dealing with a tired teak deck.

[barca nova]

How have posters dealt with tired teak decks? Replace with ££ fake teak? Replace with gel? Replace with ££££ real teak And if you have relaid the deck, who did it and how good were they?

 

[Tranona]

Too many questions and not enough information to give sensible answers other than don't touch it with a bargepole.

There are so many different types of teak deck, methods of construction modes of failure and ways of potentially making good. The simplest and potentially cheapest way is to strip it all off fill and fair then coat with non slip. How much this costs depends on how difficult it is to remove the old - for example some boats require the removal of many fittings bolted through the teak then hundreds of screws to remove the teak, others the teak is just stuck onto the deck and nothing screwed through. Most of the cost here is labour so DIY is cheap, paid boatyard labour expensive. Fake teak and real teak (if you can get it) are similar in price to fit

As with most questions related to major repair work on used boats you need to look at each case on its specifics both in a technical sense of what is involved in the particular boat and second whether there is a financial case for doing the work.

 

[ashtead]

If thinking of replacing I can recommend Flexiteak -there are posts. On mobo forum of replacement of teak by Flexiteak -you don’t say where boat is located which will impact price -say your location and you might find local experts/recomendations

 

[Stemar]

The "cheap" way is to get rid of the teak, make good the deck, and finish it with a paint like Kiwigrip.

Just so long as you weren't planning on doing anything else this year...

 

[Leslie frank]

Have you tried a two part cleaner like Wessex or teak wonder followed by Semco. It might put off the inevitable. We have been putting it off for 20 years

 

[TSB240]

We bought an 25 year old Beneteau with teak decks.

The decks looked worn out and had loose bonding in the gaps and showed quite a few screws sticking their heads out. A good early inspection showed it was neglected but saveable.

After a season of work these decks are now what a 25 year old boat deserves.

There was no need to replace them as they were not badly neglected.

They just needed regular planned improvement, screw extraction, plugging and resealing, gentle cleaning, minimal sanding.

The key was there was no patch of deck that was badly worn or unbonded.

Whilst this did not involve total replacement it was a hell of a lot of time over a rare number of broken weeks of fine weather and a complete winter under cover.
I can actually say I enjoyed completion now.....

If you would rather be sailing get them replaced professionally and pay the price. Hopefully you either have a big wallet or have factored this in when you bought your boat.

 

[elenya]

We had 20 year old teak in the decks of our Saltram 40 when we bought her in 2002. Thule were not in good condition and we took the teak off in 2008. While doing this we took the time to repair the underlying plywood and then glasses over and painted the decks. A big job which we did jointly with a boat builder. We provided the labour and learnt so new skills as we went. Was a 3 month refit working 7 days a week in a hanger.
We don't regret losing the teak and the painted deck is good at sea. I do like the look of some of the faux teaks and may consider those but would not fit.
Hope it works out for you.

 

[lustyd]

Step one is sanding back what you have and fixing any damaged caulk. Unless screws are showing through there’s no need to replace.
All teak decks should have a light sand annually to flatten them and stop them absorbing water. Often people think they’re somehow saving the wood by avoiding this maintenance.
Never put a coating on teak it’ll look atrocious within a year, especially the orange looking Semco muck. Real teak doesn’t need it.