Teak Decking vs Flexiteek

[Sludge Fumbler]

I’ve teak decking in my cockpit bonded to grp which in places has lifted and begun to rot. I am going to replace it. Has anyone had experience of Flexiteek which is said not to rot? Is it a stable material? I ask cos some users on web seem to have had problems. Any suggestions on how to lift off the teak which is still in good nic would be welcomed.

[muskoka]

We installed Flexiteek in 2008 and it looks good after 2 years in the tropical sun. The existing fibreglass was sanded with 60 grit then the FT was glued in place. I installed it myself and found it to be reasonably easy to do. The big effort was to make sure the black mastic didn't end up getting on everything.

In respect of your teak deck: Is it glued down with epoxy or a mastic? One method I've seen is to cross cut with a router (be very careful setting the depth & don't try to do it all in one go) and prise up the pieces with a chisel and mallet. Then sand.

[Sludge Fumbler]

Many thanks for your reply muskoka. My teak is fixed with exoxy and is very hard to get off. Your suggestion looks to be a good one.

[boatsmith]

We crosscut with a small circular saw with depth set to just barely not cut all the teak and then go at it with an electric demolition hammer with a 3" chisel bit. Finish up with angle grinders. Lots of teak toothpicks. I think

Flexi-Teak

sucks. It's ugly when installed, and stays ugly. IMO real teak or nonskid paint. No fake teak for me. I make a big chunk of my income installing, removing, and refurbishing teak decks ,so you might consider me biased. We were approached by

Flexi Teak

to do installations and decide to pass.

[Mule]

Originally Posted by boatsmith

We crosscut with a small circular saw with depth set to just barely not cut all the teak and then go at it with an electric demolition hammer with a 3" chisel bit. Finish up with angle grinders. Lots of teak toothpicks. I think

Flexi-Teak

sucks. It's ugly when installed, and stays ugly. IMO real teak or nonskid paint. No fake teak for me. I make a big chunk of my income installing, removing, and refurbishing teak decks ,so you might consider me biased. We were approached by

Flexi Teak

to do installations and decide to pass.

David,what about removing with a Fein Tool? I removed gel coat and recored and it seemed very effective and gentle too. I have no teak but I have the balsa curse.

[boatsmith]

The Fein is a great tool. I think that it is a little small for sawing much decking and not robust enough for removing the decking. Removing a dead teak deck is not delicate work. There are times when the Fein with a saw blade are truly wonderful.

[muskoka]

Originally Posted by boatsmith

I think

Flexi-Teak

sucks. It's ugly when installed, and stays ugly. IMO real teak or nonskid paint. No fake teak for me. I make a big chunk of my income installing, removing, and refurbishing teak decks...

Are you just against Flexiteek? Or against all of the synthetic teak decks? Visually, or performance wise?

I'll concede that nothing looks as nice as the real thing, but IMHO the synthetics don't 'suck'. Just curious about your reasons.

[boatsmith]

I look at teak and fake teak decks all the time. I am particularly looking for ways to improve our own installations. When some of my crew and I are looking at a deck the rule is we only discuss points about the deck under scrutiny that we like. The effort is towards constant improvement.
I have not seen any synthetic teak decks that have been

margined

out and look like a clean professional job .When we install a teak deck after the teak is glued down the entire deck is sanded and ends up as a fair continuous surface. With fake teak you can't sand it. It is also extremely difficult to glue the fake teak down and have a fair surface. The surface tends to have waves and hollows. I have seen installations where a cover sheet of plywood that fit the fake teak exactly was weighted down to keep the fake teak fair. This was on a tender and would be impractical on a larger deck. If the deck is gouged, it is not possible to repair it. If you replace one small part after several years exposure to the sun, do you think the original stuff will not have changed color and appearance? If someone should spill some paint or epoxy on it, can you clean it off next week and not leave a mark? Teak decks are expensive to install and

maintain

and are hot underfoot in the tropics, they add weight. They are also very attractive. What are the advantages to using fake teak? Not on my boat. Actually I have a 2900lb 30' catamaran and have painted nonskid decks.

[muskoka]

Boatsmith,

Thanks for the reply. I presume by 'margined' you're referring to the radiused border strips around the teak inlays? We put the border detail on our boat. It's true that many fake teaks don't bother with that detail, but a lot of production boats with real teak don't either which is a shame. I view that more as a quality of installation issue regardless of material.

I do agree about the preponderance of waves & hollows - it's tough to get a good even surface and most installers aren't that skilled. We got ours entirely flat with thin ply boards weighted with batteries, anchors & bottled water. But there is one small bit in the corner which has a wave - thankfully it sits under the cool box! But it does irk me.

You can't really sand out serious marks and spills, though we have spot sanded out small problems without difficulty. I've not had to replace a small part so I can't comment on that - but I think you're right that the sun bleaching would show it up.

What I do like is that I can throw crap on it and it doesn't damage it. And, if carefully installed (with borders etc) it looks a damn sight better than the white gelcoat antislip which the boat came with.

To me the question wasn't "Is this teak" but rather "Is this a lot better than the white gelcoat antislip". In fact, most people think it's teak - which as an architect always blows my mind as anything that isn't what it really is sticks out like a sore thumb.

And you know what, after a couple of G&T's in the anchorage, after a day of sailing even I'm willing to suspend reality...and chuck the dive tanks on the (fake) teak. But, yup, nothing looks nicer than real teak!

Cheers

[goboatingnow]

I have not seen any synthetic teak decks that have been

margined

out and look like a clean professional job .When we install a teak deck after the teak is glued down the entire deck is sanded and ends up as a fair continuous surface. With fake teak you can't sand it. It is also extremely difficult to glue the fake teak down and have a fair surface. The surface tends to have waves and hollows.

All nonsense

Take a look at Flexiteak and its assoicated AnCona. Firstly its either to lay and work. Secondly Ancona is a ridig version for long flat runs to avoid the ripples. seconly margin boards can be done and Flexiteek can be sanded as it a solid product. ( use 80 grit and dont let the heat build up.).

It looks fine and is very durable ( I have it on one boat). it tends to darken slightly.

The biggest problem is it get very very hot in direct sun, too hot to actually walk on it some cases.

Dave