131′ Horizon Jacuzzi Teak Steps

On this project, I assisted another yacht woodworking company with the replacement of the teak steps on the sundeck jacuzzi. They provided me with the templates and material and commissioned me to build the new teak steps.

Laying out the pieces

With the templates in hand, I laid out 3 sheets of door skin on the slab and laid out the templates exactly to size on those 3 sheets. I marked the outline of the templates as well as any other pertinent information such as the direction of the field boards onto the door skin. From there, I laid out the templates onto 1/4″ MDF. I then drew another pencil line inside of the layout that was to be the margin boards. With the margins laid out, I repeated the procedure for the thickness of the caulk joint. The inside of the caulk joint gave me the finished size for the field. Now that all of the parts were laid out, it’s time to make some sawdust.

From templates to teak

I cut out all of the pieces from the MDF. This gave me a pile of margin boards and final sized field boards. Using the MDF margins, I set them on top of the teak boards and laid out all of the pieces to miss any knots or crazy wood grain. In as much as was possible, I tried to lay out continuous grain for adjoining margin boards. Once I was happy, I drew the lines on the teak and labeled each piece. I used a jig saw to break down the large boards into manageable sizes that I then took to the bandsaw. I cut just outside the line and final sanded up to the line. Each cut piece went in place on the door skin templates.

Caulking

I laid out the oversized field boards in place on the door skin and deck caulked them in place. Once the caulk had cured, I cut them to the size of the MDF template and set them in place. I made final adjustments to each individual piece around to make sure the caulk joints were consistent. Once I was happy with the final layout, I temporarily secured everything and caulked it in place. I left one caulk joint without caulk at the area where the side steps met the middle step. This would allow for smaller pieces and easier transportation.

Final sanding

Once the caulk cured, I took the pieces off the door skin and flipped them over and placed them on the workbench. I filled in the caulk on the back side of the panels. Once that caulk had cured, I used an 8″ grinder to flatten the bottom of the panels. With the bottoms flat, I repeated the procedure for the tops finishing with a dual action sander using 80 grit. I delivered the finished panels back to the other woodworkers who took them out for installation. A few days later I got to see some installed pictures and they turned out great.