Deck leaks

Unlike “normal” boaters who have fiberglass boats with decks that (for the most part) don’t leak I have a deck make out of wood, teak to be precise and if you don’t take care of it it will leak. The deck was 1 ¼  inch thick when it was new. It was installed by screwing each piece of teak decking in place from the bottom up( instead of the more conventional way of screwing it from the top down). Well, over the years, the deck is slowly wearing away and in a few places the tips of the screws are starting to poke thru the deck or the surface of the deck is cracking where these screw tips are just under the surface allowing water to soak thru.

The cure is to take a dremal tool with a carbide grinding tip and slowly grind the tip of the screw away. Then drill out the hole and installing a wood plug. First though, I had to make some teak plugs. Doing this on a boat without a drill press was a real challenge.

in the cockpit drilling plugs

ready to install

Then it was time to grind the tips away, drill the holes and glue the plugs into the deck.

cutting around the screw tip

screw tip before I cut it off

after the tip is gone I drill out the hole for the plug

glue the hole and the plug

here's a couple of plugs glued and drying

 I also had a few areas that were too large for a plug (splitting wood or areas of rot) so I made up “Dutchman’s” which are pieces of wood that tightly fit into holes that I had chiseled into the deck. Every year I seem to have a few of these breakthroughs that need attention. At this rate, my deck will be nothing but plugs and patches!

dutchman installed and planed down