Tools for reefing foredeck seams

[boatstruck]

I need to remove the caulk on my foredeck to prevent water infiltration. All the seams are intact but with cracks. Assuming I need to remove and replace. Are there any recommended tools or methods other than a laminate trimmer or dremel tool with 1/8 cutting bit? The wood definitely needs refinishing so this is the first step it seems. Thanks for your help. Wish I knew a shipwright or woodworker so I could borrow some tools.

[pcford]

I need to remove the caulk on my foredeck to prevent water infiltration. All the seams are intact but with cracks. Assuming I need to remove and replace. Are there any recommended tools or methods other than a laminate trimmer or dremel tool with 1/8 cutting bit? The wood definitely needs refinishing so this is the first step it seems. Thanks for your help. Wish I knew a shipwright or woodworker so I could borrow some tools.

What is the seam compound you are attempting to remove?

[boatstruck]

Good question. Is black and looks rubbery but smooth. The boat is a '59 sedan cruiser. Probably original. Looks like the same stuff that's on my teak decks -- helm and stern -- which are in much worse condition and will need work but any water leaking through isn't a problem at the moment. Foredeck issue more immediate.

[pcford]

Chris Craft?

[kingplanker]

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/woeimages/caulking/51859.jpg
Here is a reefing hook used for teak decks-
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=51859&familyName=Teakdecking+Systems+Reefing+Hook

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/woeimages/PowerTools/FPT-6-39-03-200-01-7.jpg
The Multimaster blade does a great job, but if you don't have the machine - it gets expensive - but it saves a lot of hand labor...
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=3332&familyName=Fein+MultiMaster+Teak+Blades+for+Boat+D eck+Repair#

Good luck.

[boatstruck]

Great. I may try the manual approach before spending the money for the power tool. Of course then I'd be all set for the second boat.......
I've ordered from Jamestown before and looked through the catalog for this type of tool but don't remember seeing it. Maybe I didn't know the proper descriptive terms at that time or what the process would be.
Thanks again.

[TimmS]

next time you order from them, request the "big book" so much more that the regular catalog

[boatstruck]

Definitely will. Thanks.

[boatstruck]

Timm,
Just went to your website. I'm so impressed....and a tad envious. We're at opposite ends of the age spectrum and you have that magnificent view from the shop. Sounds like a wonderful life. And great work!
Pamela

[Bob Cleek]

Having graduated from hooked scrapers (files with a bent and sharpened tang) and Dremel routing (get the carbide bits... teak will dull the HSS bits to uselessness in about a foot of seam), I would say that the Fein Multi-master with the seam reefing attachment is well worth the price if you have any amount of deck seam reefing to do. The other methods are almost certain to screw up the edges of the seams at one point or another, no matter how careful you are.

Yes, the Fein Multi-master is expensive, but it is a quality tool that will do many things no other tool can do. It cuts by vibration, not rotary action, and is completely safe, unlike many tools that do the same job it does. It's many attachments make it very versatile. (I'm still waiting for the Fein Multi-master-baiter attachment, but so far, no luck.)

If you want a cheap, but probably sufficient, forty buck knock off with attachments interchangeable with the Fein, consider Horror Fright's version.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/65700-65799/65700.gif

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?itemnumber=65700

[paladin]

old rears and sawbuck screwdriver with bent blade....cheapest and will probably outlast everything else.

[boatstruck]

Thanks. I'll look into the Fein Multi-master too. Can never have too many good tools. As I mentioned somewhere else, there's always the second boat......

[boatstruck]

old rears and sawbuck screwdriver with bent blade....cheapest and will probably outlast everything else.

It only took me a couple of reads to figure out what you wrote. Thanks for the tip.

[Ian McColgin]

I'd never stop anyone from getting the multimaster - pricy but it does so many things well and you'll have many many new friends who want to borrow it.

If you're like me, the wonderous Fein is hard to make perfectly straight true to the seam shape runs. So for this job, I make my reefing hooks from the tang end of an old dulled file. Just grind a nice chisel point and maybe bring down the sides so the whole is just a smudge less than the seam width. I put a slot in a bit of wood and mount the file in that at an angle a bit more than right angles adjusted for comfort. A couple of small bolts in the little bit of wood left past the file body tightens the slot and holds all together. This may take almost 5 minutes to make and you're set. The virtures of making it from an old file are that the tool stays sharp forever and has nice sharp right angles between the sides and faces. These let the hook cleanly scour the slot and stay in the slot, not damaging the sides.

I make the chisel bevel about 15 to 20 degrees and try to set the handle at such an angle that it's a comfortable pull once the hook has been pushed to the bottom of the caulk and then turned such that the bevel edge rides about flat along the bottom of the seam. Once we get going and moving with just a bit of wiggle it will pull out long ribbons of caulk leaving the wood edges nice and clean.

G'luck

[bott]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2493/3745370920_c41fd78d06.jpg

Both major classes of homemade reefing tools: screwdrivers and files.

[Ian McColgin]

The way I do a file into a reefing tool does not turn the tang, as I don't have the heat or metal skills for that, and uses the tool at 90 degrees from the orientation shown in the photo.

I snap off the bulk of the file leaving about an inch of file beyond the tang. The snap is to stick it in a vice long end up with the vice along the snap line I want, grab the biggest maul or sledge handy, and give it a whack.

One advantage of the orientation I use is that the sides of the tool are absoluetely parallel so if I've sized the file rightly, the seam scouring is very clean.

[boatstruck]

Thanks for the detailed descriptions of those tools, and the picture, Bott from Seattle and Ian in Hyannisport. It's great the way information just keeps coming....