teak deck plugs

[spinoeca]

69 32' sedan. Missing some plugs on the teak deck. Deck looks good considering its age and we have no symptoms of any leaks. From what I can garner from looking at the lazarette covers we have about .4" of teak left. Started investigating plug replacement including reading everything on this forum and elsewhere that I could find. What I ran into after removing the very thin layer of epoxy(?) left in the hole once the plug is gone was the top of the bronze fastener. However despite repeated efforts with various implements I can not find anything that looks like a drive slot. I can't wrap my brain around this given what I have read. Any ideas out there? Thanks

 

[hmason]

Could be the deck is nailed.

 

[Giggitoni]

Howard hit the “nail on the head”.

 

[spinoeca]

Thanks for the input. Any ideas on how to deal with setting the nails deeper so that the plugs have some grip on the sides of the hole? I understand the concept behind screws but how do you extract a nail without buggering up the hole? Would these nails be clinched? No evidence of that on the lazarette doors, I have not looked specifically in the lazarette but don't remember seeing anything there.

 

[Delfin]

Thanks for the input. Any ideas on how to deal with setting the nails deeper so that the plugs have some grip on the sides of the hole? I understand the concept behind screws but how do you extract a nail without buggering up the hole? Would these nails be clinched? No evidence of that on the lazarette doors, I have not looked specifically in the lazarette but don't remember seeing anything there.

If you have 1/8" or so of teak left above the nail, I wouldn't worry about it. If you don't, whack the existing nail down a bit. Very slightly bevel the edges of the plug, wet the end of the plug with water, apply a bit of Gorilla glue and tap into place. If you want to use epoxy, feel free, but the Gorilla glue works just fine. In a couple of hours when the glue is set (it will foam up white around the hole) use a pair of wire cutters to rough cut the plug above the hole and sand down flat.

 

[Marinex]

Ours is a 1967 and in those years they only nailed the decks down. I replaced about a 100 of these last year and tried both gorilla glue and epoxy, both have there pros and cons. Gorilla glue does foam up a lot so use sparingly, I also found it could foam the plug back out and you can come back later and find it glued somewhere you didnt want it to be! !@#$%!! A tip that we learned was to use a dremel tool with a 1/4 inch sanding spool to clean the hole and get rid of old glue. If you get a really shallow one (someone sanded our decks in a previous life) you can mix a teak sawdust epoxy mix in the hole and it will weather after a while, not as good as a plug for looks but better than a hole. You can try whacking the nails lower with a punch but in my experience those ring nails do not move much if at all. A mechanics o-ring hook tool is good for cleaning the holes out as well.