Cheap repairs in Turkey

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All_at_Sea

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I'm buying bigger for longer term cruising and have come across a few boats that need work, which l am happy to do, but one such boat needs new teak decks and it has been suggested in tha past that the place to go for cheap but good work is Turkey. Can anyone verify this?

The work in Mallorca or Uk would be about £30k for a 46 footer - what price Turkey?
 
Certainly cheaper in Turkey, but still a big bill on a boat that size. I do not have up to date figures, but probably still a reasonable saving due to lower labour costs.
Just a thought, but if you are going to live in the Med, where it gets pretty hot in summer you are better off without teak all over the deck. Why not just re-do the cockpit and bathing platform (if it has one) and strip the old teak off the deck, fill the holes and put on light coloured non slip paint?
 
I'm not sure what l would find under the old decks, and all the deck fittings would be set at a different height, through bolts, hatches, chainplates etc. What is the actual problem here, is it simply hot under foot or the boat gets hot down below?

Jamesmar thanks for the thought but if l start that job l'll be dead by the time l finish!
 
In the Med sun in mid summer, teak decking gets very hot - too hot to walk on barefoot, comfortably, in the middle of the day unless you are a teenager or had a very hard upbringing! However, I suspect that the boat underneath stays cooler. I have no proof but just an opinion after a few years experience. No problem if wearing shoes or flip-flops of course.
 
Mainly hot underfoot. If you go on deck to grab a line or check on something you can't hang around on the teak for long. Teak holds the dirt/dust too unless swabbed often so it makes dirty feetmarks elsewhere. The extra insulation because of the thickness of the teak may help but as it is darker it may also just hold the heat longer. I have foam sandwich decks without teak so it heat transmission has never been a problem.
Ray
 
Two points:

1. You can certainly get very good quality teak deck work done in Turkey. The conventional wisdom among cruisers are that Thailand and Turkey are the best places for teak work in the world and I can certainly vouch for Turkey; craftsmanship second to none. I don't have an up to date quote but I seem to remember that price was about $800 per square meter last year. Two companies are the gold standard, one in Bodrum and one in Marmaris.

2. "Teak decks are too hot to walk on". This is a thing I have heard for a long time, I guess mainly from non-teak deck owners. I think it is a myth. I have worked/lived on teak decked boats in hot climates on and off for about fifteen years and I have yet to experience this problem. The opposite is true; due to the thermal insulation qualities of wood, you have a much cooler down below in a teak decked boat.

I know this issue has been discussed to its n'th extreme on other threads here, so let me just make my point by directing you to page 31 of the latest (January) issue of Yachting Monthly. Here you will see a picture of the crew of a quality teak decked boat in the South Pacific. I don't think you will notice any pain and suffering from this crew. Hope this goes some way in killing off this odd myth.
 
LadyJessie, if you can walk on teak in bare feet after the deck is exposed for an hour or 2 in direct sun in Turkey/Greece/Sydney then you must have thick callouses! I have GRP decks but teak in the cockpit. Yesterday it was only about 26C here in Sydney with a 4-6kt breeze but the teak was still extremely uncomfortable underfoot. Normally we have the bimini up in the summer so it is not a problem. I guess I must have become a bit woosey over recent years but I am always barefoot around the house and the garden (yes despite all those creepy-crawleys). So, as always, user beware.

I saw some teak deckwork being done in Marmaris and they certainly did a neat job and as you say they are renowned for it.
Ray
 
Hi Gypsy; I don't want to disregard your own cockpit experience here, but believe me: there is a difference between teak and teak. Let me just assume that if you only have teak in your cockpit, you might very probably have a very thin veneer type teak: often 6 mm or less is standard for cockpit cladding by many builders. That can indeed become very hot. It is too thin to be able to use the wood's heat conduit properties. In contrast, the boat builders who make quality teak decks use a teak of at least 12 mm thickness and often much more. Then the wood has a chance to work as a thermal insulation layer, as it is supposed to be used.

I have spent a much too large part of my life living north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. All houses there are built from wood so I learnt early on that wood has an extremely good thermal insulation quality. This insulation function works the same in tropical climates. Teak wood is wonderful, and I can not think of anything more comfortable to have under my feet in any climate (thick teak that is). It is also the best non-slip material in bad wet weather, which is just a nice added benefit.
 
Hi Jessie, hope that's not too familiar...I support your position on wood being a good and valuable insulator and no doubt the thicker the wood the more the heat is distributed, but grey wooden decks in direct sunshine are always going to be hotter under foot than white GRP and that is the warning I wanted to make. At least if the poster (can't see his name as I type) does get go for teak in Marmaris he can specify what is laid.

All experiences related are to be filtered by the reader.
Ray
 
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