Pulling up the teak

squimmy27 · Jan 3, 2022

ronobrien said:
I agree with Comodave. I am doing the demo and rough core repair and re-glassing myself. A few hours on Youtube and you will get it figured out. It is simply a lot of hard/dirty work. I will defer to more talented people than myself for the finish glass & paint, which can be expensive in and of itself. I find the rough work rewarding once it is done and you can save a bunch of $$$. Side note, I glass bead blasted the lazarette on mine on 12/31/21. It cleaned up nicely. I intend to try blasting the deck after the teak is removed as opposed to sanding/grinding. I have access to equipment, but experience helps immensely. I will let the forum know how it comes out as others may consider hiring to have it done. I think it may be cheaper overall than sanding/grinding. Good luck.

I've had a conversation with a wooden boat restoration man who worked on my friends teak deck; he mostly works on Alaska commercial boats but takes the occasional private owner work in the summer. Basically he mentored them on how to restore their deck, he did maybe 10-15% of each step of the work, then they finished it up, looks great. I told him the issues, he concurred with the probability that the core is deteriorating. The best part is that he said, don't stress, it's all fixable. He told me to keep taking notes/observations of where staining leaks are happening & come spring he will assess the work.

Comodave · Jan 4, 2022

Just remember that teak decks on a wooden boat are different than teak decks over fiberglass.

NorthLights · Jan 11, 2022

Just this week the yard just started pulling the teak decks from our 1983 aft cabin 44'. We had significant water coming into our aft stateroom (1" of rain produced about a gallon of water in the bucket) and the teak was weathered down to 1/4" in many places.

We are at about 50 hours into the deck removal at the yard and most of the deck is up. It's required significant hours due to the amount of glue, bonding and screws. Good news is we haven't found any significant damage to the structure. However, they did find some damage to the fuel tanks when they took off the deck fill plates.

Our plan had been to put Seadeck or something similar on the aft deck and Kiwigrip on the lower walk around. Given how exposed our aft deck is, the teak adds a lot to the look of the boat which we wanted to keep.

However, we are being told that the Seadeck material only is available in smaller sections that will requires us to create breaks in the covering as our deck is 12' long in places. So, we are now on the search for an alternative for the aft deck and may just default to the Kiwigrip.

RT Firefly · Jan 11, 2022

Greetings,
Mr. NL. Have you considered the support (stiffness) the teak added to your decks? May not be an issue but you may develop some bounce in the larger deck expanses.

NorthLights · Jan 11, 2022

RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
Mr. NL. Have you considered the support (stiffness) the teak added to your decks? May not be an issue but you may develop some bounce in the larger deck expanses.

Yes, we are planning on adding a few layers of fiberglass to strengthen the deck.

BevinB · Jan 11, 2022

Never been a fan of exterior teak. And after seeing those photos not about to become one any time soon. When recently adding teak to my decks (with great trepidation) I told the yard not one plank can be open to the elements..

RT Firefly · Jan 11, 2022

Greetings,
Mr. NL. Atta boy!

Comodave · Jan 11, 2022

NorthLights said:
Just this week the yard just started pulling the teak decks from our 1983 aft cabin 44'. We had significant water coming into our aft stateroom (1" of rain produced about a gallon of water in the bucket) and the teak was weathered down to 1/4" in many places.

We are at about 50 hours into the deck removal at the yard and most of the deck is up. It's required significant hours due to the amount of glue, bonding and screws. Good news is we haven't found any significant damage to the structure. However, they did find some damage to the fuel tanks when they took off the deck fill plates.

Our plan had been to put Seadeck or something similar on the aft deck and Kiwigrip on the lower walk around. Given how exposed our aft deck is, the teak adds a lot to the look of the boat which we wanted to keep.

However, we are being told that the Seadeck material only is available in smaller sections that will requires us to create breaks in the covering as our deck is 12' long in places. So, we are now on the search for an alternative for the aft deck and may just default to the Kiwigrip.

I would lay new glass on top and the paint with Kiwigrip. Put however much glass on top to make the deck solid. I would not use SeaDek for this application. We are in the process of having SeaDek put on our current boat , but to put it on your decks you would have to do a finish paint on first for the areas between the sheets.

Marco Flamingo · Jan 11, 2022

Comodave said:
I would lay new glass on top and the paint with Kiwigrip. Put however much glass on top to make the deck solid.

That's what my prior owner did on the foredeck. Epoxied two layers of heavy 8 inch wide fiberglass tape laid on a bias right on to the existing leaking teak. I don't know if peel-ply was used or if the surface was just finished really nice. Kiwigrip made any seams disappear (I had to ask how it was done).

When removing and working on the windlass, I could see that the original wood core on the foredeck was rotten and basically gone. That doesn't make any difference because the new fiberglass deck is now using the original teak as a core. The edges appear to be sealed with Thiokol.

BruceK · Jan 11, 2022

NorthLights said:
Yes, we are planning on adding a few layers of fiberglass to strengthen the deck.

Two layers if painting, can be one if renewing the teak. Practice seems to be, if budget allows, esp. with a Europa, side decks and cockpit in teak, fwd(fully exposed) in painted non slip.

ronobrien · Jan 12, 2022

RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
Mr. NL. Have you considered the support (stiffness) the teak added to your decks? May not be an issue but you may develop some bounce in the larger deck expanses.

I saw an episode of Boatworks Today, wherein he had a "springy" deck. He added a layer of 1708 as an experiment and it stiffened up the deck a surprising amount. That was surprising to me and to Andy @ the Boatworks channel.

Pulling up the teak

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