Teak platform rot and recondition/recovery!! :-)

[Wish]

I'm not shy about admitting I'm a skier on a tight budget. I have stayed in the game by being creative when it comes to skiing expense and I do not feel it has hindered me at all. Can still pull off 38. So when I saw a little void between my platform teak boards I got curious and started pulling it apart. The words I used as each board came apart were colorful to say the least. See thread titled "Crap". I believe that won the unofficial "worst thread title ever." No one was around at the time but betting they'd have said the same. The idea of having to buy a new platform was not in the budget so attempted to recondition and reuse what I had..which was not much from what you can see in the pics. Well, it took longer then I thought but considering I was sure I'd be dropping $500+ on a new one, I'm glad I took the time. Really did not take that long, I just did not have the time to stick with it and worked on it when I could. By the way, a cheap 1/2" sheet of plywood cut to shape makes a good temporary one.

 

So, I will give credit where credit is do. Debbie, a skier from Ohio, was in Orlando skiing with me for a couple weeks. Turns out she's a teak/antique boat restoration specialist. She said she had seen worse... and she has repaired them. Worse then this!!?!?!?!

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So her process made sense and may help others. Start by digging out the worst rot going down to decent enough wood. With what is left, start drilling tons of tiny holes (not through) and use a knife to score deeper into the wood.

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Bleach solution sprayed on to kill any microbes of rot. You cannot really see the voids where there is no more wood.

 

Next bush on fiber glass resin liberally on affected areas. The idea is that it will soak into the softer wood fibers, drilled holes and scoring. The wood fibers act like glass fibers would. Her recommendation for this is a product called GetRot. It is a much thiner resin and seeps deep into the wood. I did not have that and no time to order as she was only there on a limited basis. After that dries sand that new rock hard surface with 80 grit and rough it all up.

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Next step is bondoing voids and shaping where needed. This was done with glass reinforced bondo that is water proof. Her recommendation was to mix this in small amounts them apply. That was key. Slow and steady with small mixes at a time to shape. Let stand till almost hard and then quickly shape with a "cheese grater" wood file that removes material fast and a lot of it.

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Once all that is done it's time to spray paint a good quality epoxy on all the sides accept the top. That part is fine and will get a nice sanding and look new when done.

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Next is to glue and screw. Waterproof construction glue, stainless screws, regular clamps and pipe clamps as well. I scraped away the glue that squeezed out and then painted the whole bottom again screws and all as the glue over spill did show against the paint.

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The main platform supports that the boat's brackets screwed into were far worse and not salvageable with the above process. So two $9 cutting boards (starboard) from Sams Club to the rescue. Cut to size (even shaped them better then the wood that was there) and layered where needed. Glue, clamp and screw.

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Flip it over and sand the top to baby bottom smooth removing any epoxy drips and over spray.

 

It was shocking to me how solid it is.

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Install....DONE.

 

Lessons learned....check your teak platform. All the rot happens between the upper and lower boards. Not seen until you take a few boards off. And it could be to late. If you have a rot issue, it CAN be fixed. And for not a lot of scratch and not to much time. The top looks new and has a beautiful teak wood grain. No one will ever see the bottom and the painted edges are just unnoticed as evidence by a few skiers that never even mentioned it. Worth the price difference compared to new. If I can do this..anyone can.

 

 

Resin $10

Bondo $13

Paint $8

Glue $10

Lots of SS Screws $5

Starboard cutting board $20

miscellaneous $13

 

 

 

 

 

 

[slvrbulit]

Nice job

[rockdog]

Good salvage job @Wish. Out of interest, how often/if ever did you coat with oil beforehand?

[Wish]

Never. But trust me..that would have made no difference unless you disassemble it, oiled all 6 sides of every board and reassembled. It did not rot were oil could be applied when assembled. It looked perfectly fine accept for a tiny 1/2" section between top boards and support boards. Then I took it apart. Wow.

[gregy]

@Wish mine is starting to delaminate. I was going to take it apart and see what's going on. Did you source have any specific recommendation for the glue and epoxy paint. I thought about replacing it but lately I'm thinking seriously of getting a ZO boat so cheap sounds good to me.

[E_T]

@wish the boat live in the water?

[Wish]

Glue was found in marine section of local hardware store. 5200 I believe is the name. And just a good high quality epoxy spray paint will do.