Sail Life - Removing the old teak deck & issues with the deck - DIY sailboat refit 

It might be me.......... no its not. Get a different Moisture Meter. Or at least find you friend in the boat yard which has the same meter and do a little comparison of the two. I have two meters of the same make and model (not your brand) and they will always give two different reading on anything I test with it. After 1 year of readings on your boat hull it's time to compare. Good luck.

I'm kind of excited about 20min of scrubbing. Maybe a bonus feature for those of us who derive satisfaction from people cleaning things. :)

That's very nice of them to help you out. Good neighbors are best neighbors.

You are awesome. Not only do you show your love for DIY and boats, but you do it in a way that is not only informative, but entertaining as well. Please keep up the great work.

Kudos to Camilla and Sebastian for helping out!

"It's like being an archeologist and uncovering the sins of past owners." That made my day! Next to ""getting a big piece like that is like winning the lottery." I admire your way of positive thinking and it reminds me that the way you approach a problem makes all the difference, not the problem itself. Athena is going to be beautifull.

Mads, I have to say you are the most positive and enthusiastic guy when faced with all of the issues you encounter in your projects. I do like the fact that you've been slipping in a few expletives every once in a while! You're HUMAN! Thanks for doing what you do.

Newer viewer (found you from Andy at Boat Works Today)...you have an AMAZING attitude...AMAZING. I'm impressed at what you have been able to do with basic tools (drill/driver, battery operated skill saw, jig saw, sander, etc)...I have a fairly decent workshop in my home (10" Table saw, drill press, planer, router, sanders, etc.)...and what you do is amazing with half the tools...I can't do 99% of what you've accomplished...GREAT JOB!

Your videos popping up on my feed is one of the best parts of my Sundays. I get so into the video that I wish it was an hour long. Keep up the great work. James

Oh my Mads. The wet deck is not going to be a fun repair. But I can think of no better person to tackle it. Looking forward to next week.

Although it is very enjoyable for me to watch you restore your boat, I know that I have neither the skills, nor patients, to undertake anything other than cosmetic repairs, and replacement / upgrades of components. Looking forward to next weeks video, as always, Mads.

Camilla and Sebastian are HEROs!

Always love your videos. I am amazed that a teak deck could come up that easily. Great job.

Madds, wow! The series has gone from "interesting" to "fascinating"! Seeing the old girl's bare deck and the insane manufacturer who decided to cover the toe rail makes for GREAT video. Keep up the great work, and thank you for your efforts!

I am AMAZED at how FAST you got the teak deck off!!!!!!!! I know many people who had to spend a lot more time doing it. CONGRATS!!!

That boat is getting better looking every time I see a new video. I'm enjoying the journey. Sorry I couldn't make it to the New York meet up, but I promise to mate it to the San Francisco meet.

Seeing the big chunks pull up was therapeutic to watch as well.

My and my friend removed the toerail on our Wasa 55 a couple of years ago, it was damaged in a few places and it was leaking. We also changed out the entire foredeck due to rotten balsa core (from a hole from a hatch, not teak deck). We ended up lifting the entire deck along with toerail, (still attached to few bulkheads), cleaning out the butyl sealer, grinding and glueing the deck to the flange in the hull. Then we routered a nice big radius and laminated the hull and deck together on inside and out use with biax glass and vinylester :) We had a bad looking recess in the hull under the toerail from the angle iron that was used in the form to make the deck flange and needed to do something anyway. And since we changed the deck from the cabin top and forwards anyway (about 4m),we went all in :) we even reinforced the flimsy stern panel and made that into a nice sandwich panel. Turned out pretty darn spiffy ;) looks more modern with a big radius edge to the deck and the entire boat and deck stiffened up considerably. Probably added a liite bit of weight, but not much singe we removed the toerail and didn't put it back. Still need to finish the painting and painting a new anti skid on the entire deck, roof and cockpit.

😂😂 at the big chunks of toe rail teek. like pulling a big area of a sunburn haha. also, I'm gonna assume the fish note is for the "non boat related plans" you had the other week 👍

I love your optimism man! A wet deck = more videos !

