T&T: Teak overlay (Was ED)

[Bob Austin]

I'll bet the boat was built in Taiwan.  I would first check the condition of
the underlying decks/hatch--either made with plywood or mystery wood
blocks--with a thin layer of glass over it.  Plywood on these boats often has
the end grain open and not sealed.  The best course is to rebuild the hatch.
You do not stick the teak back down with glue.  Also many times the
polysulfide used to bed the teak was either of inferior quality or the surface
was not clean and well prepared.  On the hatch; remove the teak, if the
plywood is bad, remove that part of the bad wood, and scarf in new marine
grade plywood.  Cover the surface with cloth, and the end grain saturate with
epoxy.  Then clean the teak boards--completely remove any of the old
polysulfide with a scraper and then belt sander (any screws or nails need to
be removed.  You have a choice of either putting back down the teak with
proper two part polysulfide--and properly caulking the seams--or bedding the
teak in epoxy--and then using epoxy with graphite powder to make the
appearance of the seams. Screws should be plugged.  I am aware of a couple of
boats who relaid the deck into epoxy with screws, and then removed the screw,
filling the holes with epoxy. (Also see Gougeon brothers technique with laying
thing teak decks using epoxy)  The plug was put into the hole after it had
been filled with thickened epoxy., thus acting as a fastner.

The same issues with the teak decks--you can never solve the deck probelms
with filling 1/8" cracks (more or less with various fillers and epoxy) in time
they will open up and water will get into the deck core--if it has not already
happened.  The choice is to pull the planks, properly rebed and redo the deck
in that area(and there is a good chance that these decks have been sanded and
now are thin--maybe the plugs are starting to come out or show metal.  The
other alternative is truck bedliner or one of the similar coatings--not real
good news--but better than continously chasing cracks--which will get worse
with time--and lead to wet deck core.-- and eventual very major problems.

Above is the reason I only owned one boat with teak decks--and would never
again.  There are a few boats properly built-but these seem to be in the
minority.  Perhaps we have some lucky people--or the boat hasn't been
subjected to storms at sea and freezing condtions--both of which tend to bring
out these weaknesses--stress of waves breaking on the decks/hatches, and
expansion/contraction of the freeze.

Good luck

Bob Austin