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Caulking the Sugar Scoops Teak

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The teak on both the port and starboard sugar scoops has had a long life span.  We try to be diligent with its care but they are completely exposed to salt water, sun, and constant use.  

As you can see, the black caulking has come up and is completely missing in some places. It is time to repair it all.

Originally, I was going to do the work myself, but once I watched the YouTube videos and watched the yard do the same job on another boat I decided to ask them to help me out.  

The Supplies

We had purchased the following items from Tag Marine which specializes in teak decking.  Since Norsand Boatyard is taking over the project, they used their own tools and the caulk we bought.

  • Caulking Removal Tool
  • Seam Sander Tool with 5x strips
  • Tape Fineline 3/16″ x 60yd
  • (5) teak caulk 10oz black

The Process

  1. Remove the existing caulk using the special caulk removing tool.
  2. Sand the seams (where the caulk was and will be replaced) using the special sanding tool and sand paper.
  3. Use a router to make each seam at least 6mm deep.
  4. Use vacuum and blower to remove all residue.
  5. Use acetone to clean all sand particles from seams.
  6. Make sure there is no rain in the forecast for 48 hours.
  7. Tape off teak around each seam.
  8. Overfill the seams with caulk ensuring caulk comes out behind nozzle.
  9. Using a puddy knife at a 30 degree angle, press down on each seam to ensure the caulk fills the seam completely.
  10. Wait a minimum of 2 days (best 4) to cure.
  11. Remove tape after caulk has cured.
  12. Sand with 36 grit sand paper and then 80 grit sand paper to remove excess caulk on teak.
  13. Oil or treat wood.

Tag Marine has a very useful data sheet that outlines the entire process which can be found here.

Removing the Caulk

The yard was pretty busy when we hauled out, and we did not schedule this job ahead of time so we had to wait our turn to get someone in to help with this job.  So, while we were waiting, I decided to remove the black caulk.

In some cases, it was easy to remove once you got the strip started and then you just go back with the tool to get the remnants.  But other seams were very difficult with the caulk shredding, tearing, and falling apart.  I was able to get 2, only 2 strips of caulk off in their entirety. Boy did those make me happy for some reason. All of the others came off in pieces.

After a day of work, all of the seams are caulk free.  The dark seams are wet which is why they look dark, but they are free of caulk.

The seams will need some work by a professional (aka Matt) who has a steady hand with a power tool.  Some of the seams are nice and deep at 4mm and others are non-existent.  The top left photo shows the difference between healthy caulk and degraded caulk.

Routing the Seams

We bought a router so Matt could make the seams deeper and more uniform.  It is a slow process to ensure accuracy. Matt built a guide using plexi glass that he screws into one seam in order to dig out another seam.

Now the seams are deep enough for me to sand, clean, and then add black epoxy filler.

Sanding

I use my hand tool and special sand paper sent from Tag Marine.  It is pretty cool as you can adjust the depth of the bar that holds the sander to match your seam depth.  The idea is to have the wood roll across your teak to ensure the sand paper is covering the seam sides.

We had to cover the teak each night because dew gathers on the wood every morning.  It is really cold here (5c or 40F).  The next day I apply the seam tape and cover the teak with masking tape to prepare for the caulking.

Once the seams have been sanded and cleaned with acetone, I lay down special tape.  The tape prevents the caulk from sticking to the bottom which allows the teak panels to move with the motion of the boat.

Next I tape the teak panels leaving only the seams exposed.  This will make it easier to remove the excess caulk.

Caulking

This black caulk is a mess and it is really difficult to get out of the gun!  We did realize that the caulk was technically expired (12/2023).  Not sure if it is because the caulk is “older” or if it is just really hard to get out of the gun, but it took both hands for me to squeeze the caulk out.  I worked on the top and bottom step and enlisted Matt to help me with the middle one as it was tricky to do while balancing and not falling off the boat!

You hold the gun at an angle and squirt the caulk out until it leaves bubble behind the caulk gun.  You want it to overflow.  After I do 4 seams, I stop and use a spatula to press the caulk down into the seam (top right photo).  It sure looks messy.

The caulk then sits for 3 days to dry. The frustrating thing is that we are entering rainy season so we have to cover the sugar scoops with each rain to allow the caulk to fully cure.

