New cockpit grating - Teak, Iroko or summat else?

[NPMR]

The current teak grating in 'HUZZAH's' cockpit is showing distinct signs of wear/falling apart and anyway, the 'slats' are too far apart and not comfortable and sometimes even a little painful for bare feet.

I plan to make a new one but have been quoted £167 for the planed/thicknessed wood using Iroko and teak was a wild amount more! And that's just for the wood: I still have to make it!

I think Iroko is going to be too carroty/splintery for bare feet and I don't want to varnish the tinker every year (and I'm not sure about how slippery when wet it might be as well). Teak is going to be uneconomic.

Is there anything else I should look at? What about deal/birch etc?

 

[saxonpirate]

The current teak grating in 'HUZZAH's' cockpit is showing distinct signs of wear/falling apart and anyway, the 'slats' are too far apart and not comfortable and sometimes even a little painful for bare feet.

I plan to make a new one but have been quoted £167 for the planed/thicknessed wood using Iroko and teak was a wild amount more! And that's just for the wood: I still have to make it!

I think Iroko is going to be too carroty/splintery for bare feet and I don't want to varnish the tinker every year (and I'm not sure about how slippery when wet it might be as well). Teak is going to be uneconomic.

Is there anything else I should look at? What about deal/birch etc?

When you say grating, are you talking about a proper grating or duck boards? If duck boards, Iroko will do fine spaced at about 30mm apart with a 1/4 or 3/8 router bit run down the edges.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say there are an awful lot of boats out there running around with slatting/duckboards etc made of Iroko, that their owners are convinced is Teak.....

Iroko is a good marine wood and although not as easy to work as Teak, will give many years of service untreated.

 

[ccscott49]

The current teak grating in 'HUZZAH's' cockpit is showing distinct signs of wear/falling apart and anyway, the 'slats' are too far apart and not comfortable and sometimes even a little painful for bare feet.

I plan to make a new one but have been quoted £167 for the planed/thicknessed wood using Iroko and teak was a wild amount more! And that's just for the wood: I still have to make it!

I think Iroko is going to be too carroty/splintery for bare feet and I don't want to varnish the tinker every year (and I'm not sure about how slippery when wet it might be as well). Teak is going to be uneconomic.

Is there anything else I should look at? What about deal/birch etc?

Have a look at the teak grating kits, available from KJ Howells in Poole, very reasonable and dead easy to make up, (even I can do them) in virtually any size/shape, you can modify the outside frame to fit curves etc.
I would advise having a few clamps and two pices of ply (covered with cling film), to clamp the grating to, to allow the glue to set and keep it all together.

 

[fergie_mac66]

The current teak grating in 'HUZZAH's' cockpit is showing distinct signs of wear/falling apart and anyway, the 'slats' are too far apart and not comfortable and sometimes even a little painful for bare feet.

I plan to make a new one but have been quoted £167 for the planed/thicknessed wood using Iroko and teak was a wild amount more! And that's just for the wood: I still have to make it!

I think Iroko is going to be too carroty/splintery for bare feet and I don't want to varnish the tinker every year (and I'm not sure about how slippery when wet it might be as well). Teak is going to be uneconomic.

Is there anything else I should look at? What about deal/birch etc?

Deal birch would be a waste of time if your making a proper grating deal ok for duck boards. last a few years then make some more.

Iroko ok but can be a really hard wood to work without regular tool sharpening. can be a bit susceptible to twisting and warping likes to be held in place

 

[Gwylan]

Had a similar problem - broken floor and broken bank!
Found some tiles for patio and similar made of compressed elastic bands and delivered in a variety of colours - red & green. About £40,00 per square metre.

We took the red, cut them to size to fit the cockpit - they are fantastic
1 water drains through them
2 they are more comfortable to stand on, when helming for long night passages
3 they absorb impact of heavy footed crew and make sleeping below easier
3b they do not break under the impact of crew in 3!
4 things do manage to hide themselves under the boards
5 must be a bit more 'Copenhagen' than teak or other hard wood.

There was the twerp who managed to proove that they do not float by throwing a piece over the side and missing the pontoon. But my mistake was marrying her.

 

[Tillernut]

I'm doing a duckboard out of mahogany,(it was free) and I will be oiling it, not varnishing.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Last time I built a grating I bought a teak board direct from the importer and then found an enthusiastic amateur woodworker to run it through his bandsaw and planer-thicknesser to produce the stock required. (I bought him a new set of planer-thicknesser blades as a present.) I then used my Bosch Router in a home made router table on a work-mate to cut the slots to make the castellated bite for the grating. The 1" square stock was heald together with sash clamps. The router struggled a bit as 1" router bits are about the limit for a 1/4 arbor router and you have to be careful the bit doesn't creep in the arbor produce the wrong depth cut.

The whole grating in teak was considerably cheaper than a Howells Kit and much much less than buying in planed and thicknessed stock.