Teak Deck Plugs

[Cigatoo]

Once you have the bung out put the 3/8 drill in the hole and reverse the drill before drilling. You won’t tear any edges.

 

[Comodave]

Maybe try a Forstner bit. Then I would make a guide for it out of some 1/4 or 3/8” plywood. Drill a hole in the scrap plywood with the Forstner bit. Then lay the plywood where you want the hole and use the plywood as a guide to center the bit on the hole and stop if from walking off the place you want the hole. Drill a few practice holes on some scrap so you get the feel for it and how deep to go with the bit.

 

[jimL]

These are all good ideas. As a novice furniture maker (in the past) I will try these tactics.

Any ideas for the best ways to fill in the checked teak?

JimL

 

[Comodave]

Don’t know if it will stick and last on teak due to the natural oils but I would try epoxy thickened with teak dust. But the UV from the sun will likely deteriorate the epoxy, maybe.

 

[koliver]

Next question is what can I use to fill in around the bung?

Are there any other tips? I did use a very small amount of epoxy to seal the bung.

Thanks all - JimL

Epoxy will not be removable in the future. In fact, as the teak wears away, it will leave the epoxy proud of the bung and the teak board, so you will need to grind the ring of epoxy down to achieve a smooth deck. A glue like Titebond will wear with the wood, and will break its bond when you need to remove that bung in future.

Below the bung, if you are removing screws, use epoxy to seal the hole, then put in the bung. The screw was there to hold the board in place while the glue under the board cured. That curing took a matter of days, back in 2001 and the screws have been unnecessary since then.

To Dave's point, The epoxy will lose its clarity with exposure to UV, but will still stand proud of uncoated teak and need to be ground or sanded down. (I know this from my own boats)

 

[Comodave]

I did not mean to glue the plugs in with epoxy but rather the checks in the wood. You can use varnish to glue the plugs in.

 

[rgano]

I replaced many hundreds of teak deck plugs in my GB42 using 3/8" SPOT WELD CUTTER, essentially a smallish hole saw. The reason I used this device was because the deck was originally laid with ring-necked boat nails and the thinning deck boards made the hole depth too shallow for new plugs. The spot weld cutter went right through the nail heads leaving the shank which was then pounded deeper into the hole with a 3/8" drift. I could then insert short, SS small-diameter head, square drive deck screws at a slight angle to clear the nail shank to prevent any squeaky deck planks. I cut my plugs from scrap teak using a Lee-Valley tapered plug cutter. Finished of with wood glue the wet excess of which can be cleaned up with water. In the rare event a plug hole got wallered out a bit, I switched to my 1/2" spot weld cutter and 1/2" tapered plug cutter, and the result was not noticeable after some time passed.

 

[jimL]

thanks everyone.

 

[Oeanda]

So I have a few questions. How do I prevent the drill bit from ripping the nearby wood? I tried taping the hole and around it, but that didn't work.

Next question is what can I use to fill in around the bung?

Are there any other tips? I did use a very small amount of epoxy to seal the bung.

Thanks all - JimL

Use a forstner bit. For redrilling I use a scrap of plexiglass with holes drilled through it as a guide (a few different size holes on the same scrap). If possible make the scrap big enough that you can hold it in place with a foot or knee. If the edges of a hole are damaged you can switch to a larger bit/plug size.