For some time now we've had a couple of seams on the starboard side deck
that always hold water much longer than they should. There have also
been several seams where the caulk appeared to be dry and cracked, even
though those seams did not seem to be leaking in any way. So, with hot
weather forecast and Rick laid up from sinus surgery, I decided to
tackle the project this weekend.

The reefing tool of choice was (of course) the Multimaster with a 4mm
teak blade. The Multimaster is a great sanding tool, but I hadn't really
used it for deck work. It took a few minutes to get the hang of it, but
once I understood how it worked I was able to do in three hours what it
would have taken me two days with just a reefing hook. Here are a couple
of photos after the seams were taped for caulking...

http://www.ballreich.net/mandisa/baba-l/deckwork-1.jpg
http://www.ballreich.net/mandisa/baba-l/deckwork-2.jpg

In addition to the reefing, I spent another three hours, cleaning the
grooves with a dremel tool with a flat wire brush bit, cleaning up the
*unbelievable* mess that this project made, and taping the seams for
re-caulking. This morning I caulked. The area shown in the photos
represents slightly more than once tube of caulk. I know this because I
ran out!!! ARRRGGGHHH!! Of course, the only place in town that carries
the TDS SIS 400 caulk is closed on Sundays, so the project isn't quite
finished.

Comments and conclusions: The Multimaster gets very high marks, and the
teak blade is well worth the cost. There is some technique involved in
reefing and I'm not sure I've completely figured it out. You have to be
careful to keep control of the tool or it will dig into the wood. It
makes a terrible sound which you never quite get used to. I find it a
little big for my hands and I needed to take a lot of breaks to stretch
my fingers. It needs some space and doesn't work well in close proximity
to obstacles like the cap rail (don't throw out your reefing hook). The
seam is not completely clean and will need to be touched up with the
dremel tool. I'm not quite sure of the best way to sharpen the teak
blade. These caveats aside, the results are comparable to (or better
than) the reefing hook and much MUCH faster!! I'm totally convinced that
this is the best way to reef the deck.

As a side note, I discovered that our decks are in excellent shape after
21 years! Nice and thick with deep seams. They can probably even handle
a little bit of sanding to smooth them up a little.

I'd welcome any questions or comments.

Cindy

--
Cindy Ballreich
S/V Mandisa
Baba 30 #218

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Received on Sun Jul 31 17:14:47 2005