Teak deck....episode 1

Work has started today on covering the deck with teak strips.
They will be glued down with Epoxy after a rub down and a cleanup with acetone.  I'm not too worried by the tricky adhesion of Epoxy to teak: I've glued similar strips in the past with positive results.  I think what helps is the low thickness of the strips (6mm) that limits the amount of wood that would work with temperature and moisture change.

I expected the strips to be harder to get hold of. I've purchased 60 linear meters of 35 mm wide strips : they should just about suffice however I fear another visit at the wood shop may be required to finish off the whole deck.
I've fitted today the first strip all around the deck.  The first one is probably the most fiddly to fit as it has to be placed flush with the gunwhale and there's no possibility to use a screws at the outer edge (the gunwhale end) as the holes will remain forever visible.  It was a matter therefore to dig out all the clamps in my possession and use them to grab hold of the task!

Deck and gunwhales are on

Progress on the boat has gone slightly undocumented recently.  Over the past weeks the deck has been fitted to the hull. 

 It is made of 6mm ply in the fore part and 9mm ply on the side decks and aft.  The aft deck also received a 10mm mahogany reinforcement beam underneath to improve stepping on firmness.  

The outer gunwhales are 40x20 mm mahogany scarfed to the length,  glued and screwed in place.  I've positioned them 6mm proud of the deck surface in preparation for the next phase: teak strip laying the deck.  

The strips will be 6mm thick an will therefore end up flush with the gunwhale... Lots of fun ahead! 

Foredeck planking

Here's the only photo I have of the Foredeck assembly process.  The Foredeck is composed of a 6mm ply sheet glued to the deck grounds underneath.  The teak strips decking is already glued to a thin ply sheet.  This is glued with slightly thickened epoxy to the 6mm sheet mentioned above (see picture). 

That makes a sandwich construction with Epoxy throughout which I hope will provide a tough and durable support. 

I yet do not know what product to apply to the teak strips. I've read of deks oliye n°1 saturation oil.  Any suggestion welcome!