The present invention relates to repair methods for wooden decks, and especially to repair methods of teak decks for boats yachts and ships.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Teak

Teak (Tectona grandis) is a large tropical hardwood tree. Tectona grandis is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. Teak wood has a leather-like smell when it is freshly milled. It is particularly valued for its durability and water resistance, and is used for boat building especially for boat decks. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries in Africa, South America and the Caribbean. Myanmar's teak forests account for nearly half of the world's naturally occurring teak. Teak consumption raises environmental concerns, such as the disappearance of old growth teak forests. High Quality or Yacht Grade old growth teak currently (2017) costs about $17, 000/cubic meter, about twice as much as plantation teak which cost about $6,000 to 7, 000/m ³

Teak Decks

The quality of wooden decks for expensive yachts is very important. Typically, the top surface of these decks is natural teak wood separated with flexible caulk joints (called caulk seams) which allow the individual planks of teak (called battens or teak battens) to expand and contract as the wood's moisture content changes with the surrounding environment. The traditional first caulking choice is two-part polysulfide compounds. These are available from marine supply outlets such as Jamestown Distributors with offices in Bristol, Rl. One part caulking may also be utilized for sealing the spaces between the teak battens. Old growth teak is typically used on boats longer than 100 meters, and plantation teak is typically used on boats that are 20 to 30 meters long. For boats with lengths of 30 to 40 meters the teak thickness is 12 to 16 mm. For 100-meter boats the teak thickness is about 20 to 25 mm and for cruise ships the teak thickness is about 25 mm. A typical width for deck battens is 54 mm and they are typically available in 2 meter lengths. Applicant's rule of thumb is that old growth teak will last about twice as long as plantation teak. Teak decks will lose about 0.5 mm of their thickness each year, so teak decks have a maximum life typically in the range of about 20 years. The deck elements (battens, trims and caulking) are typically attached to a prepared surface which may be the same material as the ship's hull. These materials include wood, alloy, steel, fiberglass, or others. This surface is called the "as-built surface" and it must be properly prepared before a teak deck is attached to it. In most cases, the teak elements are attached to the as built surface with adhesive only. However, sometimes both fasteners and adhesive is applied to secure the teak deck elements to the as built surface. Regardless of the method used the desired goal of attaching a teak deck to the as built hull surface of a boat, yacht or ship is to provide a permanent, void free, watertight bond between the two surfaces. However, it is a well-known fact that many teak decks are replaced well before the teak wears out. This is often due simply to the fact that a permanent, void free, watertight seal was not achieved between the teak elements and the prepared as built surface during the original installation process. This is distressing since these types of failures normally cause the early removal and replacement of the teak. When replacing an existing teak deck the new teak must be sourced from a limited supply of a rare natural resource.

Teak deck parts are limited in scope and the types of failures well known. The caulking can release allowing water between the caulking and the wood elements. The wood can fail or crack allowing water into the wood to the bottom of the crack. Water can get under the teak deck, between the teak elements and the prepared as built surface if a permanent, void free water-tight bond was not achieved during the construction process. And adhesives and mechanical fasteners can fail for a number of reasons from simply not cleaning the surfaces prior to spreading to improper mixing. There is a clear difference between the normal effects of simple caulk seam failure or a random cracked batten as compared to the effects of water being trapped under the teak deck. In truth, the caulk seams between the individual pieces of teak may fail allowing water to seep to the bottom of the seam. It is also normal for a few battens of wood to develop cracks during their lifetime. There are simply too many seams and too many individual pieces of teak in a teak deck for these elements to remain perfect. When the caulking starts to fail or a random batten cracks on a properly installed teak deck, which has a permanent, void free, water tight bond between the teak elements and the prepared surface below it is not a significant issue. Water slowly working its way down a defective caulk seam or through a crack has no place to go once it reaches a permanent water tight adhesive joint. This permanent, void free, watertight bond holds the teak pieces or teak panels in place keeping the teak deck structurally sound even if water is in the seams or in cracks in the wood. If these water filled seams or water filled cracks of wood do create a problem, the problem can easily be remedied by re-seaming the teak deck or replacing a few pieces of defective teakwood. These actions restore the teak deck's water integrity and extend its service life.

