Teak or tiki?

It's not all fun and games, kids, because upkeep on a boat is sometimes grueling.  (Of course if you've postponed it, it's worse.)  The teak deck on Serendipity was in need of renovation, so with the help of Captain Wade (s/v Coastin), a friend from our first visit to Marathon several years ago who has maintained his own fleet of shrimp boats and Captained/maintained/renovated several other boats, the project was begun last week.  So the deck's a mess with tools and sanding dust and buckets and such everywhere. The guys found a comfortable (?) way to work, with boat cushions on top of upside-down buckets.  They lean over the buckets so they don't have to squat or crab-walk around.  After a big lunch it's best to stay in FRONT of them, otherwise they seem to have found a good (if not attractive) position.



Before



After

 All the screws (800 of them) had to be removed, all the caulk removed from the seams, all the teak pre-sanded, all screw holes countersunk for the replacement (and some of them epoxied), then all the screws replaced with 5200 as a sealant.  THEN the caulk had to be replaced between each strip of teak, new bungs inserted and trimmed, and the final sanding performed.  And it's hotter than dammit these days.  And even though there have been drought conditions in Marathon for several weeks, rain was predicted last Tuesday and Wednesday...then Monday night.  So Jay and Wade worked like little beavers all day Monday to get the screws back in so we wouldn't have a sieve for a deck.  And JUST in the nick of time, because the skies opened up Monday evening and the winds howled.  Thankfully, the 5200 and the screw replacement was mostly successful, because we only found one leak.  Of course it was over the v-berth, so Jay slept with a mixing bowl and a beach towel at his head.  About time he got the wet spot.

Starboard's looking GOOD