On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:50:14 +0100, Daniele Fua
wrote:

Thank you very much for your interest. I try to reply your questions:

Describe the current deck construction.
It was made in 1978, probably with very high standards (Nautor's,
Finland), fastened with screws and, I think, probably glued.
What is the hull material?
Fiberglass
What is the observed faults with the deck now?
Several of the screws stick out of the surface, few planks are not well
fixed to the deck and water seeps under, the caulking is missing in
several parts. The worst part are amidship around the chainplates.
Overall I believe that the deck should be redone entirely sooner or
later but I believe also that with some work I could wait, say, 3-4
years before a major work and a major investment.
How thick is the teak planking?
It is quite thick: probably around 12-14mm
How wide are the planks?
around 43mm
What caulking material has been used?
I don't know

If you are interested, please look at the pictures posted in this page
http://g24met.phys.uniroma1.it/cache

Regards
Daniel

Your real task is to prevent deterioration of the structural deck. The
teak is just a cosmetic addition and contributes little but looks to
the boat. Teak isn't even particularly "non skid" when compared to
other surfaces.

Basically, any deck overlay that is fastened with screws will
eventually leak into the deck core and cause rot. Now, this is not a
overnight process and even if some moisture gets into the core it
doesn't cause instantaneous rot but it is not something you want to
happen.

If you have any areas where the plugs covering the screw heads are
missing or the caulking is missing then certainly those areas are
leaking. In addition it probably means that the overlay is getting
thin enough that more of the plugs are going to come out from time to
time.

I suggest that you try to locate a short section of decking, remove
all the screws and cut/scrape out the caulking and try to lift one
piece of the overlay. I suspect, from the screws, that you will find
that it IS NOT glued down but if it is glued down then you can remove
the screws, inject thickened epoxy to make a "epoxy nail" and insert a
new plug to fill the screw hole. then scrape out all suspect caulking
and recaulk.

If however, the strips ARE NOT glued down then you will need to remove
all the screws, remove the teak, plug all the holes in the deck, check
for soft spots in the deck, repair any found, replace the original
strips using an adhesive, plug the screw holes in the teak with epoxy
and a teak plug, recaulk and sand.

Or, you can decide to remove the teak, sand the fiberglass deck
smooth, plug the holes and possibly put a layer of glass cloth over
the deck, fair and paint.

In any case you are looking at a major project and, unless you do all
the work yourself, substantial costs.

The alternative is to do a cheap and dirty job of it by removing any
screws that have missing plugs, drill the hole in the teak a tiny bit
deeper, reset the screw with epoxy and replug the screw hole. Then
remove any defective caulking and recaulk and sand.

This is less work then doing the job correctly but will not correct
the problem, just postpone it. However, if you were planning on
selling the boat you might decide in favor of this scheme.

But, in any case, in my opinion you need to do something about the
deck fairly soon, say this year, to avoid further troubles.

I couldn't make out what type of boat you have but if it is a Nauticat
then it is pretty much a classic boat and assuming that the deck is
still structurally sound then it should be worth saving.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)