Deck re-core and teak replacement

[trintella495]

Hi Group,

This is my first post to this group, so I'll introduce myself first. I have a 1968 Trintella 29 with wood cabin and teak decks. I am just finishing up a complete deck re-core with balsa. I am nearly finished with laying down the teak using a method I learned from an expert who laid decks for Swan boats. It is a system that uses small wood L-shaped clamps, spacers, and wedges, and leaves no screw holes to be filled later. You fill the screw holes as you lay down the epoxy for the next plank. (You can see pics and find a more detailed description of the process at the Trintella 29 website, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Trintella29/ -- look in the photo section) Now I have to decide what to put between the teak planks. I have narrowed it down to 3 options.

1) TDS SIS 440 or something compatible in the seams and leave the teak natural -- but my wife does not like the gray color of weathered teak.

2) Epoxy with graphite in the seams, again left to weather naturally.

3) Epoxy with graphite, then finish over the top of the entire deck with thin layer of cloth and West system hardened with 207 hardener leaving a tough transparent coating, and finish with varnish or awlgrip clear, adding non-skid as needed.

I'd appreciate any group input on the above options, or something entirely different that I hadn't thought of.

Larry "Journey Bird"
Trintella 29
San Francisco Bay

[Rachel]

Hi Larry, and welcome!

Trintella 29, very nice!

I can't speak to your first two choices (but luckily I'm sure many others can), but on #3, I don't see how that could work out. I say that because the teak being wood, it will naturally expand and contract, and I think that would break any epoxy/glass bond, were you to fiberglass over it. Especially with being a horizontal surface and exposed to sun and heat. And if it failed, what a headache.

On a related note, I once spent a scary fifteen minutes on the varnished decks of a 50-footer. It was a neighboring boat in a marina and the owners were out of town. Something came loose in a rainy blow (I can't remember what anymore), and two of us needed to hop up on the foredeck to sort it out. Holy Cow Scary! I felt like I was on a skating rink and I had to talk myself into letting go of the shrouds and venturing out to the middle of the foredeck. Granted they did not have non-skid, but still. Yikes. Also, what a maintenance hog.

Also, even if glassing were to work (and maybe I'm wrong and it could be done), you would be losing the absolutely wonderful plusses of having a teak deck: Natural non-skid qualities and a very low maintenance factor. Really, natural teak is wonderful that way.

I can understand liking the look of varnished wood, because I do too. However, I wonder if you could go with "just" your other exterior wood varnished (and the Trintellas I've seen have plenty of that :) and then keep the decks natural. To my mind it would be a huge shame not to leave them that way, but that's just me.

Please feel free to post a few (or many) photos of your boat. I had to tie my hands behind my back a couple of years ago when there was one on eBay in California. I must have almost clicked a hundred times :)

Rachel

Edited to add: Actually, now that I think about it, I would choose #1 from the remaining options, because it sounds like a soft, caulk like product. I don't know that I would want the rigidity of epoxied seams on a large deck-type area (although I realize that people do it with smaller things like hatches, but then those are varnished over).

[Ceasar Choppy]

I agree with Rachel. But I'd have to say that anything involving epoxy here means you'll have to protect it from UV.

My choice would be #1. If you don't want the weathered teak look, scrub it with some brightener (oxalic acid) when it starts to get ugly. It will be half the work of varnishing without the skating rink!

[earlylight]

Larry,

I will weigh in in favor of #1 also, except I would use Maritime Teak Deck Caulk available from Jamestown Dist. at around $12 a tube. I found it to be the best teak deck caulk I have ever used. It is easy to work with, requires no priming prior to application and can be sanded in 24 hours with no problem, It was developed by a firm that specializes in replacing/repairing teak decks.

[trintella495]

Thanks for all the advice. Well, after thinking about it and getting advice here and from the Trintella yahoo group, looks like we will go with natural teak. I think the Maritime Teak Deck Caulk is chemically the same as the Teak Deaking systems SIS 440, if I am not mistaken. Is there anyone out there who has used both?

Rachel, I think I bought the Trintella that was for sale in California on Ebay. I bought it after doing some research and thinking it had solid fiberglass decks beneath the teak. Turns out they were balsa cored and saturated. Now a year later and hundreds of man hours later and thousands of dollars later I am nearing the end of a painful deck restoration. Wish me luck.

Larry
Trintella "Journey Bird"
San Francisco Bay

[Hirilondë]

A deck is supposed to be non-skid, and using a rubber seam fill will yield a better result than either of the other methods you describe. I have only used the SIS 440 and had great results. Having done projects with the people at Teak Decking Systems and used some of their manufactured panels I am a bit partial probably.