In other cases, if voids exist between the teak elements and the prepared hull surface, water migrating down through the caulk seams or cracked battens could allow water to penetrate into the voids, filling them with water. Leakage of water from the top surface of a teak deck downward allowing fluid to become trapped in the underlying structure could be catastrophic and can lead to the early structural failure of the entire teak deck necessitating its replacement. This situation could worsen as corrosion of the yacht's structural surfaces. Thus "trapped fluid" is often the cause of teak deck failures. Water trapped in a space under the teak deck acts as a hydraulic fluid when pressure is applied to the top surface (someone stepping on the deck above the area with water filled voids). The water is forced outward creating a larger space in the underlying deck, opening more caulk seams, filling more voids, and causing the teak to further separate from the prepared hull surface. This larger space can now accept more water entering from ever expanding failures. The process often accelerates as water is the world's most common universal corrosive agent: corrosion begins, adhesives fail, fasteners fail, caulking fails, and the teak deck releases. New teak is expensive and the quality of replacement teak is often inferior to the teak being replaced. Sources of the new teak are the rain forests and a few teak plantations.

To fully understand the background of teak deck repair issues, a more detailed description of a teak deck's construction is required. The traditional method used for decades by shipwrights around the world is a well-known art and involves planking the deck by independently shaping and attaching each individual strip or batten of wood with adhesives or adhesives and mechanical fasteners. As-built decks are almost always uneven and unprotected. Prior to covering it with teak wood, the as-built deck is typically cleaned and protected with some kind of coating or primer to protect it from corrosion and other damage. Following the primer coat (or coats), these uneven decks must be filled with a fairing compound to make them smooth and to make them conform to a desired camber, sheer, and or slope of the deck. This will ensure water drains from the finished deck to the desired drain locations. Proper fairing of the as-built deck is critical to ensure the final covering of wood is smooth and that there are no voids underneath it. In fact, improper fairing alone can account for many deck failures as the wood elements could not be properly pressed into the valleys and over the highs of a rolling improperly faired as built surface. For some projects after the fairing is completed _, the entire deck area is covered with plywood to provide cleat stock, insulation, expansion _, and a more suitable surface to attach a teak deck. It is easier to glue and screw into plywood than steel, fiberglass or aluminum. This procedure is normally referred to as "sub-decking". The top of the sub-deck now becomes the prepared as built surface to which the teak deck will be attached. Once the as-built deck has been faired, and or sub-decked to the desired lines (camber and sheer) and smoothness, the final teakwood covering is attached.

Commercial Epoxies

Epoxies for attaching teak to as-built decks and subdecks are available from many suppliers such as Rapollo Resins with offices in Vejle, Denmark. Its off-the-shelf epoxies include:

A-Pox 700 with an a viscosity of (mPas / 25°C) of 650-875,

A-Pox B00H with B-Cure 24 with a viscosity (mPas / 25°C) of 2700-3400, and

A-Pox 5000 B-Cure 32, 43 and 40 with a viscosity (mPas / 25°C) of 7400 to 8500.

Repairing Teak Decks

The current art of repair is to replace the caulking or replace the defective wood in an attempt to re-establish the watertight integrity of the overall teak deck. Often the most defective area is ripped out and replaced. Little attention in the past has been given to methods or systems to correct the real structural issue. These are the voids between the teak and the prepared hull which allows a place for water to trap and destroy the deck through hydraulic action. Newly issued US Patent No. 9,616,589 does describe a method of repairing teak decks on boats, yachts and ships. This patent issued to Applicant is incorporated herein by reference.

