Teak decks

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by HeinSdL

Probably my deck will need to be replaced the next couple of years in which case I would choose a synthetic alternative. Looks like teak, (now also) feels like teak, but is plastic. But when all is said and done, it IS a bit odd anyway to have a thin layer of teak on a plastic boat which is supposed to replicate the traditional solid teak decks. So since it's fake anyway, might as well make it completely fake and make it plastic.

Why go "fake" with plastic? You could use cork. Still a natural product, non skid, but much lighter and gets less hot than teak.



https://seacorkfloor.com/cork-decking-for-boats/

[NSboatman]

+1 on the cork. Redid the cockpit sole and coaming tops with seacork 5 years ago. Love it. It’s been exposed to everything (sun,sea,ice&snow,red wine,vomit&all the usual stuff that floats around a cockpit on a sailing boat that is sailed year-round in Canada. Holding up beautifully. Piss easy to install, easy to repair, nice on the feet, ads warmth and 100% glued. Highly recommended.

[Muaddib1116]

Originally Posted by NSboatman

+1 on the cork. Redid the cockpit sole and coaming tops with seacork 5 years ago. Love it. It’s been exposed to everything (sun,sea,ice&snow,red wine,vomit&all the usual stuff that floats around a cockpit on a sailing boat that is sailed year-round in Canada. Holding up beautifully. Piss easy to install, easy to repair, nice on the feet, ads warmth and 100% glued. Highly recommended.

I've been considering a cork deck product, for when my teak decks need to be replaced. I saw a boat with Marinedeck 2000 and liked the look and feel of that product. I don't know how it compares to Seacork. When you say that it is easily repaired, can you elaborate? What type of damage does it get? Does the cork chunk out easily? What is the repair process? Thanks!

[NSboatman]

Have not really had to repair much damage- it's really tough. I've dropped a winch handle on it a couple of times, and once it took a small chunk out. to repair you cut out the section with a utility knife, cut a matching sized patch and glue it in. the quality of the repair is proportional to the care you take on matching the fit of the patch. if you are meticulous (and it's not hard - it's easy to work with a knife); then you can make the seams almost disappear.



It has darkened a lot over time, but I'm ok with that. a light sand would bring it back bright - even an aggressive scrub will brighten some.



The original install was to replace a lot of 1" teak that was screwed down - THROUGH THE STEEL!! so when I bought the boat, of course after 2 months I started finding leaks and rust streaks showing up on the headliner below. Investigation revealed the hundreds of self tapping screws used in the steel to secure the teak - what a mess.


Ripped the whole lot off, filled every hole with weld or belzona epoxy steel (great stuff BTW) and then built up the coatings again. then when it was pristine with fresh polyurethane top coat, we laid the cork using a utility knife, the dealer supplied glues for it, and a bunch of bricks and lead weights with 3/4" ply to spread out the pressure. turned out really well, and I wouldn't consider doing anything else in the future.

[Muaddib1116]

Interesting, thanks for the detail. The Marinedeck 2000 is some sort of rubberized cork, is that how the Seacork is?

[NSboatman]

Just went back thru my files. I actually used a product called AquaCork, from a distributor in Canada called Jelinek Group. ordered online, and stuff came as advertised. https://www.jelinek.com/aquacork/



yes, it seems to be mostly natural cork, with some treatment or polymer added to increase durability. seems to work...

[BakerHansen]

My Sirius is delivered with flexi teak. Could choose how I wanted the teak to look. I choose new, not silver.

Looks good, feels good and will not rot.

Infact when I tell people it is plastic they dont belive me.

[capnkev]

The previous owners of our Lagoon 450 had the aft cockpit and fly bridge done with Flexiteak. We loved it so much that I had the forward cockpit done. It’s a great product. Excellent look, non skid, etc. Can even be sanded, power washed. Basically no maintenance. If you drop a tool, much better than chipping the gel coat. It can get a little hot, but not too bad. Certainly not too hot to be a problem. We love it. The areas with Flexiteak are less maintenance than the areas with nonskid gel coat, but now that I’ve had the entire boat coated with Ceramic Pro, everything is low maintenance.

[Dave52]

I have teak decks on 42’ trawler. 3 years ago I got a price to replace $30000, remove, glass and paint $15000.
I painted them with a two part poly paint called Tuff coat. Looks nearly like new 3 years later, sealed an amazing number of cracks, seams and leaks. Rainbow of colors to choose from. $600 in materials and 4-5 days work to clean, tape, prime and paint.
I figured $600 was worth the risk and I would do it again in a heartbeat. May need to touch them up in year or two and that’s ok.

[ELC]

Having replaced, rebuilt, repaired, reefed and recauled and removed teak decks professionally for decades in a word. NO! No teak decks for me.

It would be a deal breaker.

Increases the overall maintenance time and budget for a purely cosmetic feature. I've even worked the true laid decks not the modern cosmetic overlay and they are worse!

If you think they are the best nonskid then you haven't been on the right deck either.

Now add in the fact that good teak is almost non existent. Modern stock compared to what we were using 30 years ago just isn't close unless you have a dedicated buyer at the source buying thousands of board feet at a clip.

It is insanely expensive. Last time I quoted getting a customer 600 board feet of rough teak and milling it to his specs he had a heart attack and he wasn't poor. I also had to use several sources to even find that much on short notice.

For those of us who work it many develop allergies to the dust. I'm one and I look like I'm in a bio hazard suit if I get near it. I've seen one guy go into anaphylactic shock on the job next to me sanding a deck.

Nope, no teak decks here and I don't recommend them either. There's much better options.

[Amapola]

We hated our teak decks. They were very hot (we live in Florida and cruise the Caribbean) and a maintenance nightmare. We finally removed them. Removing them was also an asset when we sold her and went to the dark side (trawler).

[Muaddib1116]

Does anyone have a suggestion for the best area on the East Coast/Caribbean to get this type of work done (removing existing teak and replacing with synthetic teak/cork/etc.), from a quality/cost perspective? The quote I got up here in RI is insane. I don't know much about marine prices in Maine, but maybe it's a little cheaper there? It seems logical that somewhere in the Caribbean might have the best prices, but I have no idea about that either.

[JBsurfin]

Originally Posted by leveramikes

Can I have your opinions on teak decks. What to look for when purchasing a sailboat with teak decks, maintenance..... pros and cons.

I have a 83 Dickerson. Due to delam of the deck under the teak, as they were screwed in, I had the entire deck removed and glassed over with non skid added. Boat is lighter as a result and no lost traction on deck.

[Briggers]

I bought a Swedish Puzzle 36, a really pretty boat and so easy to sail. However it was poorly maintained when I bought it, including the teak deck.
The teak was screwed to the deck and over time it had allowed water to ingress. I bought it in the middle of a hot summer and there were no signs of this below deck. Some of the screws had been over tightened and had stripped the fibreglass, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get a fixing.
There was teak everywhere the sole and seats of the cockpit and hatch surrounds. Every time it was cleaned it looked spectacular and was fairly easy to keep tidy. But return to the boat after a month or so away and you had to start all over again.
Never again will I have a teak deck.
I am however, very impressed with some of the new sudo teak decking coming on the market and wood 😁 consider that. In fact, I’m planning to fit some to the cockpit of my Hunter 430. If it looks and feels OK I will do the whole deck.
I agree with everything previously said.

[Mickeyrouse]

Teak decks provide hundreds if not thousands of opportunities for deck leaks. I admire them- on the other guy’s boat. I have plenty to keep me busy already. A former sales manager at Hinckley would always try to talk prospects out of teak decks.