Hello Aquabelle...
Yes, I had to deepen several linear feet of the grooves - which is not that much. I used a razor knife along each side of the groove and then used the (sharp) caulk removal tool to carve out the wood.
While ugly and porous, Satori's decks were in decent condition. Did not have to replace any bungs - but I have them in stock and would happily replace any that did need replacing.
SEMCO was a reference from another thread here on the forum. I understand that using the sealer make the deck more slippery. I used the sealer to somewhat preserve the fresh look of the recently sanded surface - the amount of work to get those decks in good shape warranted using "something" to preserve the effort. So even though it is more slippery, I can live with the trade-off in exchange for a longer life of the beautiful finished surface.
Beyond preserving the look - I just have a fundamental belief that any wood exposed to the elements deserves some protection - sealer seemed the minimumally invasive product to that end.
Does SEMCO make the wood more impervious? Perhaps - but to me, the half inch thick wood is plenty impervious on its own.
I'm liking that SEMCO so much I'm going to go ahead and use it on all the other wood that needs to be refinished.