What is needed is a better method for repairing teak decks having water trapped in voids between the teak deck and the as-built surface.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Improved Repair Method

The present invention provides a two-part resin infusion repair method, substantially improved over the method described in the '589 patent. The improved process starts with an inspection to determine if the deck can be saved by the expensive process of the present invention, so that the much more expensive cost of a new deck can be avoided. Applicant has determined that a best approach in most cases is to apply the process of the present invention to the entire teak deck. So if a repair decision is made, caulking between all of the teak elements is removed down to the as built surface or the sub-deck leaving empty spaces between each of the teak battens as to expose to the now empty spaces between the teak battens, any voids under the teak battens. The whole deck is divided into smaller workable regions which can be resin infused independently by establishing boundaries in which vacuums can be established. A vacuum cover provides an airtight cover of the repair region. A vacuum suction line is inserted into the vacuum cover. Then clean water is injected at a high point of the repair region and sucked out at the low point. The clean water dissolves salt existing in the voids, and pulls out dirt, some oil and grease and other debris. Then air (preferably warm air) is injected into and sucked out to dry out the region under the vacuum blanket. The next step in the cleaning process is for alcohol to be injected and sucked out to assist in the drying process. The alcohol dissolves oil and grease which are sucked out with the alcohol. After the alcohol treatment additional warm air is injected and sucked out to evaporate any remaining alcohol. Next a heat tunnel is established under the vacuum tunnel and warm air is injected and sucked out in order to dry the teak under the tunnel. When the teak is dry the blanket is removed temporally and the top surface of the teak wood is coated with a high viscosity epoxy. Next, sacrificial foam strips are inserted into the top portion the chalk spaces between the battens so that the strips occupy the top half of each of the spaces between the teak battens. An infusion resin supply line is inserted through the vacuum cover. The now empty caulk spaces provide maze through which the low viscosity resin flows between the resin supply line and the vacuum pump. The resin flows through each of the spaces between the teak battens, so that all voids below the teak that are connected to the caulk spaces are all filled with the resin. Also, a portion of the caulk spaces between the teak battens is filed with resin. So the resin solution easily fills all cracks and other voids below the teak battens and partially fills the caulk spaces between the teak battens up to about half of the thickness of the teak battens. On the hardening of the epoxy all of these void spaces and the bottom portions of the caulk spaces are filled solid with harden water tight epoxy. Applicant has determined that filling the gap between the teak elements one third to one half of the way up with solid resin provided great adhesion to keep the battens in place and lock them from moving laterally on the surface. Thus he could not only tighten up the joint which held the teak deck down to the as built structure, but he could lock the space between the elements in place to the epoxy now filling the voids below the teak.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGS. 1A and IB show a structurally sound teak boat deck.

FIG. 1C shows a teak boat deck with marked with tape.

FIGS. 2A - 2B show a repair area with water filled voids.

FIGS. 3 A - 3B show a repair area covered with a vacuum cover.

FIG. 3C shows details of a seam.

FIG. 4 shows a heat tunnel over a repair area.

FIGS. 5 A - 5D show details for isolating a repair area.

FIGS. 6A - 6D show details for infusing the repair area with resin. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Improved Repair Method

Applicant's improved process starts with an open and inspect step where pieces of the deck are removed in selected locations so that actual conditions below the teak deck can be observed and a judgement is made to determine if the deck can be saved by the expensive process of the present invention, so that the much more expensive cost of a new deck can be avoided.

