DIY Synthetic Teak

[Hurricane]

Mike,

what is the width of the "teak" between the two black caulking strips?
and what is the width of the caulking strip?

cheers

V.

Sorry for the late reply, VAS
I wanted to double check the sizes.

I depends on which plank you are measuring.
Trakmark supply the standard "double plank" material with two caulking joints.
One caulking joint is designed to be welded to the next "double plank".
The other caulking joint is already extruded into the "double plank" section.
See here

In this case, the plank size is 46mm and each caulking strip is 5mm
That makes the "double plank" 102mm overall.

But they also offer a "square border" profile.
The "square border profile" is a single plank of 55mm with the usual caulking size of 5mm
So that is 60mm overall.

Unfortunately, the "square border profile" has been designed to be universally fitted.
It doesn't have the "V cutout" shapes where you would normally "back weld".
This threw me to begin with as I needed to make my own "V cutouts" using a small hand plane.
This pic shows the principle

The result after planing is this

Then, when two similar edges are put together, the joint can be back welded.

Actually, I think I may have missed the point a bit here because Trakmark also provide a 50mm "border profile" which I think probably has the "V cutouts" already moulded into the profile.
But, I wanted a wider border plank than the main planks.
At the time, I just thought that was how it was done.
I will probably stick to that concept so my borders are going to be a bit more difficult to make than Trakmark have designed.
I hope that makes sense.

You can see the difference in the border sizes in this pic.

This pic also shows how I built up the plank sizes down the side decks.
Had I done it the way that Wattsons made the teak, I think it would have looked odd.
They centred the middle planks cutting the plank beside each border thus making it symmetrical.
Trakmark planks are wider than the original Watson ones.
If I had done that, my cut would have been 12mm on each side and I think would have looked very odd.
This point is evident in my original search when I found that Princess V65
See here

Well, personally, I don't like that so thats why I offset the planks from the centre.
Also, as the deck gets wider, the panel follows the outboard edge and the cut plank gets wider until it merges with the rest of the foredeck.
So, I'm pleased with that concept.
See here

Anyway, I'm sure most people working on their own boats would think about this kind of thing.
That V65 pic proves to me that some contractors probably don't think the same was as us boat owners.

 

[Hurricane]

Very roughly you will pay around £350 per sq m fitted plus the removal of the old teak.
Maybe more if you want borders.
And about £200 per sq m supply only to your own templates.
Maybe more if you want borders.

Remember it is easy to make if you don't need borders.
Without borders, you can get away with just back welds.

As I say, the more difficult part will come in my following posts.

BTW - nobody has yet mentioned "Snapes".
Snapes will be the subject of my next post.

Reading back, I think I may have mislead the prices.
In that post, I was commenting on how much you would pay professionally to have it supplied as panels.
Doing it yourself with Trakmark is a lot cheaper.
And, of course much more rewarding.

 

[vas]

Sorry for the late reply, VAS
I wanted to double check the sizes.

In this case, the plank size is 46mm and each caulking strip is 5mm

But they also offer a "square border" profile.
The "square border profile" is a single plank of 55mm with the usual caulking size of 5mm
So that is 60mm overall.

<snip>

This pic also shows how I built up the plank sizes down the side decks.
Had I done it the way that Wattsons made the teak, I think it would have looked odd.
They centred the middle planks cutting the plank beside each border thus making it symmetrical.
Trakmark planks are wider than the original Watson ones.
If I had done that, my cut would have been 12mm on each side and I think would have looked very odd.
This point is evident in my original search when I found that Princess V65
See here

Well, personally, I don't like that so thats why I offset the planks from the centre.
Also, as the deck gets wider, the panel follows the outboard edge and the cut plank gets wider until it merges with the rest of the foredeck.
So, I'm pleased with that concept.
See here

Anyway, I'm sure most people working on their own boats would think about this kind of thing.
That V65 pic proves to me that some contractors probably don't think the same was as us boat owners.

thanks Mike,

reason I'm asking is that I do have two or three "beams" of teak bought during the rebuilt back in 2013iirc which need cutting and being used to lay teak in my smallish aft deck. Not going to be using anything on side/bow and f/b. Probably wouldn't put teak on the aft deck as well if I hadn't bought it back then tbh!
Try to aim for 40-45cm width. caulking will be 5mm, easy to handle.

BTW, I agree that now yours looks much better than the original with these thin strips on the sides!

You ARE going to do the aft deck as well at some point, right? Or did I miss that being done with the bathing platform?

cheers

V.

 

[Hurricane]

You ARE going to do the aft deck as well at some point, right? Or did I miss that being done with the bathing platform?

cheers

V.

