Elite-Teak - imitation replacement teak deck

Hi Michael,

I had my side decks done in weathered (one of the colours) Permateek by a guy called Mike Jordan (mike at permateek dot com). This was 2 or 3 years ago and they still look fabulous and not much different from the real teak that I have on my cockpit seats (but much easier to keep clean). Fitting involved Mike making 2 visits to the boat- one to measure and create templates, the second to fit the material which had been prepared offsite. You could ask him whether he fancies a couple of day trips to Gib (or elsewhere along that coast). He did a beautiful job for me - I can't recommend him too highly.

Jonathan
 
The cockpit of my Moody had artificial 'teak' installed to replace the teak on the seats, horrible stuff, an unnatural yellowish brown vaguely like the colour of freshly planed timber or teak that has had Semco painted on it, it looks feels and grips nothing like the real stuff, though you can lash it with a power washer without any feeling of guilt. Why do they try to make these ersatz materials look like something that is natural and weathers, surely they can just design it to be what it is. Part of the problem is that the real teak cockpit grating is right beside it.
Well down the project list as while it is nothing like as comfortable or grippy as the real stuff it offends only me, my wife thinks it is 'okay'.
 
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Like most products you will find people who are totally satisfied with fake teak - but note there are many brands and different quality levels - and some who would not touch it with a barge pole.

You also need to be aware that it is nowhere near as cheap as you might think when you first look, particularly if you go for the high quality ones and have it fitted professionally.

I assume you already have teak decks that need replacing. If so then a significant part of the cost is removing the old teak and labour for fitting. Material is the smallest part. The removal and fitting are essentially the same for either material.

It is worth considering preformed teak panels which are made to pattern and then glued down in one piece, rather than the labour intensive fitting of individual strakes. This is a method used by production builders, but you can get retrofit panels made by specialists such as KJ Howells in Poole or Moodydeck in Swanwick. The latter may well have patterns already for your boat.

Whichever way you go will be a lot of money and you may wish to consider just removing the old deck, filling, fairing and painting perhaps with Kiwigrip as an alternative. This method is becoming increasingly popular as the cost of any covering, real or fake becomes a substantial proportion of the value of older boats.
 
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