How best to remove old caulk

[Ewlon]

I have a 13 ft. sailing dinghy that's not been in the water for 14 years. The planking
is edge-to-edge. The joints are from about 3/8ths to 1/16th wide, and were originally
filled with cotton and/or caulk that is now window-glazing hard but cracked and would
leak. I want to recaulk but am having a very difficult time removing the hardened caulk,
especially where the seams are very close together.

Any suggestions on how to do this more easily? A single seam took me 4 hrs. with a
box knife and ice pick. At that rate, removing the caulk is a 120 hr. job! Boy-o-boy! :confused:

[cs]

Seems like the latest issue of WB addressed cleaning the seams in a deck. I didn't really read that article, but I did look at the photos. Seems that had 2 options. One was an old file with the handle bent at 90 degrees and using that to ream the seams. The other was using a router (this may require a custom ground bit).

Chad

[thechemist]

In the saw-and-power-tool section of my local Home Depot I have seen a variety of saw blades and handles designed to clamp onto them. It seems anything that can be put into a small Sawzall can be fitted into one of those handles, and those range from even hacksaw blades to snaggle-tooth monsters. One such would make an adequate tool, when held in line with the seam and pulled , to chew the old caulking out of the seam. Once into the seam and aligned with it, you should be able to reef out at least a blade-width of the old caulking, and then the rest of the old stuff should be easily removed.

[Art Read]

You know, I've never actually had to "do" this job myself yet, but I've known about the bent file trick for years and just kept it in the back of my mind for future reference. Nowhere, in all my reading about it, have I heard about the hammer aspect. Makes perfect sense now. Thanks, Dave... Yet another "wheel" I won't have to re-invent.

[Ewlon]

Thanks for the tips. I'll rummmage in my shop and see what I can find in the way of an
old file. smile.gif

[Dale R. Hamilton]

Ewlon- Best bet is to use a skillsaw with 1,2, or even 3 dull blades to give you the same width as the seam. Advantages are speed, accuracy- the saw won't wander as easy as a router, and the depth is nicely adjustable. Your seams will all be the same width when you are done. Wear eye protection as this throws out a lot of crap. You will be done much quicker than digging out with a file.

Dale

[RGM]

If it were my boat I would break the material loose from the planks (gently) with a crease iron, then reef the seams as described previously. It's a calking iron that has a groove cut down the middle (length wise) on it's business end. You set the end of the iron straight against the hard material and gently hammer the stem end of the iron and rock the iron along the seam as you go. Drew made them in a few different sizes (widths), sometimes they had more than one groove. I'm pretty sure that you don't own one or two of these little jewels. I'm also pretty sure that you don't know anybody that does. Perhaps I'm wrong, ask around. With a little head scratching and scrounging around you could probably make something that would yield the same results. First bust it loose, then reef it. You'll stand a better chance of not tearing up your seams. Good luck.

[Art Read]

I've always thought "Genuine Forgery" was a particularly inspired name for that business... ;)

[Ed Harrow]

This is a problem I've not really dealt with on Phoenix, as the stuff was soft enough, tho in some cases it was 5200, a whole nother problem...

Doing windows, however, one often runs into this very problem. The putty is gard as nails and, if one fights with the putty often the glass ends up the loser. I've found heat does a really great job, in that case. Of course the exposure of the glazing putty to the heat source is much greater than for a boat seam, but perhaps worth a try, especially if you're taking her down to the wood?

[ 07-05-2002, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: Ed Harrow ]

[Smacksman]

Now we're talking stopping here, are we? The putty+ white/red lead filling sealing off the caulking? Nice to hear someone else has rock hard stopping as from previous threads I thought I was the only one.

Trouble with taking it out with a rake of some sorts is that it catches the edge of the strakes and creates feathers of wood or starts a split.

I use a small angle grinder. Lighter to use than a skill circular saw and you can see what you're doing better.

Ditto about protection on eyes - a lot of rock hard chips fly out.

Not a problem with you, but if the planking is wet then the heat from the grinder dries the surface of the seam so that it will take some primer.

I still rake out the caulking with a bent screwdriver.

Good luck.

[Cedarhill Boatworks]

the people that make most of the putty knives that we all have rattling around in the bottom of the tool box "Hyde" make a tool called a "Five in One". It is a putty knife with a much heavier blade and a hook on one side. The tang runs through the handle and is designed to be hammered on. It will work very nicely on your small seams. The blade is narrow and can be ground to a fairly durable edge. The hook end can be ground as well. I would not try this on a thirty footer, but on small boats like a beetle cat or a catspaw it works nicely. If your hardware store doesn't have one in stock ask him to leaf through his "Hyde" catalog and order you a couple.

