Deck sanding and repairs

On board this 61′ Viking, I was called in to sand and repair the teak deck. The deck was getting thin, especially around the hatches, but had enough life left for another sand. Evidently it had been 2-3 years since the previous sand.

8″ sander with hard backing plate

I used an 8″ sander with a hard backing plate and custom made vacuum shroud to do the main grinding work. Using a hard backer plate allows me to completely flatten out the deck. The use of a soft or medium backer tends to follow the ups and downs of the deck boards and doesn’t seem to come out as flat.

5″ sander

With the main parts of the deck flattened, I then opted for my festool 5″ dual action sander. It’s a beast of a sander in a small package. I got nearly everything else with this. I also used this sander to go over the rest of the deck with 80 grit. There were a few areas too small to reach with the sanders so I hand sanded them. After sanding, I gave the deck a quick washdown.

Failed caulk joints

Before sanding, I knew there were a few areas that needed to be recaulked. Sanding revealed more areas to be reefed and recaulked. And once I got into it, I found many more failed areas. I’m always curious as to why things fail so that I may use it as a learning opportunity. In this case, what I found is that when the deck was originally installed, the installer didn’t force the deck caulk into the joint which did not completely fill the caulk joint. You’re supposed to caulk each joint with slightly more caulk than necessary and then use a putty knife to force the excess towards the bottom of the joint which completely fills the cavity. The teak decking systems install guide that discusses those techniques can be found here.

One last light sand

After reefing and recaulking much of the deck, I gave it one last light sanding to blend everything together and then I was done. Captain was happy and it looks like a brand new deck!