Soundes like you know what you are doing as far as the building. The finish is another story. You would never build a boat out of Ipe. Aside from the obvious fact that it is too heavy, Ipe opens and closes its grain every season as it loses moisture. The surface checking during the spring will be your nightmare. The cracks can not be filled. They continually open and close each season. A finish that fills up cracks is surface film forming. Surface films all fail on ipe. Elastomeric paint even splits after one season on Ipe. Your objective in a final finish is unachievable. Remebmer you are building a boat dock, not a boat. What is the most beautiful boat dock you have seen? Try to copy it, not the boat. Your Ipe deck will outlast you. The color of the Ipe will fade to gray. You can only slow down the graying by applying a penetrating oil, outdoor finish several times per year. Penofin and TWP 100 series are the most sucsessful on Ipe. I think they will be fine over the tung oil you already applied. Also, I wouldn't bother to finish all sides of the decking, unless it will be seen and refinished on the underside, in the future. The finish goes away so quickly on Ipe, finishing all sides of the decking makes no difference. Also, if the finish DOES seal the bottom side of the decking, it encourages cupping. The sun hitting the top side of the boards will encourage the top side to dry more quickly than the bottom...cupping. seal the bottom and it happens more. Keep in mind the finish on the top side of the boards will deteriorate before the bottom. This is encouraging more cupping. Luckily Ipe doesn't hold a finish for long, so once the wood can breathe properly, the cupping will reverse somewhat. This is what builders call "movement" The better you fasten down the decking, the less it can move. That is why most pro builders recommend screwing down Ipe directly to the joist. NEVER drill pilot holes into the joist. The poor screw has no chance to resist the seasonal movement, if it is anchored into a pilot hole in soft wood.

Guess the links didn't work!! Here: http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2009/07/deck2.html http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2009/07/kiwi.html http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2009/07/deck_7.html http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2009/07/deck_7.html http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2009/07/deck_6.html http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2009/07/deck.html http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2009/07/deck_1.html http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2009/07/deck_3.html

HI Ya Jack!! I am still waiting for that gift cert at my local wine store. I havent used Ken's new outdoor finish,he keeps telling me the samples are in the mail, there are some posts over here with Folks puting it on new projects with good resluts. I am a twp kinda guy right now I have no reason to change. After using the stuff for 7 years or so I can offer what I have seen and done. The first coat wont last all that long( with any outdoor finish this is true) If the Wallet pays for a one year contract I wait for hmmmm three moons or so in good weather I clean/ put another coat on. Ater another 2 months I lightly acid wash/clean and put another coat on this coat will take a little while to set up. Usually this built up finish lasts for two years or so my best yet is three years. The thing is most Folks dont want me back all that often they want to live on the deck and have some relax time and mabey give me a call in 5 years or so when the thing has gone gray. With my jobs that do have that built up finish I never have to strip the old twp off just clean and put on another one. My own S American project out back is coming up on 7 years its just now showing sighs of need,the cap rail is a simmi gloss I can see the reflection of my hand on it. Keep in mind Jack and all you good Folks I do this for a living, I only do my own Wallets if I get a call for refinish that I dident build I recline. I dont really care if twp is used or not this is what I have done and seen Yo all have a good time come this weekend,ride safe,ride hard, stash the kids at Mom's, take your Girl out to the blues bar and go Dancing. John

Brooklyn Steve - I did sand using the Ridgid ROS with 50 grit paper..... It was my first time doing a sanding job like this so I am not sure about my technique, but I was surprised by the fact that the pencil marks were a little difficult to remove. In order to really remove those pencil marks, I had to leave the sander in the same spot for a good while, sometimes on an angle to hit the pencil mark directly.... I was a little afraid that it would leave inconsistencies in the finish, so I just got off as much pencil as I could. The pencil marks aren't really obvious...and only really show on the lighter colored boards. As far as the rough spots, I did sand those too. After I was done sanding the deck felt pretty smooth. I didn't notice the rough spoits until I was wiping down the Penofin with the rag. On some of the boards, if I went one way the rag would glide across the board, if I went the other, you could feel the rag grip the board.... There was about a 3 week delay between sanding and stianing, so I don't know if that would've made a difference in the texture of the deck... Like you said......at this point........Anyway...... I'm confident over time the fuzzies, the pencil marks, the rough spots will all become a distant memory. now for that Tecate.