Mads, your energy and acceptance of the inevitable are remarkable. Makes me tired just to watch! Keep up the great work!

Yeah, my favorite weekly sailing vlog!!!

Those plastic bits you removed aren't doohickey's they're thingameebobs. Another great video, hope you have some industrial sized fans on order for the summer as you're lovely new shed turns into a sauna.

Very nice of your friends to lend a hand taking off the teak! I agree with you on the toerail - shine it up as best you can and worry about replacing it later (if you have to). Cheers from PEI Canada, Bryan

Awesome, awesome to see your progress - as always! Thank you for great content

That's an incredibly satisfying time lapse! Athena is looking great.

Getting there! always look forward to your videos Mads!

Yeah. You're right. It's very satisfying watching those big chunks being pried out lol.

You have an inspiring attitude! I enjoy your videos and can't wait to see the finished refit. Keep up the good work!

I sense a 18 part series on deck repair, fairing, and painting coming in the future...YAYYY!

Thanks Mads. Informative as always.

WOW! You guys got lucky with the ease of that deck removal. I helped strip the teak off of an old Hans Christian 38..with two people it took 4 weekends with the sun beating down on us. The adhesive on your boat must be pretty degraded. The stuff we were dealing with was black and unbelievably strong, even after 30 years. Either that or we were just completely incompetent!

Mads you are a brave soul ! What an undertaking and you make it look easy. Keep up the good work !

I finally caught up with the episodes. Cant wait for the next one! Thanks for letting us follow your project, it is really informative and enjoyable to watch your enthousiasm! Also a big compliment for the quality of you video's. Best of luck, Peffy.

Mads you have the best disposition of anybody I have ever seen. Kudos to you. I greatly enjoy your videos. I like the way you go about your work and how you show both the good and bad of repairing you boat. Thank you so much for sharing you adventures with us.

Another great video, I look forward to my weekly fix of Sail Life :-) Well done

Great videos. I appreciate your straightforward presentation & look forward to watching more. Thanks!

Great episode!!

Thanks for giving me more motivation to do some works at my own sailing boat. classic 7ties S&S DEB 34 Can't wait for your next post.

you are such a positive guy! Really refreshing to hear how positive you cope with such bad news!

I thoroughly enjoyed this week's video with challenge on top of challenge. Your spirit and resolve will win the day and wish you the very best of luck. I have been fixing boats for many years and right now would be asking around for the right direction to take with the deck sandwich repairs - it is a bit beyond my experience. I have also learned that I have been using screwdrivers incorrectly all these years Ha Ha! Keep up the spiffing good work. I think I owe you 3 beers!

WOW, you Danes are efficient! I am really starting to see the beauty and possibilities of Athena.

I'm learning so much. Your positive attitude and high energy are a joy to watch!

Your optimism is amazing. I can't say I was surprised your deck is wet after seeing how whatever "adhesive" they used was brittle and no longer doing its job. That coupled with the thousands of screw holes is just a recipe for wet decks. Seeing how you don't have an off switch, I can't wait to see you dig into the deck and make it as awesome as the rest of your projects. Good luck!

Mads, you earn all my respect, man!!

This deck looks to be a much larger project than I would be comfortable with. Anxious to see your progress.

Great Video. Keep up the good work.

Started binge watching about a week ago and I'm all caught up, oh no! Your channel is amazing! P.s. it would In fact be super satisfying to see you clean all of that toe rail. I so enjoy watching Athena get cleaned and worked on (not boring in the slightest). Keep it up! I'll be right here on my couch with you when she finally launches!

I just took off my toerail. Rebedding the deck hull joint is exciting. Quite a bit of cleaning, glass work, and general prep work.

Hip Hip Horay!!! For Kamila and Sebastian 🍻🙂👍

Great work, looking good

Hi Mads, I really love your channel, even I have sailing around the world for eight years now, I still learn new stuff, so thanks for that.Good luck with your restoration and hope to see and meet you somewhere in this amazing world.Greetings from SV Aotearoa 1 in Madagaskar

Another awesome video - thanks for sharing 👍

Thanks to Camille and Sebastian for their help! I think they deserve a shirt "Sail Life"!

