Does that count?

firstbase said:

It only takes me 20 minutes on the boat to find 3 jobs that will take 4 hours each. Does that count?

Click to expand...

It should also take us each less than 20 minutes to list over 20 things on our boats that we know need some hours of attention. Boats are fun - aren't they??

Will say this... due to all the sheer fun of repairs and maintenance... boats do help to keep us young in body, mind and soul!

Art said:

It should also take us each less than 20 minutes to list over 20 things on our boats that we know need some hours of attention. Boats are fun - aren't they??

Will say this... due to all the sheer fun of repairs and maintenance... boats do help to keep us young in body, mind and soul!

Click to expand...

Agree! What drives me crazy is going to work on something and discovering that in order to fix something I have to do two other things first. Then I can fix the original issue. ARGHHHH.

How can you say, What caused the crack isn’t a worry?

Are you absolutely sure that water hasn’t gotten into the core and is causing upheaval?

In any event, that board looks like trouble and should just be replaced. Set up your router and get the thing out of there, and while you are doing that you can assure yourself that your core is dry (or not), fix if needed.

If you pour epoxy into that void and it is not 99% dry, you will be trapping moisture. And remember that the epoxy will be hard and the board will have less space to come and go with variation in humidity.

While ugly, the rubber **** method could be effective as not only will it come and go better, it may stick better to the damp teak. At least as much as anything sticks to teak! Some of that stuff cures better while damp.

All that aside, i guess we know where you will be standing next time you are showing guests or perspective buyers your flybridge!

Dan

firstbase said:

It only takes me 20 minutes on the boat to find 3 jobs that will take 4 hours each. Does that count?

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Only 3?

Capt Dan said:

How can you say, What caused the crack isn’t a worry?

Are you absolutely sure that water hasn’t gotten into the core and is causing upheaval?

In any event, that board looks like trouble and should just be replaced. Set up your router and get the thing out of there, and while you are doing that you can assure yourself that your core is dry (or not), fix if needed.

If you pour epoxy into that void and it is not 99% dry, you will be trapping moisture. And remember that the epoxy will be hard and the board will have less space to come and go with variation in humidity.

While ugly, the rubber **** method could be effective as not only will it come and go better, it may stick better to the damp teak. At least as much as anything sticks to teak! Some of that stuff cures better while damp.

All that aside, i guess we know where you will be standing next time you are showing guests or perspective buyers your flybridge!

Dan

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Thanks Dan. Should have gone a little deeper and said that the benefit to taking the plank out was that I would be able to check underneath and see whats going on. That would seem to be the safest, prudent, thing to do. I don't have any indication on top that bad things are going on below. No soft spots no other deformations. However, I am aware that ignoring it or fixing it half way will most likely lead to those. With all the rain I have barely been able to get a good look at it. Will do so in a couple of years when it stops raining. At least that's how it feels right now...

siestakey said:

Only 3?

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Yep, just 3. Once I get to 3 I just leave the boat and go home. Can't take it any more.

Probably just the teak board is swollen from all the rain. Had no where to go sideways, so it popped up. One thing to do now while it is wet, thoroughly even chemically clean the crack, you know it is likely filthy with algae and collected cruds. Then when dry, maybe it can be glued back together. I have had good result colorwise when gluing teak using PL premium poly construction adhesive, as the color is more wood like. Epoxy darkens the teak and is more glass like. Can mix pine dust into the PL for filler. Use a plastic cereal bag to hold glue down while it sets, then light sanding to make it smooth, will look like the teak. But epoxy will work fine too.

Look very carefully at the teak strip.

Does it match the grain pattern if the strip next to it?

To save labor man "teak decks" which are just simple overlays were constructed from wide planks , the rubber groves and plugs were just for show.

This construction means a number of "planks " are not fastened to the deck so the ends of the boards get all the loads.

If so the expansion cracked the board , but the good news by far is the structure under the board is probably quite sound.

1 Already cracked a year ago
2 period of heavy rain
3 all wood, left out in the rain will take up some, putting stress on all dimensions.
4 Crack is a weakness that has now failed.

I wouldn't worry about it.
If filling with black rubber and grinding the high spots off is the least labour solution and after a season should still look OK, do that. If you can't bear to NOT look under that board for a more sinister problem, go for the full removal/replacement, (which still isn't a huge job).