Teak Therapy Photo Captions
?	01 Boat Cover – A major refastening or recaulking project always takes longer 
than expected and is, therefore, best accomplished indoors or under a 
weatherproof cover like this one. 
?	02 Deck Marks - Before refastening and recaulking your boat's teak overlay, 
assess the condition of the underlying fiberglass deck molding. Percussion 
soundings and moisture meter readings taken by an experienced marine surveyor 
will help you decide how best to proceed. If there were evidence of extensive 
deck core delamination, it would be best to remove the teak overlay and re-core 
the deck molding. The author marked moisture meter (Protimeter Aquant 2) 
readings on blue masking tape strips. Percussion sounding and analysis of 
moisture meter readings found only localized water intrusion at deck fittings, with 
no significant delamination.
?	03 Interior Overhead – When scoping a teak decking renovation project, consider 
what will be required if deck hardware is to be removed. Here, fixed interior 
headliners have been removed to access thru-bolted deck fittings.
?	04 Fein Tool  – Caulking in areas not readily reached with a laminate trimmer can 
be removed manually using a hooked scraper, made by heating and bending a 
screwdriver or rat-tail file. Alternately, the variable-speed Fein tool with teak 
knife blade will do the same job more quickly with far less physical effort.
?	05 Router Guide – Use a laminate trimmer (a small special purpose router) with 
straight bit to remove the old caulk in curved deck seams. A flexible wood batten 
can be tacked in an adjacent seam and used as a guide for the laminate trimmer.
?	06 Freehand – Save tricky freehand work along the king plank until last, when 
you've developed some expertise with the laminate trimmer.
?	07 Sanding – In the hands of a skilled operator, an eight-inch disc sander with 80-
grit paper can quickly smooth heavily eroded teak decking. Less experienced 
operators should stick with a random orbital sander and 80 or120-grit paper. It'll 
take longer, but you're far less likely to scar your deck in the process. If you've 
removed the old caulking before you sand, be sure to save your sawdust. It makes 
an excellent thickener for use with epoxy when filling gaps or gouges in your 
boat's teak trim.
?	08 Taping – Before caulking, protect your teak deck with masking tape. While 
this is a time consuming task, it will mean little or no sanding later. Don't let the 
tape lap into the seams or you'll have trouble pulling it free after the caulk has 
cured. 
?	09 Can Opener – BoatLife's two-part caulk can be mixed in the original quart or 
gallon can. Mix in the catalyst, then tightly seal and invert the can. Use a disc 
sander (or grinder) to cut the rolled bead at the bottom of the can.
?	10 Caulk Tubes – A gallon of BoatLife's two-part pourable Life-Caulk will fill 
nine caulking cartridges. All nine cartridges will fit vertically in a single 5-quart 
plastic bucket for filling. The Life-Caulk container, after bottom removal, can be 
readily bent to form a pour spout. Cut a length of wire hanger to pierce any air 
bubbles that my form when filling the tubes.
?	11 Pre-assembled – Modern pre-assembled teak decking is installed using high-
strength adhesives. Screws are used around decking edges, but only until the 
adhesive cures. The fasteners are then removed and their holes filled and plugged. 
The result is a teak overlay with no greater propensity for deck leaks than a 
fiberglass deck molding with molded non-skid.