Sanding with 40 grit

After 3 days, we remove the green tape and as much excess caulk as we can.  Then we get out the circular sander and our 40 grit sand paper and get to sanding.  This is an art of patience, which I don’t have much of!  The goal is to make each teak panel smooth and right now it is really pitted, cracked, and grooved.  It is a very slow and messy sanding process.  But the results are spectacular.

The left is the original state of the teak steps.  The right is after caulk and sanding (but before oil is applied).

And here is the difference between oil and no oil.  The oil will help protect the teak.

And the Finished Product

Well this took me a lot longer than I anticipated.  Of course the rain played havoc on me and the schedule.  But despite the set backs and delays I am extremely pleased with the final outcome.  They look spectacular.

We had to fix a portion of the caulk along the edge of the engine hatch so it is in the drying out process (since it has been raining).  That is why there is yellow tape.

Tell me what you think.

Our blog posts run 7-8 weeks behind actual live events.  The events in this blog post occurred while we were hauled out at Norsand Boatyard during the beginning of May 2024.  Did you read about our disgusting water tank problem in our last blog post?

Disgusting Water Tank

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Sugar Shack is equipped with (2) built in water tanks that hold 400L of water each.  These are fiber glassed into the boat and are not easily accessed.  As you know, we have a water maker that provides all of the water to the boat.  It converts salt water into potable drinking water and is a true must have for our cruising life.

The port water tank feeds the port head (toilet, sink, shower), exterior shower on the port sugar scoop, and the galley sink.  The starboard head feeds the starboard head (toilet, sink, shower).  I use the galley sink (port tank) to fill our drinking containers.  Matt on the other hand fills a 20L water jug directly from the watermaker because he “can taste and smell” the water that comes from the water tank.  I can’t so I’ve been using it for years (which might explain my strange personality).

The Problem

The interior lining of the water tank has been peeling away for years.  Matt has drained the tank, scraped the excess paint off, and vacuumed up the mess several times.  But, it was beyond time for us to completely clean out the tanks and repaint them with special non-toxic potable paint.  Raw fiberglass was exposed in some areas of the tank.  This could explain the weird tick I have (kidding, I am fine, but really this is disgusting!)

The white or light specs are actually pieces of chipped paint.  Now don’t completely freak out because we do have several filters for each water tank.  So the water goes through each filter before coming to the taps.

The Access

You can see from the above photo that the two access points are very, very small.  In addition, they do not give you easy access to the center because there are two baffles (which prevent the water from swashing around while underway).

So, we make the decision to cut a rather large hole in the center of the tank to provide easier access.  I say “easier” but still not great access to the back corners.

The Removal

We are not sure what they used to line this tank but it does not seem to be the correct product.  The port water tank is far worse than the starboard one so we are focusing on this one.  Plus it supplies our galley and our drinking water so it becomes the priority.

The existing lining scrapes off with a knife but some areas require heavy sanding and grinding.  You can see that there are areas that bubble up, then they pop water is released. 

Step 1: Removal of old lining

Matt had really worked hard to remove a significant portion of the old lining.  However, it still took he and Josh (from Norsand Boatyard) a week to completely remove all of the lining.  It is a very difficult job because you are extremely uncomfortable, often upside down, inhaling fumes, and stretching to reach the corners.  They used puddy knives, stainless tubing, sanders, and grinders.

Step 2: Cleaning

First Josh vacuums as much dust and debris that he can.  Then he has the unfortunate job of wiping the tank down with acetone.  It is a very toxic smell.

Step 3: Gluing

We noticed a crack, on an insignificant area of the tank, that we decided to fix with epoxy.  The crack is on the top of the tank on an extra piece of fiberglass that makes the corner an angle vs a hard corner. We are not sure what its purpose is and it does not impact the quality of the actual tank.

Lance comes in to pre-mix the two part epoxy which Josh performs acrobatics to apply it on the crack.

Step 4: Painting 

We are using International Interline 850 paint which is a light colored, solvent free, heavy duty epoxy tank lining specifically designed for potable water.  It requires a very specific application where you apply a thin layer, wait 24 hours, then apply a 2nd coat, wait 24 hours and then repeat 2 more times for a total of 4 coats over 4 days.  Here are the data sheet on Interline 850.

Then we have to wait 8 days for the paint to “off-gas” before we start the final step of flushing.

