Lew Barrett
09-14-2007, 12:52 PM
A bit of a sad...and shaggy story, but here's a rant on BoatLife Life Caulk and why I won't be buying it again.
Two years ago, with the help of Tim Regan, caulker and shipwright, we embarked on digging out the old white lead in the deck seams which, after 70 years, had finally started to come undone. To make a long story short, I intended to varnish the decks, and into the bargain, we had a cold winter, which was the season we embarked on the project.
I employed Tim because he has a lot of experience with this type of work, and we'd worked together successfully before. Tim handled the caulking, reefing and filling, and I took over the back-filling (there were some voids), deck repairs (there were some graving pieces needed, resetting stanchions and the like) and the jobus horribulus of re-fairing (longboard!) the decks and laying on eight coats of varnish.
During the process, the question of what material to use to pay the decks came up, and because I wanted to varnish them, and despite some misgivings we mutually had, we settled on Boatlife. TDS, while a desired option, doesn't take varnish so we ruled it out (but more on that anon). Last season things worked pretty well (mostly) and I conveniently ignored the evidence of leakage through the decks (Roger Morris probably remembers that afternoon in the boathouse when we discussed some dribbles). Rita lives in her house all year, and it's possible (but unlikely) that we could go boating with very little evidence of leaks simply because she doesn't sit out.
Anyway, this year we weren't so lucky. Our first days out it rained a good deal. Many of the underdeck cabinets began to weep and water intruded through some open seams. On close examination, I saw that the caulking material was pulling away from one side (or another) of the decking in numerous spots. After a good soak, things did take up, and the leaking abated considerably for the remainder of the trip, but still.........
I called Tim yesterday, and like the mensch he is he said; "hey don't worry....I warranty my work, and I want you to be happy. I'll call you and we'll do it over again. I'll come up with a gentle way to repay the decks." So, this long and tedious job is going to happen again, probably later this winter or in early spring.
Lesson learned. We'll look into Teak Deck Systems, and consider masking the deck when I varnish. I'm grateful Tim is a mensch and a stand up guy, and I feel like we both got the shaft. Pappa will fix, but Oy Vey!
Two years ago, with the help of Tim Regan, caulker and shipwright, we embarked on digging out the old white lead in the deck seams which, after 70 years, had finally started to come undone. To make a long story short, I intended to varnish the decks, and into the bargain, we had a cold winter, which was the season we embarked on the project.
I employed Tim because he has a lot of experience with this type of work, and we'd worked together successfully before. Tim handled the caulking, reefing and filling, and I took over the back-filling (there were some voids), deck repairs (there were some graving pieces needed, resetting stanchions and the like) and the jobus horribulus of re-fairing (longboard!) the decks and laying on eight coats of varnish.
During the process, the question of what material to use to pay the decks came up, and because I wanted to varnish them, and despite some misgivings we mutually had, we settled on Boatlife. TDS, while a desired option, doesn't take varnish so we ruled it out (but more on that anon). Last season things worked pretty well (mostly) and I conveniently ignored the evidence of leakage through the decks (Roger Morris probably remembers that afternoon in the boathouse when we discussed some dribbles). Rita lives in her house all year, and it's possible (but unlikely) that we could go boating with very little evidence of leaks simply because she doesn't sit out.
Anyway, this year we weren't so lucky. Our first days out it rained a good deal. Many of the underdeck cabinets began to weep and water intruded through some open seams. On close examination, I saw that the caulking material was pulling away from one side (or another) of the decking in numerous spots. After a good soak, things did take up, and the leaking abated considerably for the remainder of the trip, but still.........
I called Tim yesterday, and like the mensch he is he said; "hey don't worry....I warranty my work, and I want you to be happy. I'll call you and we'll do it over again. I'll come up with a gentle way to repay the decks." So, this long and tedious job is going to happen again, probably later this winter or in early spring.
Lesson learned. We'll look into Teak Deck Systems, and consider masking the deck when I varnish. I'm grateful Tim is a mensch and a stand up guy, and I feel like we both got the shaft. Pappa will fix, but Oy Vey!