Applicant has determined that a best approach is to apply the process of the present invention to the entire teak deck. So if a repair decision is made, caulking between all of the teak elements is removed down to the as built surface or the sub-deck leaving empty spaces between each of the teak battens as to expose to the now empty spaces between the teak battens, any voids under the teak battens. The whole deck is divided into smaller workable regions which can be resin infused independently by establishing boundaries in which vacuums can be established. A vacuum cover provides an airtight cover of the repair region. A vacuum suction line is inserted into the vacuum cover. A vacuum pump is connected to the vacuum suction line and provides vacuum suction at the repair area. A suction site is established (preferably) at a low point of the repair region. Trapped water and contents (dirt, salt, oil and other debris) is sucked out. Applicant's procedure preferably requires a vacuum of at least 21 inches of mercury before start of the injection process. Then clean water is injected at a high point of the repair region and sucked out at the low point. The clean water dissolves salt existing in the voids, and pulls out dirt, some oil and grease and other debris. Then air (preferably warm air) is injected into and sucked out to dry out the region under the vacuum blanket. The next step in the cleaning process is for alcohol to be injected and sucked out to assist in the drying process. The alcohol dissolves oil and grease which are sucked out with the alcohol. After the alcohol treatment additional warm air is injected and sucked out to evaporate any remaining alcohol. Next a heat tunnel is established under the vacuum tunnel and warm air is injected and sucked out in order to dry the teak under the tunnel. When the teak is dry the blanket is removed temporally and the top surface of the teak wood is coated with a high viscosity epoxy, preferably A-Pox 5000 B-Cure 32 available from Rapollo Resins.

Applicant has learned that the application of masking tape proposed in the '589 patent did not sufficiently protect the teak from the very low-viscosity resin solution that was applied to fill voids below the teak. However, the high viscosity resin of the present improved repair method provides prefect protection for the teak surface and the hardened epoxy is easily removed by the sanding of the teak which would take place anyway at the completion of the repair process.

Next, sacrificial foam strips that have a vertical thickness of about one half to two thirds of the vertical thicknesses of the battens are inserted into the top portion the chalk spaces between the battens so that the strips occupy the top half to two thirds of each of the spaces between the teak battens, except breaks of about one to three centimeters are provided at enough intervals in the in the foam strips so that resin flowing on top of the teak and foam strips can drain down into all of the spaces below the sacrificial foam strips. For example breaks of one centimeter each approximately 30 centimeters are preferred. Applicant's choice of sacrificial foam strips are Devinychell (4 pound per cubic meter) foam available from Fiber Glass

Development Corporation with offices in Brookville, Ohio. The material of these strips is not penetrated by the low-viscosity resin and the strips are easily removed after the infusion resin has cured. The purpose of these strips is to keep the level of the infusion resin limited to heights of about one half to one third of the chalk spaces between battens. An infusion resin supply line is inserted through the vacuum cover. A resin supply source is connected to the resin supply line. The vacuum pump provides a vacuum suction that draws resin from a resin supply source through the resin supply line into the repair area. The now empty caulk spaces provide maze through which the low viscosity resin flows between the resin supply line and the vacuum pump. The resin flows through each of the spaces between the teak battens, so that all voids below the teak that are connected to the caulk spaces are all filled with the resin. Also, a portion of the caulk spaces between the teak battens is filed with resin. The infusion resin is a special very low-viscosity resin solution comprised of an epoxy having a viscosity of about 600

Pa.s with a very slow-dry hardener having a viscosity near the viscosity of water. So the resin solution easily fills all cracks and other voids below the teak battens and partially fills the caulk spaces between the teak battens up to about half of the thickness of the teak battens. On the hardening of the epoxy all of these void spaces and the bottom portions of the caulk spaces are filled solid with harden water tight epoxy.

Lessons Learned with the '589 Infusion Repair Method

Recently issued Patent No. 9,616,589 is a good method for making repairs to teak decks; however, in the course Applicant has substantially improved the method. Some of these improvements are discussed above but are also listed again below:

1) A Better Technique for protecting the Top Surface of the Teak

The present invention utilizes a high viscosity epoxy instead of masking tape to protect the top surface of the teak.

2) Repair the Entire Deck

Applicant has learned that with a little more time and effort the entire deck can be repaired instead of only repairing obvious problem regions.

