Bedding Teak and the Cost of a Space Flight to Mars.

It's not really about the Mars thing.

I'm replacing all the teak on my Pearson 35. On the pieces that are to be attached to the structure, can anyone think of any reason I should not put an epoxy coat on the backside of these pieces prior to attaching?
I would let the epoxy cure first. The teak will be installed using 4200 (or maybe 4000) , and screws.

 

There is little advantage to sealing the teak on the back. In fact, it could be a negative.

If water does make its way to the bottom edge; it will tend to pool above the epoxy and may drive rot faster than water that can disburse throughout. Water ingress is bad.

I, personally see no advantage to sealing it and only a possible downside.

More effort at minimizing ingress and upkeep on the top wpuld be my tack.

 

Little to no benefit to it.

The oils in the teak will prevent a good bond either to the epoxy or the bedding compound.
There might be a great bond between the epoxy and the bedding.

 

There are epoxys formulated for teak, but if you are screwing they are a waste of money. Teak is used because it is rot resistant and light, it needs no epoxy protection. New decks are glued on, the effective wear surface is the same as with the much thicker screwed decks because with those the limit is the bung thickness.
So you have a choice, epoxy and thin teak, or screws and PU caulking.

 

I thought you were going to say that a new teak deck is about as expensive as a ticket to Mars, and you may not be too far wrong.

 

People keep saying this. I have been building things out of teak for more than 40 years. Haven't had a single joinery failure base on teak "not bonding". I think people squeeze their epoxy joints to tight.

 

That was the joke. Thank you for catching it.

 

Id see this as a brilliant opportunity to eliminate the teak and it’s associated problems, maintenance and expense!

 

I have spent a similar length of time applying coatings to wood and metal. When I had wholesale adhesion failure it was usually to brass teak or rosewood.

Teak's reputation for poor adhesion is earned.

 

teaks vary greatly in oil content; I have limited experience, but one piece here is oily to the touch and another feels dry as a bone

I'd guess it is very anecdotal stick to stick and species to species.

But I see no upside to glazing the bottom. The idea is to prevent water from getting there first place.

 

Millions of yachts (hundreds of thousands) have teak doors, never saw a joinery failure on any of them either. When I do wood working on boats I use old world style joinery techniques. Which include cope style molding, dadoes, and my all time favorite, mortise and tenon. These techniques were developed before glue worked very well on any wood.

If folks are going to do joinery with teak, maybe they should follow the old way.

 

Here is a piece of evidence agreeing with your first assessment, and also disagreeing.

The boat was built in 68 the teak was removed in 2012, I saved it to use as a pattern and the boat sat, and sat, and sat until now. The teak shows no sign of rot from the bottom, it only shows the normal erosion from the top, no rot. However, this Pearson was built during the experimental age of plastic boats and they got the gelcoat all wrong. Underneath the teak coaming caps the gelcoat is completely destroyed. So coating the entire surface would give more area for adhesion, and making a gasket style bedding would tend to keep out moister. The entire boat is getting barrier coated with epoxy.

I'm not sure if there is a big difference either way. As folks have mentioned earlier, maybe a lot of extra work for no gain. So yeah, skip the coating on the teak.

 

I think a lot of people say that, and for good reason. But mostly, they are out buying a Hunter or a Beneteau. There are people out there that appreciate the look of mid 20th century boat, and the Pearsons were at the top of that hill. It's a lot of work restoring this old boat, and it will require a lot of maintenance, but it is an antique, and sometime antiques are worth preserving.

 

If a lot of the old teak is salvageable, I'd replace the bad planks. If most of it is shot, I wouldn't bother. I'd plug all the fastener holes, then paint the deck with nonskid.

Teak is not particularly light, and to keep it looking good, requires a lot of work. Whether or not the teak deck was counted on as part of the deck's structural strength, needs to be investigated though.

If it was, I'd consider replacing it with plywood.

 

When I said teak is light I was comparing it with other hard, very rot resistant woods, and most are heavier. There are alternatives to teak, iroko for example is in the same weight class and much cheaper. As for looks, it's personal preference, but traditionally teak decks were either bricked and/or scrubbed with citric acid. The gray deck is a modern invention, they were either freshly sanded or snow white.

If one wants to be bold for a while one can use purpleheart for the deck, in the end it will turn brown.