Always super pleasure watching your vids! Nominate you for oscar next year!

learning so much, thanks for the videos

looks good coming along

It is really interesting to follow your progress . Keep up the good work!

I can’t believe how amazingly upbeat you are the whole time even though you have discovered some horrors. Mind you when we stripped the teak of my boat it took days, so well done you guys- where do I find friends like that!?. Like you, I did not replace it - it was kiwi gripped after. Keep up the amazingly entertaining and informative vids🤛 respect to you mate!

Your videos get more entertaining. Brilliant and good luck with that deck!

Great video. Your attitude upon encountering problems and setbacks is inspiring.

New subscriber in the USA North East area, watched all your intro playlist. Looking forward to catching up to your current status.

I keep thinking it would be a good idea to raise the toe rail up to the level that is above (or on top of) the foam core. This would make the deck area adjacent to the toe rail flat (you mentioned kind of routing the area.) A flat area would be more stable footing. On a different subject, I've hear yacht reviews say that a taller toe rail adds more safety. So, I think it's good that you're removing the teak that was glued on top of the toe rail as it makes the toe rail effectively taller! One last thought, if too much of the deck core is damaged, it may be easiest to replace all the deck core.

Another great video. Looking forward to see how you prep the hull once she has dried out. Keep up the good work.

Hi Mads, I don't know if this is of concern any longer, but regarding your scraper attachment, the Japanese one probably isn't that bad. Don't be fooled, Asia is big, there are worlds of difference between Japan and Taiwan i.e.. Japanese products usually can measure up with the best of them. That said, the Mitsutomo attachment seems to be one of those "one size fits all" products. It features that quick release cutout that you'll need for a traditional (and overall more sturdy) mount like you find on the Makita. The Star Mount system doesn't need that, on the contrary, since it has considerably less grip to the attachment, it really suffers from that cutout. I guess the lesson would be: if you use a Star Mount tool, use Star Mount (only) blades and attachments. Thanks for your videos, I started watching your Athena refit series a week ago and am completely addicted. Awesome stuff! :)

Mads..you are genius! go on! like your videos...Björn

Well done! «Dry? Dry! Not really, it's wet, just kidding!» Great danish sense of humour! I mean great sense of humour by another descendant-of-vikings-the-great-longship-builders-turned-proficient-restorer-of-modern-sailboats:-)

the tow rail is fine....good job

I love the positive attitude regarding the wet deck.........Keep your chin up:)

Hi Mads Love your work...and videos. I have been watching for while and I am happy to see you wearing plenty of PPE (personal protective equipment). In the last video I noticed you used the box cutter and the cutting movement was towards yourself. A recipe for blood on the deck! Also you should wear a harness while working on the deck without the life lines. It's high enough to kill you if you fall. Keep up the work.

Maybe you could use a wire wheel in a drill to clean the toe rail. If a steel wheel is too aggressive for the aluminum then a brass one would work. It would save a lot of time. Excellent work!

still love watching the videos, I am like your other poster in that I am a bit concerned about the router plan. I really admire your courage in tackling the deck, not replacing the core which is easy as you say, it's the massive area of teak which you are replacing. I hope you get some good ideas for the edge of the deck where it meets the toerail I wonder if you could stop the edge of the teak directly above the cored part and leave a slight drop to the exposed toerail, not so pretty but long lasting and serviceable

i just love your fingerschnips. greetings from germany!

Mads the boat was obviously built with a teak deck in mind, can't say I was very impressed with bits of teak stuck in epoxy as fillers. I wonder if you wouldn't consider filling the holes and getting it replaced. I'm just thinking that a nice smart teak deck is going to look a whole lot nicer, will hide a world of upside down cores, toerail gaps screw hole make mends etc. The hours that you save on all that stuff, just do some extra consulting work for $ that pays for the deck. I have done two weeks on warrior 38's and this Pandora's box really surprised me , I was super impressed with the build feel , so that's an illusion shattered. Cheers Wilf

For drying the deck I would like to suggest spreading diatomaceous earth on it. This is a inexpensive, easily-available desiccant. Try a small area and leave plastic on the top so it doesn't remove air moisture and ruin the effect. After a week pull off the plastic, sweep up the powder and measure the result. Best of luck and let us know if you try it and if it works well.