3) A Better Infusion Epoxy

Applicant has experimented with a variety of epoxies and hardeners. As a result Applicant settled on epoxies with a viscosity of between 500 Pa s and 700 Pa s for resin infusion with the preferred value of 600 Pa s and then using a slow hardener which has a viscosity near that of water and greatly reduces the viscosity of the resin. Specifically, Applicant prefers Teak Solutions A-Pox 600 with B-Cure Slow 32 (32 percent to produce ultra-low viscosity and slow cure for resin infusion. These epoxies have been specially designed for Applicant by Rapollo Resins. The preferred epoxy is solvent free, low odor, high strength, high-modulus, extremely moisture insensitive and ultra-low viscosity when mixed with the slow cure hardener. Its low surface tension facilitates deep penetration into hair line to medium sized voids. Its 100 percent solids formulation is volumetrically stable, ensuring a solid bond to surfaces.

b) In order to protect the surface of the teak Applicant coats it with Teak Solutions A-pox 3000 B-Cure 50 (50 percent) for a fast cure. His suggested range is viscosities of between 2500 and 3500.

c) In the process described in the‘589 patent Applicant paid little attention to the gap between the teak elements which are normally filled with caulking, but is subsequent experiments he found that filling the gap between elements one third of the way up with solid resin provided great adhesion to keep the battens in place and lock them from moving laterally on the surface. Thus he could not only tighten up the joint which held the teak deck down to the as built structure, but we could lock the space between the elements in place to the epoxy now filling the voids below the teak.

The Initial Inspection

FIGS. 1A shows a top perspective view of several meters of a typical existing teak deck 1. FIG. IB shows a side view of teak deck 1. Elements of the teak deck include caulk seams 2, teak planks 3, glue 4, leveling 5, and as-built surface 6. An initial inspection includes tapping, moisture measurements and infrared camera readings. A detailed marking of both sound and suspected defective areas is accomplished to make a determination if further invasive testing is justified. A quick inspection of the elements will tell the condition of the deck. The inspector will be looking to see if the wood is of high or low quality, is the wood split, worn, or damaged, or if there is an appearance of deep valleys resulting from the erosion of the soft grains. The inspector will be looking at the condition of the caulking. The inspector will be looking to see if the caulking is soft, pliable, and still adhered to the teak on both sides of the seams. If not, the inspector will look to see if water is being held in the seam joints. The inspector will look to see if there is evidence of water being held below the seams and or even below the teak elements. The inspector preferably stands on the deck and jumps up and down. He will look to see if the teak deck elements move and is water forced up through the defective seams skyward. The inspector will preferably mark the results on the deck (FIG. 1C). Teak deck 1 has been marked with masking tape 15 to show areas of suspected water filled voids below teak deck 1. For example, FIG. 2A shows a side view of teak deck 1 having voids 7. Water is trapped in voids 7 (see also FIG. 2B).

After the initial inspection is completed the process of recommending corrective actions may begin. The inspector makes a determination if the deck is solid and only needs a few small caulk seam repairs, or if it needs a complete re-seam. The inspector may determine that there is evidence of hollows or voids under the teak deck or worse, voids filled with water. In some cases more invasive testing is justified. The objective of the invasive open and inspection techniques is to further view and inspect the joint between the teak elements and as-built surface 6. The inspector checks to see if there is water in the bottom of the seam and is it isolated to the seam or does it penetrate under the teak battens and trims. If the water is isolated to the bottom of the seams then the adhesive between the teak elements and the prepared hull is watertight. In this case the inspector should close the seams, clean and install new caulking, and then document the area as structurally sound.

However if water extends under the teak, then hollows or voids are present and more aggressive corrective measures should be considered. The inspection then continues. Materials for the continued inspection preferably include: a moisture meter with remote pins, a mini bore scope with a 3.0 mm to a 3.5 mm flexible lead which is lighted and fixed to a recorder or camera, the human eye. and thin metal probes which can be moved to test for hollows or voids, and infrared cameras. The use of sophisticated modern equipment will minimize damage and maximize discovery. The invasive open and inspect process may also require the removal of a limited amount of wood to inspect the condition of the as-built surface to check for corrosion. All removed wood is preferably documented, repairs executed and the wood replaced at this time. As additional discoveries are made the defects are preferably documented to show areas of standing water, voids, loose wood, split wood or other structural failures in any element of the teak deck.

