and put away wet.
The description “proud of” from my surveryor’s reports always amused me. “The caulk stands proud of the deck…” just sounds so…dignified.
Of course it’s not, it’s a concise way of saying “sticking up”. Generally the sticking up is caused by something else wearing down. In this case, it’s the teak wearing down and the caulk sticking up.
In prior posts I’ve mentioned that the deck seems to have been over cleaned – using firm brushes and acidic teak cleaners – which may explain why it needs to be redone after less than 12 years.
In removing all of the various deck fittings to access the teak caulk for stripping just how much the Teak has been stressed is apparent.
What you see here is the normal deck, and the raised area under one of the dorade vent fittings. Even in this cheesy cell phone picture the amount of wear is obvious. Below you can see just how much teak has been eaten away.
Fortunately the remaining teak is still quite thick – thank you Hallberg-Rassy for your top quality construction. So even when this job is finally done there will be a long life for the deck.
It’s just too bad the abuse inflicted in the first few years can not be undone.
The object lesson here: Be Kind to Your Teak! Just Say No to acidic cleaners and never use a hard brush or brush with the grain. Or don’t even brush at all.
4 Comments
+1
I cant remember how many times I have been told “don’t scrub the bare teak!!” from my wife (ex-woodworker)
Monthly dousing with seawater keeps it nice and silver-y. No need for cleaners or scrubbing.
It kills me, I shouldn’t have had to undertake this job for another 6-10 years!
I was in Seattle today at Fisheries Supply (the largest marine hardware store and distributor in our area) and they had a video going advertising the Fein Multimaster. It showed your caulking removal tool in action. Pretty slick, I wonder if your experiance is as good as the video makes it seem.
Dan
It’s good to work with and makes the job easier. Do I grin like a ’60s housewife in a Pine-sol commercial while using it? No…
There is still a lot of cleanup to do after you buzz the teak out, there is usually a bit in the cracks that needs to come out with a pick. Could be the way HR makes their teak decks, I’m not sure of that but it’s not ready to sand and recaulk immediately afterward.
The roughest stuff – WAY faster to buzz it out and pick it clear. Some of the DEEP grooves need hand picking, or 2-3 passes with the Fein.
And it doesn’t do curves well.
Overall, I highly recommend it for the job, but it’s not a cure-all.