[sailingfool]

"clear caulked" is an unusual statement in the context. Usually caulk is applied under a fitting on a deck - do you mean to say the owner applied caulk to the open areas of the deck displaying the blisters or spidering? If so, I would think this not a normal repair for anything like the problems described, or for anything at all for that matter. So something doesn''t fit (so to speak).
First possibility is owner ignorance, the owner doesn''t know what he/she is doing and has wasted some time and money(and made a bit of a mess?).
The second possibility is the owner knew what he/she was doing, and the problem is something unusual. If the owner has caulked the deck areas to keep water out of the deck or cabin, this would be a poor and probably temporary solution, not much better than real band-aids.
I''d be sure to get a conlusive answer to this riddle, probably requiring the services of a skilled surveyor.

Goog luck.