What is the best adhesive for sticking down Dek-King?

lyndonmarch

The Dek-King installed on the benches of Brian Stirling's yacht is coming unstuck. What is the best adhesive for making repairs

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We installed Dek-King on the cockpit side benches of our steel yacht Spray.

Since then, we have sailed from Scotland via Ireland to Portugal and are now based in Mediterranean Spain.

This year, the Dek-King has begun to delaminate from the steel deck. I’m just wondering if you might be able to advise me as to which cleaner to use for the removal of the old adhesive and which adhesive we should use to stick it back down for the repair?

Brian Stirling

Lyndon March replies:

Sounds like your cockpit benches are suffering from plenty of use, something that comes to all well-used vessels. While a great product, even ‘plastic’ decking can come to the end of its working life. In your case it sounds like the product itself is still perfectly fine, but it is simply the adhesive parting company with the substrate.

I can’t be sure what adhesive might have been used – suppliers and manufacturers have changed over the years – but what I can suggest is using a safe, solvent-based adhesive remover. Products such as 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner or Sika 208 Premium Adhesive Sealant Remover will be kind on your steel yacht work and should help get the old sticky stuff off.

Rubber gloves and a plastic scraper are advisable when using any kind of stripper. My choice for reapplication would be a Sika product, Sikaflex 298 or Sikaflex 298i which is specifically made for synthetic deckings like Dek-King.

Use with Sika’s primer (e.g. Sika Primer 210 for metal surfaces) for optimal adhesion to steelwork. Normal rules apply, and make sure you weigh down the planks when sticking them to the cockpit, and that the surface is well cleaned and painted before application.

Mask up the area to avoid a mess, and lay out and cut in any necessary repairs before glueing.

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