Fake teak

[josephmoore]

Saw this stuff on Katie L and yeah, it's pretty good. It's obviously not wood if you look at it close up, but as a slightly soft non-slip coating for hatches and locker lids, I'd have it on my boat. Certainly beats the horrid 1970s orange and blue plastic that's there at the moment. Has a nice, warm tone and feel to it.

EDIT: Just looked up the price... maybe I won't be having it on my boat!

 

[Elessar]

I too used Flexiteek and got Advanced Marine Decking of Deacons to make the panels. My GRP guy stuck it down.

Differentiating between the teak decking is difficult, but as far as I know only this one has colour variation within the plastic which look like the natural variation in wood. Rob's team at Advanced Marine Decking make and weld the panels with brilliant skill and attention to detail. www.advancedmarinedecking.co.uk no connection except as a delighted customer.

People just don't believe me when I tell them it's lino.

I chose the one that to me looked like aged teak that had freshly been cleaned with a 2 part cleaner.

I am about to have some more done.

What it looks like

Deciding on colour

Note here the colour variation can be seen. It is not on the surface, so if you sand out damage the colour variation remains. The small square is a competitor without the colour variation which looks less convincing.

Fitting

What it covered up

 

[robertj]

I redid my cockpit seating over the winter - actually spring 'cos the temperature was too cold for the glue. So, which is it, real or fake?

Fake

 

[awol]

Fake

How dare you, sir. Most definitely real and it was a smidgeon less than the Tek-dek price ....... and the Welsh wizard that produced the panels reworked my measuring cock-ups, including adding a bit, for only the cost of the postage. Taff Howells http://www.taffhowells.co.uk/, no relation to the other teak Howells, was the man and I can heartily recommend him, a pleasure to deal with.

 

[blueglass]

I just don't get it. If the real thing is available at pretty much the same price its a no brainer. I wavered between the two myself a few years back until the quotes came in within a few quid of each other. Very glad I went for the real deal - why? because I KNOW its real.

 

[Elessar]

I just don't get it. If the real thing is available at pretty much the same price its a no brainer. I wavered between the two myself a few years back until the quotes came in within a few quid of each other. Very glad I went for the real deal - why? because I KNOW its real.

I
It wasn't a price decision for me.
I chose what was for me the best option. I don't like silver teak and keeping it straw coloured takes a lot of timeand nasty chemicals.
I completely understand your choice though.

 

[30boat]

I just don't get it. If the real thing is available at pretty much the same price its a no brainer. I wavered between the two myself a few years back until the quotes came in within a few quid of each other. Very glad I went for the real deal - why? because I KNOW its real.

I wouldn't even think of going for real teak.The modern fake alternatives are tougher and look great.I don't care if it's not real.If autenticity were an issue I'd only have a mechanical clock down below for instance.

 

[doris]

I wouldn't even think of going for real teak.The modern fake alternatives are tougher and look great.I don't care if it's not real.If autenticity were an issue I'd only have a mechanical clock down below for instance.

Mechanical clock.........excellent expression of the luddite attitude of some forumites.

 

[Georgio]

I don’t get it…

Real wood stuck to a plastic boat is still “Fake” is it not? By adding this to a GRP deck you are simply trying to emulate the solid teak decks of a traditionally built boat. I think anyone who is “snotty” about modern teak-effect deck coverings are kidding themselves.

I’m pleased I don’t have teak or teak-effect decking on most of my boat but I do have teak stuck to the cockpit seat tops, when it needs replacing it will almost certainly be done with the synthetic alternative.

 

[awol]

I wouldn't even think of going for real teak.The modern fake alternatives are tougher and look great.I don't care if it's not real.If autenticity were an issue I'd only have a mechanical clock down below for instance.

My ship's clock (and watch) may use electrical energy rather than a wound spring but are reassuringly mechanical with analogue displays, usually referred to as big and little hands. My choice of real teak, unlike yours for plastic, was made after considered thought.

 

[30boat]

My ship's clock (and watch) may use electrical energy rather than a wound spring but are reassuringly mechanical with analogue displays, usually referred to as big and little hands. My choice of real teak, unlike yours for plastic, was made after considered thought.

I'm not disputing that.If it makes you happy then that's what you should do.But to me it doesn't make sense.

 

[BrianH]

I just don't get it. If the real thing is available at pretty much the same price its a no brainer.

I "get it" very well, and "its a no brainer" to not chose teak for a deck. I have learned my lesson the hard way to never again to own a yacht with a teak deck.