[Donn]

http://www.hydetools.com/prodsheets/PROWOOD.GIF

A very handy tool.

[Scott Rosen]

Ditto Cedarhill. I've done it with a Hyde heavy gauge putty knife/paint scraper and a light hammer. Then I vacuumed out the seams to get the loose stuff that I missed. The key is to break up the hard stuff before you try to reef it out of the seam. If the job was done properly in the first place, the seams would have been primed before the compound was put in; that's done so the hardened compound won't stick to the seam edges, which would damage the wood upon removal.

[Peter Duck]

Some of those advocates for the use of power tools may be forgetting that you are dealing with a 13ft dinghy, not an 85ft schooner. The breaking of the bond between the stopping and the plank with a caulking iron and mallet is the best way to go. If you don't have caulking iron, use any piece of steel strip whose thickness matches the width of the seam. Lie it along the seam on its edge using the far end as a handle, and tapping on the business end with a hammer. Take it easy, and you'll break the bond between the putty and the plank and it will come out easily. You'll also pack the cotton in a little tighter in the process. Be careful not to over-do this, as when the planks get wet again and expand, the fastenings will be strained. The job may take a while to get done, but then remember, a slow job takes time! It may be a result of being an old codger, but I don't worry so much these days about getting to the end of a job as I do about getting the bit that I am doing done right.
Best of luck,
Peter.

[bobkaschak]

How would this work? http://www.praziusa.com/images/pix-puttychaser1.jpg

http://www.praziusa.com/puttychaser.html

Good luck
Bob K.

[Ed Harrow]

Bob, for window glazing a heat gun is just the trick, zip, zip, you're done.

[Scott Rosen]

Originally posted by Ed Harrow:
Bob, for window glazing a heat gun is just the trick, zip, zip, you're done.Be careful you don't crack the glass with the hot air.

[Cedarhill Boatworks]

The problem with a lot of jobs that we do is that they are boring, tedious and a lot of hard work. Reefing out seams is one of them. You can try all kinds of labor saving, power tool, miracle tool, "lets try this" approaches. Chances are it will take you just as long if not longer and the results will more than likely be poor, or so poor that you will take a lot of time undoing your miracle cure. Take your time, use the right tool for the job, and be done with it.

[Ed Harrow]

Originally posted by Scott Rosen:
Be careful you don't crack the glass with the hot air.[/QB]With all the hot air around here it's a wonder the monitors are not cracking, LOL.

[Bob Cleek]

Ah, so right you are, Ed. Nothing like a thread like this to start the BS flowing! LOL No wonder so many old boats have destroyed seams. You could delete everything in here, save RGM and Peter Duck's advice and not be missing a thing. Be honest, all youse guys... how much seam work have you REALLY done?

Right you are, RGM... I have three, maybe four, crease irons, in varying sizes in my kit and, no, they aren't for loaning. Got three bent tang files, too. If you whack the seam compound with the creaser and it doesn't come loose with a light swipe with the rake, leave it there. It'll be waiting for you next time around and maybe be a little looser then.

As one sage mentioned, this is a little sailing dink, not a wooden walled sailing ship. Forget the power tool approach. This is not a power tool job. The last thing you want is a square seam anyhow. It'll spit for sure. Seams have to be beveled to hold their caulk. Also as said, if you go to ripping and raking against the grain (and like as not it will go one way on one plank and the other on the one next to it!) you will raise splinters that will make the seam near impossible to caulk correctly, or, if you are lucky enough not to take it too deep, it'll just look like hell.

If this boat hasn't been wet in a long, long time, you'd better fill her full of slick seam or soft soap and let her soak and take up. They ALL crack when they dry out. The cracking doesn't mean diddly. Let her swell and only then worry about leaks when they don't stop. More damage has been done to perfectly functional seams by people trying to pack 'em when they're shrunk than was ever repaired. You're talking about 3/8" openings? If you still have 3/8" seams after she's swolled, you had better think about turning the bucket into a flower planter... or start laying in splining. A little boat like this probably only has not more than 1/2" planking. A 3/8" opening in 1/2" plank isn't caulkable... no way.

Get the boat wet before you worry about caulking and see how she takes up. If she was tight to begin with, she ought to swell back to where she's supposed to be. If you fill those big spaces full of caulk before you swell her up, she'll bust her frames out and be dead for sure.