Deck Seams

[brent stella]

Hi, guys. I just finished staining the boat and I was wondering.
Do I caulk the deck seams now, and then paint them after I varnish? Or do I caulk and paint the seams later after the varnish is on? I'm worried that if I wait until after I varnish that the seams will fill with varnish and crack easier.

Thank you

[uncas]

Brent...I have a really dumb question...are you thinking about varnishing your deck?
If you are...think about a wet varnished deck which has no grip...You will be sliding around like a top released from a string.

[brent stella]

It's a 1956 Century Resorter. The decks get varnished.

[uncas]

Brent...well that was blunt...your neck...and good luck! It was just a question... I don't know of too many people that varnish their decks....Obviously they are out there.
Have only seen one in my life actually.....Said it was tough to get the sails up in any kind of weather but being a tourist boat, he said the tourists like it.

[Dan McCosh]

My inclination would be to put a coat or two of varnish on the planking, caulk, then finish the varnish. The main reason would be to seal the wood so the slopped over caulking wouldn't leave stains. The sealed wood could cleaned with solvent--unsealed wood might take up a permanent stain. One or two coats of varnish wouldn't fill the seams.

[Dale R. Hamilton]

Brent- I did this a few years ago on a Salem express cruiser. I sanded the whole deck, stained it, put down 2 coats of System 3 clear coat. Then I reefed out the seams using a skill saw with 2 or 3 blades in it, matching the width of the seam. Finlly I filled the seams with thickened epoxy with white pigment. Finally a coat of clear varnish with uv over the whole thing. After 10 years- last time I saw it, it was beautiful.

Dale

[Gary E]

I also would varnish (and lots of coats) prior to filling seams. This way you get a good seal on the wood, then it will be easy to wipe the excess compound from the coated wood.

[Buddy]

A understand the "showboat" guys get the best looking seams by varnishing over the wood and caulk through the buildup. Then final sand, mask off the seams and PAINT them white, pull the tape and overall varnish the last few coats. You get perfectly flat, razor sharp color breaks, a nice creamy ivory color that goes great with yellowed ash or maple, and res brown mahogany or teak. And you annual maintenance coats don't have to be masked along those caulked seams. Seems brilliant to me.

[brent stella]

Thank you, I guess I'm going to put a few coats of varnish on first. I'm glad I asked here before I put the clauk in the seams.

[pcford]

1.Apply varnish (all but two coats or so)

2. Caulk seams.

3. Varnish two more coats.

4. Polish varnish to get rid of dust. Start with 1000 grit. Proceed to 1500. Machine polish. Hand polish.

5. Mask off seams with 3M low tack tape. Paint seams with white paint.

By the way: Is the lower transom frame new? They always need to be renewed. Were laminated 3/8 white oak. Glued with Weldwood type glue. In twenty years of doing this stuff have never seen one which did not need to be replaced!

[brent stella]

Your good. The lower transom frame was the only bad wood in the boat. It was very easy to replace though.