After the flybridge, VAS, the cockpit is next and that bit extends to the lower part of the side decks.
Then there are the flybridge steps themselves - another challenge.

Then it will be complete!!
Mike

 

[vas]

After the flybridge, VAS, the cockpit is next and that bit extends to the lower part of the side decks.
Then there are the flybridge steps themselves - another challenge.

Then it will be complete!!
Mike

ok, so you need two more lockdowns then to complete the job

 

[Hurricane]

ok, so you need two more lockdowns then to complete the job

Actually I think it may be more that just a couple of lock downs.
At the moment, my plan is to try and get out to the boat around Christmas to remove all the flybridge furniture.
Then, hopefully do the teak in Feb/March.
In the meantime, I want to try and make the new panels ready for this next phase.
I think the trouble with lock downs is getting into Spain in the first place.
Once in Spain, we stay isolated anyway and from experience, getting home seems easier, especially as I don't mind self isolating when I'm back.

 

[MapisM]

At the moment, my plan is to try and get out to the boat around Christmas to remove all the flybridge furniture.

Bad timing M, unless you can store the boat inside.
More than likely, after removing all that stuff and the old teak, you will be left with a lot of holes in a sandwich GRP floor.
Not sure about Princess coring technique - hopefully not balsa - but in any case after removing all those bits what you want to have is some days of dry weather and hot sunshine, to dry out the deck as much as possible, also inside.
Doing the job in the winter means that any water (at worst) or humidity/condensation (at best) inside the sandwich will stay trapped there forever, losing the only opportunity that you'll ever have to dry it out.

 

[Hurricane]

Bad timing M, unless you can store the boat inside.
More than likely, after removing all that stuff and the old teak, you will be left with a lot of holes in a sandwich GRP floor.
Not sure about Princess coring technique - hopefully not balsa - but in any case after removing all those bits what you want to have is some days of dry weather and hot sunshine, to dry out the deck as much as possible, also inside.
Doing the job in the winter means that any water (at worst) or humidity/condensation (at best) inside the sandwich will stay trapped there forever, losing the only opportunity that you'll ever have to dry it out.

Good point and I understand what you are saying.
You probably remember that we had those screw holes when we lifted the side decks.
But, at Christmas, I'm only talking of removing the flybridge furniture.
Just getting it back to this

At the moment, any rainwater runs under the furniture anyway so removing it won't make any situation worse.
I don't think there will be any trouble.

 

[jrudge]

I have bought teak ( real sorry ) for my flybridge.

Watsons do a “ teak save“ spec for flybridges which means you don’t need to remove the furniture. Like yours mine runs under all seats grills etc and would be a huge job to remove. We just need to remove the visible stuff. Maybe you can do the same.

 

[Hurricane]

I have bought teak ( real sorry ) for my flybridge.

Watsons do a “ teak save“ spec for flybridges which means you don’t need to remove the furniture. Like yours mine runs under all seats grills etc and would be a huge job to remove. We just need to remove the visible stuff. Maybe you can do the same.

I could do the same but I thought that would be doing half the job.
Different if if it was wood for wood because you probably won't see the join - especially after it has had time to weather.
But changing the whole lot for synthetic, I think the whole lot needs to be done.
Shame but thanks for suggesting.

 

[Hurricane]

Just a quick thread revival
OK so this is what have I been doing during the winter lock down.

Moved the family Land Cruiser out of the garage and set up some space to make the flybridge panels.

First job was to get the templates out and work out how to fit it in the garage.
By splitting the job into 4 main panels, I was able to squeeze it between the garage door and workbench.
In fact it was easier to roll it up whilst welding the other end so I did most of the welding in about 2m runs.

SWMBO bought me a new hot air welder for Christmas.
One of these (a Leister Hot Jet S):-

And I fitted one of these that I had from before:-

Previously I used one of these (Steinel 2620E)

My new Leister welder is quite a lot smaller and way easier to use.
It might be that I can now see underneath it as I'm welding but all my welds worked perfectly.
I guess that the Steinel is just a little too bulky.

As with all welding, it is a matter of continually moving a melted pool of material along as it is fed with fresh welding rod.
The Leister welder allows me to see the melted material glistening as it fuses the joint.

Here is an example from a piece of scrap showing a cross section through one of the welds.

Another improvement this winter.
I made about 20 of these:-

Absolutely brilliant.
Using them to stabilise some mild steel plates whilst the weights hold the joint down.
Like this:-

So, moving on
This is the panel that will eventually go under the helm seat.
The P67 has a raised step so this is a separate panel.

This is the longest panel that runs from the internal staircase hatch to the aft end of the flybridge.
I didn't want to split this piece.
In the examples that I've seen for a P67, the suppliers have made the long panel in two parts and the break doesn't look right IMO.

