[glossa]

I found out today it's going to take about 16 weeks to get the synthetic teak mats through production. I've already started removing the decking, which could mean no sailing this summer! Most of the molded nonskid seems to be intact so I'm seriously thinking about filling the screw holes, cleaning it up and making due with the crappy nonskid this summer.

 

[glossa]

We're making progress on the teak removal. Snapped this photo tonight. We using the same process of planning down the planks so that the heat from the heat gun can soften the glue. Then chiseling them loose in sections using the oscillating tool. We've gone through four flexible scraping blades so far; they break due to the heat and pressure. They're about $16 each. Today, we tried using these cheapie rigid scraping blades from Amazon. I bought a 20 pack for about $20. They work so much better! You just have to hold the blade mostly horizontal as opposed to the flex blades that require more of an angle. I'm saving the border pieces for last because they are harder to plane and will require more concentration to avoid damaging the raised surfaces. Also, according to Plasdeck, there is no need to sand down the molded nonskid since the glue will work its way into it. But I still need to figure out how to chemically remove all of the old glue. I also got the digitized pattern of the new deck today. Too bad it won't arrive until Summer is over.

 

[glossa]

We scraped off the last piece of teak today on the coachroof (saving the bow and side decks for next winter). Now I am using the oscillating tool w/ scraper blade to remove all of the left behind excess glue. This just leaves behind the stuff in the nonskid grooves, and with some sanding, I think the surface will be sufficient for laying down the synthetic.

The immediate priority is to seal up the 100's of screw holes which go into the core. Even though the boat is shrink wrapped, rain travels down the mast and then forms a river across the newly scraped surface and many exposed screw holes. I'm going to ream them out tomorrow, dry them out using a heat gun, and then squirt in some penetrating epoxy.

Obviously our boat lists to port because the water from the mast always flows to the port side. This also explains why my son's room has moisture problems and my daughter's doesn't.

I tried to make a catchment system to collect and drain off the rain water (see photo) but it was a failure. Water seems to go everywhere but the catchment. However, once I seal off the screw holes, I no longer care about the water.

If your deck is not covered, don't attempt removing teak if you expect rain any time soon.

I also ordered a paper template of the deck pattern from PlasDeck, which I will dry-fit to the deck for one last time before I put my deposit money down and get on the production schedule. This is not a mandatory step but for $200, it's a good insurance policy to make sure everything lines up. It gives me the chance to make final alterations in the event some of my lines or measurements were off.