The smell is so overwhelming that we can hardly stand being on the boat.  Ideally, we would open all of the hatches and let it vent out, but it is so darn cold (7-14C or 40-55F).  So, we run the dehumidifier to try to help remove moisture from the air and we have a heavy duty, very loud, industrial fan that sucks the air out of the hull and displaces it out the escape hatch.  So, we only have to have two hatches on the port side open.

Between the smell, cold, and loud noise it makes it unbearable to live on the boat.  We have 17 days of this.  This is Conor painting the inside of the tank and a photo of our dehumidifier and large, obnoxious fan.

Step 5: The Lip and Top to Seal the Tank

We had to cut a large hole in the center of the tank in order to access the inside.  In order to put it back, Josh had to build a fiberglass lip for the top to sit on.  Once the lip was built, he glued it onto the tank and it was painted.  Then the top was fitted, glued in, painted, and then fiberglass was placed on top of it.

Once the lid was set, we cleaned up any excess epoxy (glue), and painted the edges.  Now our 8 days start.

Step 6: Off-gassing

The paint or lining we are using is solvent free but it still requires an “off-gassing” period.  So, we wait for 8 days with the port hatches open and the dehumidifier and fan running causing a really crappy living environment.  If we weren’t in the middle of other boat projects we would just leave the boat — but alas, we are trying to complete several other projects while we are on the hard.

Step 7: Painting the Exterior

While the tank lining is “off-gassing” Norsand sends in Ian (aka “Stretch”) to clean up and paint the exterior tank.

Step 8:  Closing up the Tank

Matt had to install the two small access points before we began the flushing step.  The forward one is easy as it is just a gasket and a million screws and washers.  The rear one had to have all of the hoses and tank sender be connected in addition to the gasket, million screws and washers.  Everything went well until we filled the tank.  The tank sender, which tells us the level of water inside the tank) had a crack in it.

Unfortunately, it was a Saturday, everything is closed on Sunday, we splash Monday and leave Tuesday.  So, we place a rush order to be delivered to Marsden Cove Marina where we are checking out.  But in the mean time Matt creates a temporary solution with a piece of plexi.  

He loves the plexi because he can now see inside the tank.  I think he will install the new tank sender once we arrive in Vanuatu.  But he will also find another place to install the plexi because he likes to be able to see inside the tank.

Step 9: Flushing

After our 8 day off-gassing period, we are ready to flush the tanks.  This entails filling he tank full, letting it sit for 24 hours, then draining it.  We repeat this process for 4 days.  Our watermaker would not be able to keep up with this rigorous schedule so we have to be near a water source which forces us to stay on the hard for an additional 4 days. The watermaker can fill 40L per hour so it would take a solid 10-12 hours to fill the tank which is not time efficient.

We are finally ready to test the taste and smell of the water….

Update:  Needed more off gassing time

After we refilled the water tank we left NZ for Vanuatu.  Within a few days we could tell that the tank was not ready.  It had a very clear paint smell.  Since we had to empty the tank anyway, we took showers and ran the laundry.  As it turned out we had a lovely paint order on our clothes and in our hair.  Gesh.  Ok, Re-shower, re-wash.

We drained the tank, then used vacuumed out the remaining water and put two fans in the opening.  We left the tank like this for almost 3 weeks before we could no longer smell “paint” smell.  Finally success.

We are so very grateful to Norsand Boatyard, Josh, Conor, Lance and Aaron for all of the gymnastic poses and for helping us with this very difficult project.

Our blog posts run 8-9 weeks behind actual live events. The events from this blog post occurred in the Norsand Boatyard during May 2024.  During our last blog post we share all of the repairs we did in the boatyard on our 2nd haul out of the season.

Back in the Boatyard

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We are back on the hard in Norsand Boatyard.  What, you are probably asking, “why?”  Well, we had a lot of little things we needed to do – each individually would not warrant a haul out, but together they did.

Boatyard Projects on the List

  • Reburnish the Coppercoat (due to our barnacle incident)
  • Fix small gelcoat damage (another boat ran into our starboard bow)
  • Water Tanks: Scrape, clean, and repaint interior 
  • Repair Teak on both Sugar Scoops 
  • Wax the hulls and stern

Haul out

Hauling your home out of its natural environment and onto a trailer is always nerve racking.  However, Kevin and Shayne at Norsand Boatyard are experts and they truly take every precaution to ensure our home is safe. 

