Salty John
Well-Known Member
On a recent trip to south Florida I had the chance to run some tests on the temperature of decks which some may find of interest:
I have the use of a friend’s Amel Maramu, about 50’ LOA, and as he is considering a new artificial teak deck he had left samples of the material aboard. On the Amel, side decks, afterdeck and cockpit seats have a moulded in teak-look non skid painted to resemble teak. The remaining deck area (mainly the cabin top ahead of the cockpit), is white with moulded-in non-skid.
Weather was coolish at night (around 70ºF) warming up to 85 -88ºF during the afternoon. Clear blue skies, little wind (unfortunately).
Using a laser thermometer I shot the temperature of the existing teak-effect, the new teak-effect sample and the white deck at one hour intervals during the day. (I was bored, there was no wind!)
The new teak-effect never varied more than 1ºF from the old teak-effect, so comparing the teak-effect to the white deck I found:
Morning, ambient about 75 º F, teak-effect was 87ºF, (31ºC) and white deck was 79ºF (26ºC).
Late afternoon, ambient 88ºF, the teak-effect was 128ºF (54ºC) and white deck 110ºF (43ºC).
I was a little surprised that there wasn’t a greater difference between the teak-effect and the white. Also, whilst I have seen discussion regarding the relative merits of dark versus light hull and deck colours, I have never seen the actual temperatures noted. I am unable to say what effect these temperature differences have on cabin temperature.
This useless information brought to you free of charge by js48!
I have the use of a friend’s Amel Maramu, about 50’ LOA, and as he is considering a new artificial teak deck he had left samples of the material aboard. On the Amel, side decks, afterdeck and cockpit seats have a moulded in teak-look non skid painted to resemble teak. The remaining deck area (mainly the cabin top ahead of the cockpit), is white with moulded-in non-skid.
Weather was coolish at night (around 70ºF) warming up to 85 -88ºF during the afternoon. Clear blue skies, little wind (unfortunately).
Using a laser thermometer I shot the temperature of the existing teak-effect, the new teak-effect sample and the white deck at one hour intervals during the day. (I was bored, there was no wind!)
The new teak-effect never varied more than 1ºF from the old teak-effect, so comparing the teak-effect to the white deck I found:
Morning, ambient about 75 º F, teak-effect was 87ºF, (31ºC) and white deck was 79ºF (26ºC).
Late afternoon, ambient 88ºF, the teak-effect was 128ºF (54ºC) and white deck 110ºF (43ºC).
I was a little surprised that there wasn’t a greater difference between the teak-effect and the white. Also, whilst I have seen discussion regarding the relative merits of dark versus light hull and deck colours, I have never seen the actual temperatures noted. I am unable to say what effect these temperature differences have on cabin temperature.
This useless information brought to you free of charge by js48!
