Synthetic teak vs painted deck

[Wckoek]

Aside that the synthetic teak deck looks better than painted or antislip deck, are there any advantage of synthetic teak over either?
Is there any significant drawbacks of faux teak over painted or antislip?

[flightlead404]

I have "flexiteek" on my 07 hunter. its original and has been blasted by FL sun for all that time. Pretty much looks good although sometimes its hard to get the bird poop off. I do notice that in a couple of places the glue/sealant or whatever its put in with may be starting to lift slightly, and there is one place around the base of the pedestal that it is slightly wavy.

I *think* it is installed as a sheet rather like a vinyl floor. If you've ever put one of those down you'll understand the "wavy" issue.

[Wckoek]

Originally Posted by flightlead404

I have "flexiteek" on my 07 hunter. its original and has been blasted by FL sun for all that time. Pretty much looks good although sometimes its hard to get the bird poop off. I do notice that in a couple of places the glue/sealant or whatever its put in with may be starting to lift slightly, and there is one place around the base of the pedestal that it is slightly wavy.

I *think* it is installed as a sheet rather like a vinyl floor. If you've ever put one of those down you'll understand the "wavy" issue.

Does it grip better than other options?
I am thinking of putting money and have the synthetic teak as it fits and make the boat which originally came with real teak deck look better.
I am just worry if there are more serious downside to it like water ingress problems etc.

[Bill O]

Depending where you are located, even the synthetic teak brown maybe too hot to walk on w/bare feet.
We like kiwigrip (white) to walk on in hot/tropical clims and it keeps the boat cooler inside. Also great non-slip w/the proper amount of texture.

[Mike32]

I have flexiteak as well. Grip is good. It does get pretty hot mid day in the sun. Oil type stains seem to set. Haven’t found a good cleaning method on those. Seems pretty rugged so far.

[flightlead404]

It gets hot. Not hotter at the surface than a similar hue of wood, but wood would insulate better I think. The other thing to think about if replacing a previous teak deck would be thickness. You'd want to ensure close enough thickness or a way to get there. You wouldn't want the new decking proud of the surrounding gel coat.

Its grip is fine wet or dry. I think its better than sanded awlgrip but there are other options.

Coolness of an all white deck in the tropics is probably worth something, enough to outweigh your aesthetic preference, I can't answer.

[Nicholson58]

Stark white Awlgrip & nonskid. It’s never hot and we are live aboard in the Caribbean. This also means cooler in the cabin.

[goboatingnow]

Be very careful with flexiteak , firstly in any significant heat it can get hot enough to burn your feet. We had to hose ours down.

Secondly unless installed really really well by a factory trained person , it “ will “ lift in places and damned hard to fix.

I’m not convinced and I’ve used it on two boats.

[Swift Drift]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Stark white Awlgrip & nonskid. It’s never hot and we are live aboard in the Caribbean. This also means cooler in the cabin.

Ditto. Replaced the teak deck with this and are happy with it.
Just like with synthetic teak, quality of application can make a huge difference. When done well, awlgrip with griptex can look very smart.

[Wckoek]

Thanks, I'll keep it painted for now.

[HankOnthewater]

Or you could consider a cork type, like marinedeck: good antislip, well insulating looks very good, is very pricey but one can install DIY.
https://stazo.nl/en/stazo-marinedeck/

[bcboomer]

Take a look at Seacork. We put it down 6 years ago and it adds insulation and is really grippy. I find the Kiwigrip really hard on bare feet but the Seacork is foot friendly and looks nice.

[jjt5795]

Another option is the eva foam, aka Seadeck. I put it in my cockpit 5 years ago and recently my aft and side decks. It is very comfortable to walk on and doesn't get too hot. My foredeck is still painted bright white.

[Wckoek]

Originally Posted by HankOnthewater

Or you could consider a cork type, like marinedeck: good antislip, well insulating looks very good, is very pricey but one can install DIY.
https://stazo.nl/en/stazo-marinedeck/

Originally Posted by bcboomer

Take a look at Seacork. We put it down 6 years ago and it adds insulation and is really grippy. I find the Kiwigrip really hard on bare feet but the Seacork is foot friendly and looks nice.

Originally Posted by jjt5795

Another option is the eva foam, aka Seadeck. I put it in my cockpit 5 years ago and recently my aft and side decks. It is very comfortable to walk on and doesn't get too hot. My foredeck is still painted bright white.

They look really nice, are cork or EVA foam as hot as synthetic teaks?

[Clivevon]

Originally Posted by Wckoek

Does it grip better than other options?
I am thinking of putting money and have the synthetic teak as it fits and make the boat which originally came with real teak deck look better.
I am just worry if there are more serious downside to it like water ingress problems etc.

My old boat comes with Treadmaster, which you either love or hate it seems. Needed renovating. I looked at fake teak & was impressed but pricey - I ended up painting the deck myself. Hardest job was applying hundreds of yards of masking tape round all the panels. Looks good but would have been much quicker just to paint over them.

One issue - you dont say what is wrong with your original teak deck but I would advise making really really sure you have no other latent or underlying deck problems (leaks or wet core) before spending a lot of money overlaying that deck - it would be a shame to have to rip it off in the future.