Teak clean up and renewal

[Houdsie73]

My 83 Mainship 34 topside teak is rough. I’m planning to lightly sand and treat with teak sealer. My question is regarding the grooves. Is there a caulking that fills the space or is this an accumulation of varnish over the years?

 

[SoWhat]

Your seams appear to overdue for replacement. Teak Decking Systems supplies SIS-440 seam caulk and caulk removal tools. Simple but very laborious job.

 

[jleonard]

This is what I used for tools. Along with the 440 caulk mentioned above.
The hot knife removes the old caulk as fast as you can can run it up the seams.
Then the home made scraping tool gets the edges.
Sanding the grooves gets any remaining caulk out. Vacuum, then acetone wipe.
And lots and lots of blue tape.

 

[Houdsie73]

Thanks for the replies and info.

 

[Unclematt]

I used a bent handle of a flat file which works great.

 

[Comodave]

I used a Fein multi tool blade to remove the caulk. Got it from Jamestown Distributers. Still a lot of work…

Fein Starlock Plus Teak Blades for Boat Deck Repair

 

[Gotwex]

Be sure to put a fine line tape on the bottom of the seams as the calk is only meant to adhere to the sides of the seams due to the expanding and contracting of the seams. Teak Decking Systems is a great resource of information for properly refining teak decks.

 

[Comodave]

I tried for several hours to get the fine line tape to stick to the bottom of the groove. It would not stick no matter what I did so I left it out. The original caulk was 30+ years old and didn’t have a bond breaker so I figured it would be ok without it. And it was just fine.

 

[koliver]

Be sure to put a fine line tape on the bottom of the seams as the calk is only meant to adhere to the sides of the seams due to the expanding and contracting of the seams. Teak Decking Systems is a great resource of information for properly refining teak decks.

When I rebuilt a hatch, I bought Boatlife brand caulk and bond breaker. The bond breaker was not meant to adhere to the teak, as it was a cotton flattened tube, like a shoelace, that was laid in the bottom of the groove, then the caulking was put in, where it would adhere to everything it touched, but wouldn't have the opportunity to adhere to the bottom. That allowed for movement of one piece of teak against the other, without tearing off the caulking. That rebuilt hatch is now over 25 years in and is still in perfect condition.

 

[koliver]

I tried for several hours to get the fine line tape to stick to the bottom of the groove. It would not stick no matter what I did so I left it out. The original caulk was 30+ years old and didn’t have a bond breaker so I figured it would be ok without it. And it was just fine.

Teak deck installations done in the last 25 years have largely been done without a bond breaker and are working just fine. The newer installations are done in the shop, in manageable sizes, then trucked to the boat and installed on a bed of glue, so there is no way to use a bond breaker. It is the old style screwed down teak boards where you will almost always find a bond breaker.

 

[Comodave]

The decks were screwed down and didn’t have a bond breaker. As I said I tried to use fine line tape but couldn’t get it to stick so I didn’t use it.

 

[SoWhat]

The decks were screwed down and didn’t have a bond breaker. As I said I tried to use fine line tape but couldn’t get it to stick so I didn’t use it.

Ditto. 35+ years on the original seams. No bond breaker.
If your decking is moving enough to break a sealant bonded to 3 surfaces then you have problems that a little thin strip of tape isn't going to solve.

 

[jleonard]

I also did not use a bond breaker. 12 years later my work was still sound.
Another piece of advise: Don't buy as much caulking as TDS tells you on their website.
I used just over 1/2 of what they suggested I buy.