Step by Step Method of Complete Re-Seam

Often the correct choice is to continue the inspection process with a minimally invasive process of removing some or all the caulking in specific areas. The alternative is a complete re-seam of the entire deck. The following is a step-by step method of a complete re-seam of the entire deck. To begin, a limited amount of caulking is preferably removed from the middle of the seams in the entire deck slightly deeper than the thickness of the teak battens and trims. Preferably a thin layer of caulking 16 is left on each vertical surface of the teak planks 3 shown in FIG. 3C. This small amount of caulking can be used to seal a sacrificial spline (if it becomes necessary) and to prevent the vertical teak surface from being saturated if the area must be infused with the resin. As an example an existing teak deck for which the caulk is 16 mm thick with 4 mm wide seams, the initial relief cut preferably would be a 3 mm groove and 17 mm deep down the middle of each seam. This also creates connectivity to voids 7 (FIGS. 3A-3B) which can hold liquid. Remove Water from the Voids

After a determination has been made that there are water filled voids beneath the deck, the next step is to remove the water from the voids. The inspector defines and marks a series of repair areas by marking battens port and starboard and stagger joint to stagger joint forward and aft. A perimeter of tacky vacuum seal tape 17 is applied around the repair area (FIGS. 3 A - 3B). FIG. 3A shows a side view and FIG. 3B shows a top view of teak deck 1 covered with a vacuum distribution blanket 8 and vacuum film 9. Caulk seams 2 (FIG. 2A) have been removed to allow for greater vacuum suction. Vacuum line 10 is inserted through vacuum film 9 and connects to vacuum blanket 8. Vacuum suction is applied to remove water trapped in voids 7. The water collects in catch pot 11. Vacuum suction is applied via vacuum pump 12.

Vacuum is applied at approximately 0.8 Bar and the trapped moveable water is readily removed. Preferably, the vacuum is applied for up to 12 hours to ensure water from under the surrounding areas is also evacuated. Voids 7 may extend and connect to other voids 7 several meters in all directions. Preferably, the vacuum pump is turned off occasionally and the catch pot is drained during the process to avoid damaging the vacuum pump with overflow water until all standing or moveable water is removed. After the water has been removed from the affected area, vacuum blanket 8 is removed.

Utilize Heat to Dry Out the Repair Area

As epoxy does not stick to material with high moisture content (surfaces saturated with water) the treated area must still be dried further. This is accomplished with the use of heated air which is forced over, above, and through the area being treated. FIG. 4 shows heat tunnel 41 covering the area being treated having voids 7. In a preferred embodiment heat tunnel 41 is fabricated from ridged closed cell insulation foam. The heat under heat tunnel 41 is closely regulated to obtain a desired temperature and moisture can be observed rising, collecting on the top of the tunnel and then evaporating out through the exhaust vents. Preferably, controlled heat is maintained in the tunnel for 24 hours or longer. The surfaces are checked with a moisture meter. The area is reheated as necessary until moisture meter readings are observed at lower than 20 percent in all accessible areas. In other preferred embodiments a heat blanket, heated tent or other heated controllable environment can be used to dry the excess moisture from the deck elements.

Isolate the Repair Area

Once dry each repair areas must be isolated, one-by one, by preferably filling the perimeter seams with a two part epoxy resin. FIG. 5A shows splines 51 inserted into the seams to surround the repair area on each side. This procedure effectively isolates the repair area so that a vacuum can be drawn to very high negative pressures. If the perimeter is not properly sealed, air could be drawn from areas many meters past the repair area limiting the effectiveness of the infusion method. FIG. 5B shows a properly isolated repair area. Resin splines 51 surround voids 7 so that a proper vacuum may be drawn.

