Removing Teak decks- Experiences?

[jakevr]

i said NO when you said 4k for fiberglass work

[Despacio]

i said NO when you said 4k for fiberglass work

I should have listened to you.

I usually do all the dirty work myself, this time I was going to hire someone else, take a vacation and come back to a finished job. It didn't turn out that way.

Oh well lesson learned, again.

[jakevr]

i did this alittle while ago.. paid someone to install a boiler onboard. they had NO idea what they were doing and i ended up finishing the job and lost 3400 bucks. terriable...

[Despacio]

I really don't understand where this went wrong. I looked at four boats he did in the past (and there's a clue there), two sail, two trawlers, the paint is perfect, as is the non skid. The details are all perfectly acceptable, round smooth areas in the non skid are round and centered.

Someone told me to go look at a Californian he did last year. It looks awful, peeling paint, runs, drips, over spray, dirt in the paint, badly taped off areas. There's STILL tape under the nonskid in a couple of places.

This guy blew the budget, spent far more on materials than he bid (2X), wasted a lot of expensive material, worked way too hard, and did some pretty amateurish work.

I wish I had seen the Californian BEFORE I hired this guy, but I didn't know to look.

In the big picture, it's not that bad, acceptable to most eyes. I will ask him to not touch it, and I will do what I should have done in the first place, and patch it up myself. There are areas I'd love to take a block to, but can't because it's covered in some expensive Awlgrip.

A photo of my first project is below.

[jakevr]

that picture looks fing terriable. take him to small claims court.

[Despacio]

that picture looks fing terriable. take him to small claims court.

Nice if I could, but that ain't gonna happen. There's nothing in writing. Pretty dumb of me, huh? Small Claims court requires documentation. The court is full of people who believe they were cheated, but with no documentation you have no case. Bad workmanship isn't documentation unless there's a warranty. In writing.

All in all, I won the alcoholic painter lottery, as the Californian looks REALLY bad, and my boat is, basically, acceptable. I'll paint out the round areas and straighten out some of the lines and call it good. If I posted pictures of the Californian you would be surprised how bad it could be.

I talked to the owners of the Californian. They bought it after it was painted and are blissfully unaware of how it looks. Not everyone goes outside and looks around.

A neighbor and I talked about it over cocktails last night. He asked me what I think the resolution is. I said his answer should be divided into two categories, possible and impossible.

This guy isn't going to do better, as I'm sure he did the best he could do under the circumstances, he isn't going to refund any money as he has none, and never will have any. The best resolution is for him to walk away and leave me to do everything I can do to make this his last job in this area.

My neighbor and I walked around looking at his past work. He agreed that the four boats I initially looked at are darn near perfect, are holding up well, and are good examples of quality work. They do have some of the trademark bad taping in the corners, but not really anything you'd notice. Since he sprays the non skid, his on skid work is, and always was, very good. The non skid surface, that is.

My neighbor couldn't get over how the same guy could have done those first four boats and that Californian. I credit alcohol, drug use, age and failing eyesight.

He's a poster child for the need for health care. He has none and is opposed to it, but he will soon be in need of it and even though he goes on and on about "Those Socialists," he will beat a path for the County Hospital or state Medical when his health gives out. Since he's in his 50's, drinks, smokes, does not wear a dust mask, and sprays Awlgrip without a respirator, he will be be in need pretty soon. A little drug addiction help would be a good idea too.

I think we are looking at a guy who was on top of his game 20 years ago and is close to living in the streets. Too bad, even though he's a nut in every sense, I like the guy. He reminds me of a lot of people I used to work with.

[Despacio]

I started this thread in mid December, in the middle of a leak finding expedition. I was thinking about removing the teak decks, and that's what I did.

Here are two photos of the finished project. There are a lot of details to work out, but I think it looks really good without the teak. I'm very happy with the job even with it's faults.

The paint on the bridge is next, but I'm not going to hurry. I'm painting it myself.

[Boatmon]

I agree that it looks good too! Although it's alot of work, if you have the ability and equipment it's certainly something you can do yourself. In the past we have tried to do everything ourselves but there was so much to accomplish this winter that we had to hire some stuff out in order to get everything done.

With much help and guidance from a friend we did the body work, prepped and sprayed Awlgrip (wearing respirators and tyvek suits) from the bottom of the brow all the way around, and to the top of the bridge. Looks far better than I could have ever hoped for. The decsion was made yesterday (after the blue) that we are also spraying the back of the main cabin, from the door trim on the port side around to the window trim on the stbd side, and the top of the aft cabin from the drip edge trim up, just around the non-skid. We have a nice contrasting Interlux colors to paint the nonskid. This is another in the growing list of unplanned improvements, while needed and making The Lass look soooo much better, there is still alot of other things to get done prior to may 10!

Will get photos from this weekend posted this afternoon.

bridge pics 005.jpg

DSC00534.JPG

[jleonard]

Well we started off the weekend with plans to recaulk all the lower decks.
However, after removing a small section, and further closely inspecting the rest we decided not to bother. The caulk is in great shape, and we have no leaks that we can find evidence of.
Life and spring comissioning will be a little easier this year.
I thank my previous owner, who had passed on before I bought this boat, for taking care of business.

[jleonard]

New platform...make it longer (fore and aft). I added 7 inches to mine and now we can comfortably stand on the patform without fear of falling off due to the angle of the transome.
I think it's the right length now. Could have been a few inches more but is fine.

[Chitown]

I know that this has been years since people posted this - but how'd they turn out and now several years later - new issues? I'm just starting to look and have come across an Albin 36 Trawler that has lived in freshwater - and is showing signs of some moisture in her stringers. I'm curious as to how you all have fared since?

Thanks!

[MerrySea]

I am very interested in the experiences of anyone who replaced the teak decks on a Albin 40 Trawler. Mine is a 1987 trunk cabin which was poorly maintained by the previous owner. I have been working on the leaks since 2010 and am about to give up and remove the teak. My first project will be the upper deck which is causing most of my problems. Has anyone done this?

[jrose]

I also have an 87 Albin 40. I am in the process of removing the teak on the port side. I should have the last of it off today. My decks are not leaking but there was a low spot on each side aft of the cabin door where water would pool and not drain. Likely a soft spot. Some came off easy, some not so easy. Lots of black goo underneath. I found an oscillating tool very helpful. My plan is to check the core to see if any needs replacing, fill all screw wholes and build up that one area so it will drain properly and re-install the teak with adhesive only. I plan on using Sikaflex 298 for bedding and Sikaflex 290 DC for caulking. If it all works out, I will do the starboard side next year.

[MerrySea]

jflr,

I would be very interested in your progress and wonder if you have any pictures? Were you you able to save the original teak?

[jrose]

Gary,

I took the balance of the teak off today and I was able to save it all to be reinstalled. I haven't cleaned the deck yet but it appears to be pretty solid. It doesn't look like my problem was soft decks. Under the teak is a regular non-skid deck. The non-skid portion is raised with "channels" along the outside of the cabin, presumably for drainage if the teak wasn't installed. So the deck right beside the cabin was lower than the rest of the non-skid portion. It looks like the builder tried to level it out by putting more caulking in the low areas when installing the teak decking and that has failed, allowing water to collect along the cabin. I have only owned the boat for two years so I don't know how long this has been the case.

I will likely level it out with fiberglass before reinstalling the teak so it is even and there is good slope for drainage. I will try and take some pictures tomorrow and as I go through the project.

John Rose