Recap - Deck Work 2010

Ok, so I'm finally back to blogging.  I know it's been a long time since my initial entries, and I have lots of excuses for why it has taken me so long to write... but excuses are generally worthless because they don't change the fact that I have been ignoring the blog.  More important is that I be more disciplined about adding entries in the future.

Here is a recap on the deck treatment, one of several projects that I completed on the boat in 2010.  (More recaps on the other numerous projects will follow.) 

THE "BEFORE":

The first winter I owned SKOOKUM, she sat at Bell Harbor Marina while my friend worked on the engine.  He took care of a lot of projects that NEEDED to be done including replacing engine hoses and clamps, changing the oil, cleaning the fuel tank, and refurbishing the heat exchanger, but ultimately he was REALLY flaky about actualling getting stuff done when he said he would and the work drew on for months.  Months of not moving coupled with the fact that she was moored right next to the break water (which you can almost see to the left of the dock in the picture below) meant that SKOOKUM's deck hardly say any sunlight that winter was hardly ever dry and mold proliferated.

Here are a couple mold pics (aka, "before" pics, since this entry is about cleaning the deck).

  

THE "DURING":

Along with the mold, almost all of the caulking (the black stuff between planks) had expanded above the surface of the deck.

You can see the expanded caulking in the photo above (check out the caulking on the right side).  I used a straight razor to cut off the excess caulking and bring the level flush to the deck (which you can see with the caulking in the middle of the photo above).  This was the technique suggested by Rebecca Wittman in her book "Brightwork, The Art of Finishing Wood".  This has been a usefull text.

The next thing suggested in the book was a product called Teak Wonder, and let me tell you, the Wonder part of the name is NOT hyperbole.  Not like Wonderbread or anything like that.  This stuff is simply amazing.  The cleaning is a two part system and it does practically all of the work.  The chemicals seemed pretty toxic and the process is strictly timed, so I don't have any photos of my process.  If you want to see what goes into the job, check out this video.  I did everything but add the oil at the end, but more on that later.

THE "AFTER":

Like I said, the results were simply AMAZING.  Check out these photos.

So, all in all, Teak Wonder is a pretty wonderfull project.

THE "AFTER AFTER":

According to the book simply rinsing the deck every other week with soapy water and trisodium phosphate (TSP, a mild bleaching agent) will allow the deck to weather to and stay a lovely bone grey.  Here are a couple photos of the deck after a few months of this treatment.

Of couse, life being what it is, I've missed several treatments now and allowed the mold to take a foothold once more.

You can see it there at the base of the mast.  Not a problem though, all I have to do is apply a spot treatment and remember not to let it go again.  This is exactly why I chose to not oil the deck.  Once you oil a deck, you have to re-oil it regularly for the protection to work, and I'm not convinced that I am up to that responsbility.  Also, it takes a lot of work to undo the oiling of a deck if you should decide to go back to bare wood.  Basically, sanding and scraping.  Which would totally destroy my thin deck.

So, that's all for this entry.  More to come soon!