A depleting resource, if forest teak - the only worthwhile sort - used as a cosmetic cladding on an otherwise structurally sound surface, adding weight at a height to compromise stability - sheer madness.

Hot as hell in a warm climate. Constant maintenance of a ticking time bomb.

Yes, I got it all right, but too late.

Probably acceptable for those who sell on before it becomes the inevitable problem.

 

[robertj]

How dare you, sir. Most definitely real and it was a smidgeon less than the Tek-dek price ....... and the Welsh wizard that produced the panels reworked my measuring cock-ups, including adding a bit, for only the cost of the postage. Taff Howells http://www.taffhowells.co.uk/, no relation to the other teak Howells, was the man and I can heartily recommend him, a pleasure to deal with.

I stand corrected. It definately fooled me, could have sworn it was fake

 

[robertj]

I had my cockpit done early this year (stripped last year) and was given the option of teak or fake plastic. I didn't know what to go with both have their attributes, the plastic nearly looks like teak, better for cleaning etc but as one old guy said teak is a thing of beauty.
The plastic was more expensive so went for the real stuff.
Someone's making a killing out of this plastic stuff.

 

[Sybarite]

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.

What's wrong with real GRP that looks like teak? You have the looks without the worries, and that has been Amel's policy for years. You can't accuse them of being cheap.

 

[westernman]

What's wrong with real GRP that looks like teak? You have the looks without the worries, and that has been Amel's policy for years. You can't accuse them of being cheap.

What's wrong with real GRP which looks like GRP??

I have a lot of respect for Amel - for a serious cruising boat.
There is an awful lot of things which are done really well and a lot of attention to detail.

However, it IMHO is let down by the fake teak. Everything else has its place, its reason and its function.

For me that the fake teak on the Amel is a real turn off (although the fake stuff on the new boats is considerably less horrible than that on the earlier boats).

Amel's don't have the sex appeal of some other boats when rowing away from them.

 

[snooks]

Amel's don't have the sex appeal of some other boats when rowing away from them.

The new 55 is a cracker, and I quite like the modern looks

 

[rule the waves]

It's all very well but how much does it cost?

I've asked price for a "retrofit": average between 400-450 pnds/sq.mtr, fitting included...
So, not realy cheep - but very good stuff!

 

[richardbrennan]

I had my cockpit seats and sole done with Dek-King a few months ago and I am very pleased with the result. However, it does mark to a degree when fenders are dragged across it and I find a Scotch Brite scourer is the best way of removing these marks. As far as choice is concerned, I think it's very much a personal issue as to which looks best to you and appearances do vary; some, to my mind, are very orange in appearance.

However, my main reason for posting is to share with you a remark my surveyor made when I bought my boat. He said there were two things people only did once; one was to buy a boat with a teak deck, and the other was to buy a boat with a dark blue hull. I now know what he means, I don't have teak decks but still spend hours trying to keep my dark blue hull looking good!

 

[Tranona]

Have just taken a deep breath and bought enough teak and adhesive to do my whole deck. Many of you will know that I am very critical of teak decks. Why? Not necessarily because they are teak but the way they are attached to the boat. Most of the failures I have seen have been because they are laid swept and screwed onto either a GRP, ply or steel substrate. The teak is always in tension/compression and expands and contracts at a different rate from the substrate. Result, the seams fail and the bungs covering the screws pop out, or wear down - water gets in and ruins the deck.

However, if you look at boats where the teak is laid straight and glued to the substrate these last longer, despite the teak being less than half the thickness of a "conventional" swept deck. The teak strips in my Bavaria cockpit stood up to 10 years in the Med, being pressure washed regularly (charterers like to see them clean) and have only required minor recaulking in areas where water lies.

The deck on my old Eventide is ply and sound apart from localised rot in joins which I have mostly repaired with epoxy, and painted with International deck paint. Constant battle to keep it looking good and repairing the odd bits. So doing its 50 year refit (last one was at 30 years!) decided to do something about the deck.

So, it will be 55*4mm quarter sawn teak strips with 5mm wide seams, laid straight using Saba adhesives. This will add little weight and should easily last me out - in fact on a summer use only boat the wear on decks is minimal, now all sail handling is from the cockpit. There will be no problems of differential expansion, no stress on the teak, and most importantly NO FASTENINGS!

Fortunately, because the teak is "off cuts" from a big job, cut from stock that has been here for many years, the cost is a small fraction of even the cheapest substitute. Should keep me busy the rest of the summer - if it stops raining!