Removing Teak decks- Experiences?

[Despacio]

[quote="Boatmon"]WOW, and on the water too! what do your neighbors think about that?

I'm amazed this can be done in the water. This is a funny harbor as they are really proud of the water clarity. If anyone is sanding anything the harbor patrol is there to investigate.

This guy says the harbor patrol leaves him alone as he does not get dust in the water, and sure enough, they leave him alone.

My neighbors haven't complained about the dust, nor that big compressor running all day, every day. He works seven days a week, never wears a dust mask and only stops long enough to smoke a cigarette.

He will be spraying Awlgrip Friday or Saturday. I asked him if he REALLY was going to spray on a Saturday. He said he might wait for Monday.

I didn't intend to do the whole thing, but one gallon of Awlgrip will do it all. I've seen other boats where people did just the deck and cabin top, but left a space between. A foolish way to save very little money. Since I had the material left over it would be really stupid to leave a space between.

[lmustico]

Look forward to seeing your pictures of the finished product!

[Despacio]

Look forward to seeing your pictures of the finished product!

So am I. I have to get a few coats of varnish on that front opening window so I can install it. Final coat of high build on the decks and it all needs one more sanding, then the paint, then the non skid.

[lmustico]

Looks like he does good work. Does he work for the marina?

[Despacio]

Looks like he does good work. Does he work for the marina?

I think this guy would be best described with the term, "Dock walker." He posts ads on the dock gates, but I think most of his work comes from word of mouth.

He said it would take him three weeks. I couldn't see what he was going to spend three weeks on, but it will be three weeks the middle of next week and he looks like he will be about right.

[jakevr]

did you check your decks for moisture? ive got mine cut open to dryout right now what a pain..

[Boatmon]

Before buying our Albin we looked at a 34 Marine Trader which had the teak decks removed, and had some great looking nonskid over fresh glass. I mean this was really a top notch job......except that they didn't allow the coring for the decks to dry out, and when I put a moisture meter on or under the decks it read 34%!!!!! And there was no where for it to go, short of drilling plugs in the under-side to allow some drying. Now I am aware that all teak decks leak, it just depends if the water makes it past the core, or is absorbed into the core. I am certain that our decks and core are drier that they ever been, and I'm pretty concerned about allowing water on the decks before they get re-caulked, but that's just not in the cards for this year. We figure that 150 days in the great lakes isn't going to create any new damage after 27 years in florida.

[jakevr]

34% isnt that much. west system will bond to 50% or less moisture. the core on my albin is teak board. no balsa or plywood. they used the hardwood so the screws that held the teak planking would hold in the core. tropical woods like teak or mahagony will have some moisture in them. im sure mine wont be 100% dry before I glass them. it would literly take years of being in a heated barn. drilling from the underside would be a terriable idea, you will weaken the bottom layer and have a hard time rebonding and filling in the hole correctly to get the original stength back before the hole was drillled.

[jleonard]

drilling from the underside would be a terriable idea, you will weaken the bottom layer and have a hard time rebonding and filling in the hole correctly to get the original stength back before the hole was drillled.

I have to disagree. I did a good bit of drilling, drying and reglassing on my previous boat. What a greatway to repair small areas. Best of all...no finish work topside.
I also replaced quite a bit of wet core that way. When I was done the decks were much stronger than original.
That is assuming you have decent access.

[Despacio]

All masked off and ready for paint tomorrow. paint the cabin sides first, decks tomorrow, then shoot the non skid.

I tested almost all of the holes in the deck before filling them. I found water in several. I attached a syringe to a shop vac and spent days sucking all of the water I could out of the holes, injecting all the epoxy I could. Glassing the decks like we did is to flood the deck with a thin layer of West epoxy.

This guy's been working seven days a week, this is the fourth week.

[lmustico]

Hope your weather holds out!

[jakevr]

if you were to run a moisture meter over the decks you would be very upset.

[tomcat]

What a job. I bet you're going to be real happy with the results. We have a teak railing the needs to be redone, and I thought that was going to be a project! No comparison!

[Despacio]

What a job. I bet you're going to be real happy with the results. We have a teak railing the needs to be redone, and I thought that was going to be a project! No comparison!

You know we all take a risk when we hire anyone to do anything. I've learned not to hire cover people who don't say, "You WILL be happy with our work, we will make you happy." But still, you pay your money and take your chances.

I looked at four boats my dock walker guy did, all four look great. My boat, not so much. One boat I looked at was done 4 years ago and looks perfect. Maybe too much talk radio anger and too much drinking has brought him down.

The non skid surface, the part I wanted in the first place, looks good, but the taping is bad, the non skid pattern is 3 1/2 inches off side to side. The white painted areas are the worst part, runs and drips, dirt in the paint, over spray, uneven gloss, thin paint, did I mention bad taping? Really bad. There is one area that's peeling already.

I'm giving him a chance, we will see how it looks when he's finished (he dropped off a bag with a buffer and sandpaper, to work on the runs) but there's so much wrong that it's impossible for him to fix it.

I don't believe in painting fiberglass boats, and nothing I see on this job changes my mind, I'd be far better off without the fairing and painting he did.

If he walks away with it looking as bad as it looks, this will be the last job he has in this area, I'll be his worst enemy.

I'll keep you posted.

[lmustico]

If you can live with the runs, drips and dirt in the paint, you will be better off. Once you start buffing polyurethane paint it ruins the top coat and the paint breaks down much faster than normal.