Teak deck caulk?

[Peter Ritchie]

I am re-doing the seams on the teak decks on my boat. 3M says they no longer make a seam sealer. Any suggestions?

Thanks Peter

[jlapratt]

Peter,

Teak Deck Systems in Sarasota, FL. makes an excellent seam caulk. WB #167 did a review and gave it high marks. I also happened to see a tapered caulking removal tool in Walmart last night. Nice soft handle and hardened steel tip, perfect for tapered seams. $6.00 I think.

Good luck,
Jeff

[thechemist]

A search [The search thingy is at the upper right] for the words teak and seam in the entire message under Building/Repair yields many threads on this topic. One of the more extensive ones is at http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001376 (http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001376.)

That does not work for some reason. I can get it from a title search...let me paste the URL in again.

http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001376

[ 12-22-2002, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: thechemist ]

[Jamie Hascall]

Thanks to The Chemist for bringing that discussion back to the surface. I was worried it had been lost in the great archive crash.

As we so extensively hashed over in that thread, I found the Smith's two part polysulphide to be well worth the time and energy to use. I've seen the results of Jorma's Sikaflex system too and feel it is viable. I still have never gotten to talk to anyone who has used the Teak Decking Systems silicone compund but I'd love to know more about how it actually stands up. I do however, have a basic mistrust of silicone due to the surface contamination that is inherent in it's use and the possibility nothing else will work if it fails.

Tell us more about your project. What's the current state of the deck? Is it teak planked or teak over ply? Is it straight laid or sprung?

Jamie

[mrmilktoast]

ditto the original poster jlaprat. teak decking systems sytem is far better than any Im aquainted with.

[MAGIC's Craig]

Jamie: We had a very good experience with the TDS product when we re-seamed MAGIC's yellow cedar deck in the spring of 1998. The product worked easily, tooled with water and has, so far, adhered with great tenacity. We used the primer on the seams - one quart can easily did the entire boat - and as long as we kept the deck in shade while applying and tooling the compound, all went very well (we did the job in La Paz, Mexico). We were not able to work a small "bondbreaker" into the bottom of our seams, as recommended, though.

I turned to this product on the recommendation of a couple of "superboat" skippers. They do not generally have the same cost constraints that we might have, but they do not want to have any problems at all. Neither of them reported any subsequent difficulties due to silicone-typical contaminations, for what that data sample is worth. We subsequently repainted MAGIC 2 years ago without any evidence of silicone contamination either.

[Concordia..41]

Craig - Please confirm that your decks are planked cedar and not cedar over ply.

I wish we were back to doing the decks. I got the seams reefed two years ago, but then we built the cover over the boat and the deck leaks paled in comparison to other problems.

Just in the ease of use, TDS is the leading contender, but of the dozen or so folks who have recommended it - not the least of which being the folks at Concordia - most of the testimonials were from folks with teak over ply.

If I can pick up a couple more good reports from structural plank deck folks, I'll feel more comfortable - if an when we ever get back to that stage :rolleyes:

[MAGIC's Craig]

Good morning, Margo:
Ah...MAGIC's yellow cedar deck IS a 1/2" overlay on ply, so I am not able to help you with an example consistant with the specifics of your deck construction. FWIW, both of the big boats I saw had 1-3/4" to 2" teak decking (lovely vertical grain stuff, natch!)using rectangular-shaped seams - laid on subdecks. I believe that the Jespersens (www.jespersenboats.com) have also utilized the TDS on the decks of soem repair work, but generally, these boats have ply subdecks also.

[Allen Foote]

2 part BoatLife polysulfide. 15 years and counting.

[LAGOS]

Lagos is a 1951 hodgdon Bros. Lobster yacht. After shipping her from Maine to Seattle, I began the work needed to bring her back to her former glory. One of my first jobs was to tackle the leaking decks. She has inch and a half thick old growth teak decks with NO sub-deck. I did a great deal of research and found TDS to be the best bet. I first re-caulked the decks and them applied the seem compound (TDS).I can only say good things about the product. If one applies the product as recommended, you will have a bullet proof deck. We have the weather out here to put any product through a good water proof test. I can honestly say that there is no fresh water in my bilges.

[Gary Bergman]

I'm with Alan, and not by choice. I've been contemplating TDS next time, but what I have at present the previous owners put in. Boatlife,almost the same time as Alan.

[Vindo Joe]

I've used the Teak Deck System sealer on my decks three years ago and it's holding up very well. I originally used it based on the recomendation of my boat yard and I'm glad I went with it. I would highly recomend it.

EXCEPT FOR ONE THING!!!!!!!!!!!!

After I completed the decks I did some rebuilding of my cabin house. I relaminated the four corners and wooded down the entire structure. Some of you migh have read the posts on Rivali varnish and seen the picutures of the jigs I used in reconstructing the parts.

The varnish displayed a rash of "fish eyes" wich I just could not get rid of. For the life of me I could not figure out what was going wrong untill I read a review in Wooden Boat on the TDS product that struck a chord. The silicone dust from sanding the decks got into the wood and contaminated the finish. Had I realized what was going on ahead of time I could have used a special 3M product to remove the silicone residue from the surface before hand. This year when I put on my refresher coats I will deal with the fish eyes with a little more knowledge than I had when I first coated it.

Don't let this happen to you. Just washing with soap and water will not be enough to remove all traces of silicone dust from any surface that you intend to paint or varnish.