Coppercoat

We applied fresh Coppercoat in late December 2023 and had a massive issue 6 weeks later after being in a barnacle infested river.  Coppercoat UK and the local NZ Coppercoat distributor agreed to reburnish the bottom of our boat. This particular task requires us to be out of the water so the boatyard can sand the entire bottom with 320 grit sand paper.  

I will say that we rock!  Why do you ask?  Well, we spent days in the freezing cold water scraping and cleaning our bottom and it looks so much better than other boats with barnacles on their Coppercoat.  I took a photo of a monohull that had similar barnacle problems to us (lower right photo).  As you can see they were not as successful at removing the “feet” of the barnacles (little white spots) as we were.  And another boat with Coppercoat who stayed in the barnacle infested water for over 6 months had a reef with baby eels falling off of it when she hauled out (lower left photo).

Sugar Shack bottom at haul out (top) and another boat after haul out (bottom), both with Coppercoat.  Yep, we did good.  

Coppercoat Repair

Once we were out of the water, we noticed an area that has 4 spots that are down to the barrier coat – that is not good.  So we have to address this issue.

Conor fills the spots with filler and Coppercoat.  It needs a sanding, then it is ready to be burnished with the rest of the bottom.

Burnsing the Coppercoat

Right before we splash, the yard comes back to burnish the Coppercoat with 320 grit sandpaper.  Not sure what I expected, but honestly, I was surprised that the bottom turned back to copper color after the boys (Ian and Shamus) burnished it.  It was soooo smooth.

It even had a shiny penny look when the sun hit it.

Hit by another Boat

Another boat hits us while we were docked at Town Basin Marina.  It was rather an unfortunate occurrence but the damage was minimal.  This other boat was trying to squeeze in front of us and claimed he had bow thrusters.  He had bow thrusters, but they did not work.  The tide was pretty strong and carried his boat side ways causing the stern of his boat, with his dinghy and dinghy outboard to scratch the inside starboard bow.

Aaron from Norsand Boat yard came out to give us an estimate and the other boat owner, begrudgingly paid us the $1500NZ that it cost to repair our boat.

While we were at it we had the boatyard finish a job they forgot to complete last time.  They missed cleaning up the repair around the port cleat (the cleat goes where the 3 holes are) the repair was the cracks around the cleat.

Water Tanks

Our two water tanks hold about 400L of water each and are built into the boat.  When the boat was built, the manufacturer used some sort of weird potable paint that has not held up well.  For several years it has been peeling away and clogging up our filters.  Matt has drained the tanks, scraped the excess paint off, and vacuumed up the mess several times.  But, it was beyond time for us to completely clean out the tanks and repaint them with special non-toxic potable paint.

The white or light specs are actually pieces of chipped paint.  Now don’t completely freak out because we do have several filters for each water tank (which holds 400L).  So the water goes through each filter before coming to the taps.

This is such a huge project that I decided to write a separate blog about it so I can include more of the details (in case any of our other fellow cruisers need to do this too).  See upcoming blog post “Disgusting Water Tank.”

Repairing the Teak on our Sugar Scoops

The teak on both the port and starboard sugar scoops has had a long, challenging life span in direct sun light, constantly covered in salt water and enduring heavy usage.  We try to be diligent with its care but it is completely exposed to salt water, sun and constant use.  We’ve replaced the teak about 8-9 years ago, but it time to do a temporary repair until we can replace them again (it is a long and expensive process so we want to squeeze as much life out of these sugar scoops as we can).

As you can see, the black caulking has come up and is completely missing in some places. It is time to repair it all.

I watched several YouTube videos and pulled Matt in to help.  This is turning out to be a much larger job than we anticipated. So, the details of the teak repair will be coming out in an upcoming blog called “Caulking the Sugar Scoops Teak” stay tuned.

Waxing the Boat

Ian, aka “Stretch” comes in to wax our boat and make her as shiny as possible (considering her gelcoat is thin and old).  He always does such a great job.

While we were working on the sugar scoops we had to get on and off the boat with a very tall (15 steps) ladder which was such a pain in the arse!  Luckily it was only for 2 of the 6 weeks we were here.

As you can see we made the most of this haul out in the boat yard.  We were anxious to get back in the water as we prepare to head to a new country, Vanuatu.

Our blog posts run several weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred late April 2024. We enjoy some rough housing during the stock car races in Whangarei.