Fake teak

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flawed_logic

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I've got a GRP boat and wanted to break up the expanse of white which previously i did with teak, this time i opted for a fakery version Flexiteek (http://www.flexiteek.com/), it's been on the boat now for 6 months and can say i'd never go back to teak again, the stuff it amazing and most people dont notice the difference, it even has grain fibres in it so to the touch it feels (sort of) natural .... and to clean it .... power washer ...done in 20 mins.
FYI not affiliated with the co or sell it etc
 
Good to hear. The early fake-teak producst of 10-15 years ago really looked fake but I was amazed at how real one of the decking products was at the last boat show. I would certinly consider using it next time rather than having rain-forest stuck to the cockpit seat tops.
 
30boat said:
It's all very well but how much does it cost?
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Hmmm, I'm told to expect more than £10k to replace our genuine teak when the time comes - this fake stuff doesn't have to be a lot cheaper to still be attractive.
 
The best bit of display marketing I saw was at the boatshow, one bit of faded wood teak one bit of plastic teak. Both made into a bow shape it really showed off the difference between plastic and wood.

While I was on the stand having a chat a guy came up to the salesman, rubbed his hand on the faded teak and said something along the lines of "It might be faded, but it still looks better than this plastic stuff" and then walked off the stand.

The salesman shook his head smiling, they were both plastic :D
 
maby said:
Hmmm, I'm told to expect more than £10k to replace our genuine teak when the time comes - this fake stuff doesn't have to be a lot cheaper to still be attractive.
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And, assuming your original teak is old forest stuff and the new will be fast-grown plantation, the ten grand "real" version won't even be as good as what it replaces.

Pete
 
prv said:
And, assuming your original teak is old forest stuff and the new will be fast-grown plantation, the ten grand "real" version won't even be as good as what it replaces.

Pete
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No, it's only a couple of years old, so I seriously doubt it is "forest stuff"
 
A couple of years ago in ambitious mood, I sent for a sample of Tek-Dek. Oddly enough it's still in use as a coaster beside my laptop, and the brochure came to light under my armchair at the weekend.

I asked the salesman at last year's SIBS why the colouring is so consistent...in my mind, there are innumerable natural irregularities in real hardwood decking, which are conspicuously absent in all the fake varieties.

Real pieces of wood from different trees/origins might be too objectionably-contrasting for designers' preferences, but that contrast is present in all the real old teak we see used. I'd think the manufacturers would do better to have a mix of shades in their process, and take care to ensure that strips of differing shades are supplied to each client. I saw a Contessa 32 with fake teak applied, and very fine she looked...but it didn't look real. The brown-ness was too bland...

...not that I disapprove. Teak's fabulous, and the most convincing fake teak deserves huge success.
 
Sorry. But fake is fake and I can't ever imagine being happy with it.
So either go for real wood, or real GRP.

Neither are trying to pretend to be something they are not.
 
michaelchapman said:
Sorry. But fake is fake and I can't ever imagine being happy with it.
So either go for real wood, or real GRP.

Neither are trying to pretend to be something they are not.
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Don't follow that argument at all. Teak is attractive to look at, comfortable to walk on (unless it's really sunny and hot), good non-slip properties and gives an air of luxury as it's expensive. Downside is it's a limited resource and maintenance can take a little bit of effort plus fixing the deck can create other issues. So a product that keeps all the pluses and eliminates the downsides is just common-sense to me. I don't think it's trying to be teak at all, it's trying to be an alternative to teak. OK, it doesn't belong a traditional boat but neither do glassfibre hulls or man-made fibres. Purely personal preference though obviously.
 
I think it's probably still early days, isn't it? Think of the horrendous new varieties of sweaty artificial-fibre clothing that were touted as tremendous, 50 or 60 years ago. In recent years I've looked fondly at old shirts which I'd always enjoyed believing were pure cotton, and discovered to my amazement, they were not!

I doubt any of us goes around on hands and knees scrutinising decks for pleasure (not even surveyors!), so if the deck looks and feels pretty much as you expect laid hardwood to look, but needs no thorough maintenance, nor a king's ransom replacement after twenty years, then 'fake' is perfectly fine with me, and preferable to any GRP I've seen.

That said, the bland consistent colour issue of current imitation teak, needs addressing. At the price it is, it ought to be above any criticism. Who can tell a fake fur coat? (Actually a voice of experience told me that the naked girl inside can tell it's a fake, but she'd know anyway, presumably.)

In time, the fake will top the real thing.
 
dancrane said:
In time, the fake will top the real thing.
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I think so too. I hope, at the same time, that it will not cost almost as much as the real thing.

I was an early user of Tek-Dek for a pair of cockpit locker lids on a Trapper 500 I once owned and after a few years no one could tell they were not real; perhaps they absorbed a few stains and scuffs as the surface emulates that of the real wood.

Not a good photograph but this shows them together with the companionway frame - real teak not treated, washboards - teak-faced ply treated with a varnish containing a UV protection (big mistake).

BCHCMBR6.jpg

Like many things, teak is no longer the same quality it once was. As I wrote recently in another thread, genuinely mature teak is not easy to find because reputable dealers will only buy from suppliers of wood from certified "sustainable forest" importers such as FSC certified ones, which invariably means plantation wood. On most plantations it is rarely harvested with much over 20 years of growth, resulting in an inferior quality because there is little heartwood, the densest and oil-rich part, nor is there the weight of a large tree to compress the cellular growth rings as they form.

When I bought my old (1981) HR the aft teak deck (a small area encircling the back of the cockpit) had been renewed at some time. It looked in far better condition than the original, main deck but has since deteriorated badly with the wood breaking up and wearing away in parts, where the main deck has hardly changed over the years of my ownership - clearly a world apart in quality.
 
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Reading some of the posts it's worth noting that fake teak has moved on quite a bit, i know as i was against it my self a few years back and i was very close to not doing it this time. Unfortunately when you take photos like the one i supplied they take out the detail, fake teak doesn't look like uniform paint with black lines on but has texture and slight colour variations.
Anyways it's a decision i've not regretted .... and i've made poor ones!
 
Well, I'm convinced, AWOL. Is that because it's real?

Surely the point is, if we're remotely unsure, then the job of imitation has been done. If we downgraded our opinion of a yacht because we weren't COMPLETELY sure the decking was real wood, we'd have to be strangely mean-minded, because if there's any doubt at all, the copy must be excellent.
 
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