Mask the top of the Teak Planks with a High Viscosity Epoxy

A preferred two part epoxy resin used in the infusion process is very thin. During the infusion process it is drawn into the region with some of the low-viscosity resin covering thetop surfaces of the teak elements. It is therefore necessary to seal and protect the top of the teak elements and trims from this process as filling the top surface of the teak with penetrating epoxy is not a desired effect. Applicant covers the top surface of the teak battens with a high viscosity epoxy. When the teak is dry the top surface of the teak wood is coated with this high viscosity epoxy, preferably A-Pox 5000 B-Cure 32 available from Rapollo Resins. Applicant has learned that the application of masking tape proposed in the '589 patent did not sufficiently protect the teak from the very low-viscosity resin solution that was applied to fill voids below the teak. However, the above high viscosity resin of the present improved repair method provides prefect protection for the teak surface and the hardened epoxy is easily removed by the sanding of the teak which would take place anyway at the completion of the repair process.

Fill Seams with Sacrificial Filler

As shown in FIG. 5D, the cut-out seams are filled with a sacrificial filler 21. Filler 21 limits the amount of epoxy wasted and makes the cutting of a final new seam much easier. In one preferred embodiment filler 21 is closed cell foam. In another preferred embodiment filler 21 is wood strips. Filler 21 preferably extends approximately one third to one half down from the surface of teak planks 3 (FIG. 5A). Also, preferably, filler 21 includes small openings 57 (FIG. 5D) spaced about 30 to 100 cm to allow for the infusion of resin into void 7 under filler 21 and any voids under planks 3.

Infuse the Repair Area with Resin

FIG. 6A shows resin infusion line 63 inserted through vacuum film 9 and vacuum blanket 8. Initially valve 64 is closed, valve 73 is open and vacuum pump 12 is started. When a negative pressure of approximately 0.8 bar is achieved, valve 64 is opened and two part epoxy resin 66 stored in resin supply bin 65 is drawn into the area under vacuum film 9. Resin 66 will quickly fill all voids 7 and the area of the seams below filler 21. Resin will also fill into openings 57 where resin 66 (FIG. 6C) is drawn via vacuum pump 12 (FIG. 6B) until resin has completely filled all voids and openings and the overflow of resin is drawn into catch pot 11. Valves 73 and 64 are then closed and vacuum pump 12 is stopped. The area under vacuum film 9 is maintained under vacuum while resin 66 dries. The vacuum is monitored and if it drops to about half the initial vacuum the pump is reenergized periodically to maintain the vacuum.

After resin 66 has dried, filler 21 is cut away. In the preferred embodiment resin 66 will remain in the lowest one third to one half of each seam creating a permanent water tight void free bond between the teak elements and as-built surface 6. For example in a 21 mm seam the epoxy preferably might fill the lower 3.5 mm of the seam. The seams are then all caulked utilizing caulking material 2 (FIG. 6D). Finally, teak deck 1 is preferably cleaned, sanded and detailed so as to have a visually pleasing, void free, structurally sound teak deck.

Although the above-preferred embodiments have been described with specificity, persons skilled in this art will recognize that many changes to the specific embodiments disclosed above could be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in one embodiment electric forced air heaters and a foam core heat tunnel to remove excess moisture from the teak deck. In another embodiment one could use gas fired heaters with a heat blanket. Similarly in the preferred embodiments described above the sacrificial splines are made from scrap teak. In an alternate embodiment, they could be made from high density foam or pine. In the preferred embodiments described above moveable fluid is removed with a high pressure vacuum pump, vacuum blankets and high pressure suction. In an alternative method a high velocity industrial vacuum cleaner could be used to achieve lesser quality results. Therefore, the attached claims and their legal equivalents should determine the scope of the invention.