This panel will go under the table and BBQ

And this one on the dinghy/tender deck

Almost all of the joints between the panels will be under the seats/ furniture.


I have a bit of an experiment running.
Rather that cutting the corners using to welding techniques, I have been heating the synthetic teak and bending it in a former.
The idea is that these bent pieces can then be easily cut and welded into the corners.

This is the former that I made for the corners that will be on the dinghy deck.

Anyway, I thought some of you might be interested in this stage of my upgrade.

 

[vas]

Just a quick thread revival



I have a bit of an experiment running.
Rather that cutting the corners using to welding techniques, I have been heating the synthetic teak and bending it in a former.
The idea is that these bent pieces can then be easily cut and welded into the corners.

This is the former that I made for the corners that will be on the dinghy deck.

Anyway, I thought some of you might be interested in this stage of my upgrade.

looking good Mike!

one Q re the heating/turning.
Obviously wont be the same section throughout, I mean material heats bends, same volume, change in shape, either it goes thinner or narrower, how does it behave and how are you going to deal with it, or is it too little to bother you visually?

Also, on the piece in the first pics under the helm, how do you do the step thing on it? weld vertically a piece or is there a special corner piece for that (doubt it!)

cheers

V.

 

[timbad]

Hi Hurricane, Looking really good.
I especially like the corners, the mark 2 stabilising mild steel hooks look to be work really.
The weights are worth their price in lead, I for one would be interested if any surpluses to requirements after the project come up for sale.
Make sure you do not drop them

 

[Hurricane]

looking good Mike!

one Q re the heating/turning.
Obviously wont be the same section throughout, I mean material heats bends, same volume, change in shape, either it goes thinner or narrower, how does it behave and how are you going to deal with it, or is it too little to bother you visually?

Also, on the piece in the first pics under the helm, how do you do the step thing on it? weld vertically a piece or is there a special corner piece for that (doubt it!)

cheers

V.

Two questions there Vas.

The first one is an experiment and it does seem to be working.
This was the result of bending the material in a former - you can't see it in the photo but there isn't any visible distortion.

My first attempt went wrong and ended up as you suggested.
So, I dismantled the former keeping just the inside bend.
Then gradually pushed the warmed material under the boomerang part of the former until it took the shape.
A couple of sessions and the material bent to the correct shape so I re-attached the top 2 sections of the former.
The only problem I can see is that it may "spring" back as the material starts to get warm again - it is very cold here in the UK at the moment.
That said, if I can get it welded into place quickly, it will retain its shape.
This bend was done the same way and now that it is welded in place, it seems to have kept its shape:-

It all works because this PVC is very stretchy when warmed - on my side decks, they were able to stretch down the length as much as 40mm in the 9.5m long panel lengths.

Your other question is about the step - this one:-

Trackmark supply square section lengths 30mm x 20mm like this:-


So I made the panel oversized and glued some of that section onto the bottom at the edge.
The glue is called "Stellmax" and is a solvent weld adhesive so very strong.
I then cut a grove at the joint where it is glued.
Actually, I had previously planed the corner of the square section off before sticking it thus creating a grove.
I then welded in some "Repair Rod" that they supply.
This is what the repair rod looks like:-


Then by carefully sanding the edge, you can make the joint look "seemless"
Well, that how I did it anyway.

 

[Hurricane]

Make sure you do not drop them

Private joke that I will now come clean on.
Tim knows.
Whilst I was working in the garage, I dropped one of those weights.
And it landed on my mains extension lead - completely severing it.
The result was that it tripped my house RCD and completely screwed one of my computers!!!
Just as well it wasn't my toe!!

 

[GravyStain]

All really inspirational Mike - I love to be hands on, and what you have achieved there is excellent.

Well done!!!

 

[Hurricane]

All really inspirational Mike - I love to be hands on, and what you have achieved there is excellent.

Well done!!!

I think I need to wait until it is fitted before I accept your praise!!!

 

[John100156]

I must say I am really impressed, never been a lover of synthetic teak, but definitely worth considering should I ever need to replace existing teak, a fellow boat owner in my marina has all the tools to do the job which are unlikely to be sold on Ebay once he completes his Project.......

 

[timbad]

I must say I am really impressed, never been a lover of synthetic teak, but definitely worth considering should I ever need to replace existing teak, a fellow boat owner in my marina has all the tools to do the job which are unlikely to be sold on Ebay once he completes his Project.......

The fellow boat owner you refer to has what I call “The Quartermasters” store in his Panole / boat

 

[Hurricane]

The fellow boat owner you refer to has what I call “The Quartermasters” store in his Panole / boat

Thats if you can open the door - there's that much in there!!