refurbish warn teak deck?

[mobeydick]

Now I know many people say stay away from boats with teak decks (which I tend to agree with), but setting that aside for now, I am asking for opinions from people with experience or knowledge of such things.

I have seen a boat which would suit my needs very well, but which has a stuck-on teak deck which is quite grooved, and showing signs of wear. The broker says the owner cleaned too much (the rest of the boat is spotless) with stiff brush. It has been used about 8 years.

A few (3-4) of the strips/planks are showing more wear than others, I am told probably because they were lower quality teak. If these strips were replaced, and the whole lot sanded down, there would be about 6mm of teak remaining. Probably 3-4mm has gone. The deck was stuck down using vacuum bagging, with no screws. Teak is in cockpit and 'the ring', not saloon roof.



Is the explanation feasible, or could the teak be exceptionally susceptible to wear? I can probably get the price down to allow for the work, but would that be the end of it for a good many years?

Failing that, the fake, grey 'weathered teak' looks OK on the stand, but I still have yet to see it on a real boat (I think).

 

[Matwill]

i think its important to understand why people say stay away from teak decks.. most of the time they are screwed into a grp core making 1000's of holes in an otherwise waterproof deck. when the teak and caulking wears it creates gaps between the teak or near the screwholes where water can penetrate the core. This can destroy the underlying structure of your boats deck. A lot of boat manufacturers changes to vacuum bagged non screwed teak decks due to this issue. Most of these changes happened in the mid 2000's.

This sort of installation takes away ALL of the problems screw fixed teak decks create.. the worse that can happen is you could remove the teak and glue on more. Even if your calking splits it wont destroy your boat. Also since glue on faux teak decks are quite cheap i would be inclined to strip off the old teak and replace with a faux teak deck. You could also just re caulk and sand your current deck.

you should be super thankful that you got a boat with the new vacuum bagged glued installation. sounds like you didn't know there was a difference, so you got lucky