Yes! More videos for us.

Great video as always Mads. Man that deck came up fast! Anyway, the hull. Just grab a 100 foot roll of plastic and tape it to the hull all the way around. Put some pieces of wood or gravel to seal it to the ground. Get 4 or 5 dehumidifiers from a flood clean up company and chuck them in there for a week. It's worth a try.

Hi Mads, I absolutely love your videos! Have you considered asking your Shipwright to take some readings of your hull? By now you're quite the expert, but a second opinion is always a smart move. Keep up the great work.

Amazing..... I dread to think of what's under my teak onboard my Najad 343 from 1981... Warren

Yeah for having friends who like to work on boats !!!!!

imho, you would be wise to remove the toe rail. It will be much easier to clean up, you will be able to have it re-anodized ( in which case you probably won't have to clean it as much as the anodizing process will remove the corrosion), and besides, if the deck lip/toerail design is as challenged as it is, you would be wise to remove what is left of the old, dried out, crappy caulking and decide what to put down. imho, sooner or later you will have to deal with a leaking toerail, and the easiest time to do so must be now! Really appreciate your dedication to task, thoroughness, and excellence in execution.

Mm. Fresh from sauna and Sail Life. Perfect sunday evening. 😊

very interesting. you seem to be so calm discovering all these things! but hey it's a hobby. i'm looking forward how you handle all these solutions. only thing i wonder is how you can make all the time for this...

This is so much fun... I would've worked as a labourer/cleaner and general unskilled hand just f'kicks.

Thumbs up for the faulty finger snapping. Too funny!

Great video. You might want to try to use your two new tools (Sebastian and Camilla) to clean the toe rail. :-) Greetings from Norway.

The more I watch boat restoration videos, the more I leaning towards building one from scratch. Although the cost of materials would likely exceed the cost of an old fixer-upper boat. I make a living doing the same kind of thing to old aircraft, so I know how it feels to tear into something and find problem after problem. Ah, decisions...

I'm crossing my fingers for that toe rail video!

Another great video Mads. Good to see some longer steps in the project. I personally would replace the teakdeck but do understand the cost implication. However, the feeling of walking barefoot on teak is great. Maybe use flexiteek to get less maintenance...

"But That's OK…" this should be on a t-shirt :-) I wish I had your patients...

Probably too late now, but taping a piece of plastic sheet over the open hatch would catch any flying scrapers! Anyway, another very enjoyable video. Thanks.

I agree that removing that crap on top of the toe rail is very therapeutic.

My 61 year old kness would never put up with that work without knee pads. Oh to be young! LoL Even the cheaper ones used in basketball will you save you the time of moving and psotion that pad on the deck you are using. Your knees will love for it later in life. Good progress though, very good indeed. I rather guessed before your moisture readings you were not going be impressed with that deck.

Have you got yourself some good knee pads? With that much work it might be easier than moving the foam cushion around and more comfortable. Great work, and always look forward to your videos

On the first look the idea of filling the groove between the teak and the toerail with some odd material looked good to me, would cover the core of the deck from the side and also the screws of the rail, but as it turned out, the water had find it`s way through the years...too bad, I´m outof ideas by now... Lifting the toerail to the level of the former teak would do the job, but will come out as a heck of work.... I wonder how you will resolve that problem... Es bleibt spannend! :-) Have fun and thanks for the vids!

thanks mads ..

to figure out more soft spots use a rubber mallet and hit around and listen for the sound difference

It seems like a good idea to leave the toe rail as it is. After all it is aluminium, does not appear corroded, and as you say it's extra labour and expense. I would however replace the screws or some of the corroded screws with marine-grade screws.

I keep an old "beater" chisel in my tool box to do those dirty jobs. I would never use one of my good woodworking tools. Even a dull chisel will cut better than an electronics screwdriver.

vacuum bag the entire boat, repurpose a bunch of fridge compressors as vacuum pumps and then make epic series of vids of how to suck all the water out without crushing the boat.