Let me take a minute to explain something to my non-boating friends. A fiberglass boat deck is a sandwich, with fiberglass on the "bread" sides and (usually) wood where the peanut butter goes. It is very strong and relatively light which is why boats are built that way. That's a good thing. The top surface, where you walk, is either a rough diamond pattern non-skid molded into the fiberglass or teak. Traditional boaters like teak because it looks yachty and they pay a premium for it. Boat manufacturers like premium things because they make more money. Money makes the world go around. But here comes the good part. Until recently, teak decks were screwed down. Yeah and so, you say? Well, the screws go right through the teak, right through the fiberglass, and into the wood core. Please get to the point, you say? Well, to prevent water from leaking through the screw holes and into the wood core where it would get wet and rot, boat builders would countersink the holes and insert (are you ready for this) a wood bung to plug the hole, and in between the teak strips they would apply caulk. Perfect.
Needless to say, this didn't work. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would tell you it was a very bad idea, but boat builders and boat buyers have no common sense. Boat building and boat buying is a form of mental illness. So, all screwed down teak decks leak. Every single one of them. Recognizing the problem and being quick to respond, after 30 years of screwing (read into that anything you want), boat builders decided to simply glue the teak down. Modern teak decks are a thing of beauty. Old teak decks are not.
The problem now is how to fix the problem. A rotten wood core must be replaced. That's a given. The fiberglass sandwich must be cut open from either the top or bottom and new wood glued in and then the fiberglass replaced. But what of the teak decks? Many owners simply remove them, a laborious and tiring job, since all the screws must be unscrewed, teak removed, and screw holes plugged and then decks painted over. This is the most common choice. Stubborn owners (that would be Pam and me) declare that we love teak decks and furtively attempt to replace missing bungs and sikaflex (that's the sealant in the groves between the teak boards). Pam started doing this last year and has the foredeck almost done. It's a laborious and tiring process though (most boat jobs are laborious).
Connecticut has had a lot of precipitation this year, both snow and rain. Drift Away has teak decks on the main level and on the flybridge, which is over our main living area. The leaks have made a mess of the teak paneling in the boat, which must also be replaced. I needed to stop the leaks until we get to replacing the missing bungs and recaulking all the decks. First, I tried the obvious. A blue tarp. This worked well as long as the wind didn't blow it off, which it always did, no matter how much I weighed it and tied it down. It's just too darn windy in Connecticut in the winter.
Now, this is where it gets interesting. ABOUT TIME, you say. I've got a reputation for thinking outside of the box. I decided to make a trip to Home Cheapo and buy some asphalt roll roofing to try on the flybridge. Pam and I laid it down and it worked! No more leaks! Being very proud of my fix, I declared that asphalt roofing not only makes for good looks but also makes fine non-skid. Pam gave me one of those looks. Guys, you know the look I'm talking about. Yep. That's the one.
Well, the roofing worked fine until the wind really blew, and then it lifted and tore and began leaking again. Time for a new approach. I decided to coat the whole thing in Thompson's Advanced Formula Water Seal. Their advanced formula is, I believe, nothing more than floor wax in a solvent. You coat your deck with it, the solvent gasses off, and you have a fine coat of wax sealing everything. When first applied, it looked horrible, but then the solvent slowly evaporated and what's left looks OK. Not great, not yacht quality, but OK.
You can see from the photo above what we're dealing with. Miles of thin strips of teak with caulk in between, much of it gone. Hundreds of screw holes, and hundreds of missing bungs. But I'm very pleased to announce that it also seems to have worked, at least so far. We had a thunderstorm hit the other night and no leaks. There is a thin film of wax on the surface, but I think this will quickly wear off. The waterseal that penetrated down through the teak, out of the weather and UV, should last a long, long time.
I hope.
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