Replacing the Teak in the Cockpit

[Gypsyjoss]

My cockpit sole and benches are covered in the traditional way with 65x8mm teak strips at 100mm centres.

They're in a poor state and I've dodged doing anything for the last 4 years. Most of the screw holes have their plugs missing; the strips are heavily grooved, some are bowed laterally, some are split, water and dirt gets underneath etc. As a minimum they all need to come up, be sanded flat on both sides, be refitted, some replaced etc. Frankly, I don't have time to do this, and I don't like all the screw holes (there are 84 screws holding these strips to the sole, which has partially delaminated!) so am considering sheet alternatives such as Tek Dek, teak veneered ply etc

What's available now? Good or bad experience? Slippage characteristics- I can't be slipping off the seat when the boat's at 20 deg to horizontal!?

Cheers

 

[neil1967]

I'm in the same boat, so to speak - decks were replaced about 15 years ago, and still have plenty of life in them. The cockpit teak is original (25 years old) and as a minimum the helm's (domed) seat needs replacing - a couple of the planks have split. Artificial teak seems attractive, but it will never match the rest. But there again, if I use new teak, how long before it weathers to match the rest?

Neil

 

[fastjedi]

Did mine in March.

I made the templates
K J Howells in Poole made the panels
I removed the old teak and fitted the new panels and am very pleased with the outcome

I understand they start with 9mm teak. In my case, the finished thickness was 6mm as they fit into recesses in the GRP. I used Sika 291 to stick the panels down and Sika 290DC for the caulking around the edge

 

[Tranona]

Second Howells if you want the easiest most professional looking job. Remove all the existing teak, make good the surface and stick the new panels down with Sika. No screws required. Think ready made panels are around £300 sqm - not cheap but the best.

Alternative is to cut your own strips from 2.5mm veneers from Robbins and stick down with Sika. Less than half the price but lot of work and does not look as good or survive as long in an open cockpit.

If you don't fancy teak, just remove the old teak, make good and paint with something like Kiwigrip - or even if you can get a good substrate, deck paint.

 

[Gypsyjoss]

Thanks Guys.
Have just been given a sample of teak strip sheet. I like. Awaiting the price!!!
Pete

 

[davidej]

Think ready made panels are around £300 sqm - not cheap but the best.

Isn't this what architects use as a rule of thumb for costing an extension to your house?

 

[Tranona]

Isn't this what architects use as a rule of thumb for costing an extension to your house?

No, its taken from my copy of Howells catalogue which quotes £261, but I think that is a couple of years out of date.

Easy to check with them (and Moody Deck in Swanwick who offer similar) if you want an exact quote.

 

[Bobobolinsky]

If replacing all of it replace with Iroko, yes I know I bang on about Iroko, but it's a lot cheaper than black market teak

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

+1 for Iroko. In the process of replacing all my external wood. Seat slats will be 55x15mm slats screwed from underneath and spaced 6mm (so the lighter and pipe-tool do not disappear). Still putting off the replacement of the toe-rail/rubbing strip. I need to check if the vertical covering part has much sag to it before I go ahead. Finish will be several coats of Wood Life which, apparently, does not flake or peel and is supposedly easy to touch up.

 

[KevO]

The cockpit lids and the floor in my Hustler needed redoing. They were teak strips mounted on ply, bolted through the locker tops. The Caulk was in bad shape so I stripped the panels off to refurb them. Luckily the stuff they had been bedded on with was quite decayed, soft and crumbly so it wasn't a problem getting the panels off once the bolts were undone.

They were in pretty rag order so I cleaned 'em up and painted the ply base with wood hardener (as suggested by some forumites) where it had gone a little soft. Once the old caulk was removed the grooves were only about 1-2mm deep to I opted to route them out properly 6mm wide by about the same deep. The sides of the grooves were then primed with sika primer and after the appropriate time, bond-breaker tape was applied to the bottom of the grooves and the top of the strips masked off.

Then for the mucky bit!

The sika 290DC was gunned into place and carefully tooled over with a plastic spatula. Man that stuff gets EVERYWHERE! Extreme care required

Masking tape removed and the boards left to cure for a week. Excess caulk cut away carefully with a stanley blade and the whole lot sanded back.

They are not perfect but they are a hell of a lot better than they were and I think will last a few more years before I will have to properly replace them.

So... the question is... what to rebed them back onto the locker lids with? I don't want to use something that will never let me get them off again
when I choose to replace them in a few years time.

 

[capsco]

Isn't this what architects use as a rule of thumb for costing an extension to your house?

Good point

 

[vyv_cox]

I did ours around 12 years ago with Marinedeck 2000. It's cork based, comes in strips about 35 mm wide with a machined recess for caulking, and 50 mm edge strips. Can be cut with a knife, relatively easy to lay. It's still in almost the same condition as it was when laid, has darkened slightly but looks good. Hard-wearing, good non-slip, warm to sit on, dries far more quickly than wood.

 

[Tranona]

So... the question is... what to rebed them back onto the locker lids with? I don't want to use something that will never let me get them off again
when I choose to replace them in a few years time.

Stick them back on with Sika and don't bother with the screws, just put plugs in the holes. The strips look like they have plenty of thickness so you will never need to remove them until the teak is worn out - then it will be a job for your grandchildren. You can extend the life even further by having a nice cockpit cover made to keep the dirt and weather off for the 90% or so of the time when the boat is not being used.

 

[KevO]

Stick them back on with Sika and don't bother with the screws, just put plugs in the holes. The strips look like they have plenty of thickness so you will never need to remove them until the teak is worn out - then it will be a job for your grandchildren. You can extend the life even further by having a nice cockpit cover made to keep the dirt and weather off for the 90% or so of the time when the boat is not being used.

Tranona,

They aren't that thick, prob 5-6mm of teak on a similar thickness of ply. I think I will put a few of the bolts back in, even if only the ones one the four corners and plug the rest. I was already thinking about having a cockpit cover made up... if nothing else it'll help keep the ****ehawks off

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

I had a look around the Rustler Yachts factory today.

Interesting to see that they now install teak decks without any screwing and plugs. They are just glued down.

 

[vyv_cox]

I had a look around the Rustler Yachts factory today.

Interesting to see that they now install teak decks without any screwing and plugs. They are just glued down.

In the PBO article by the Chandlers on redecking Lynn Rival they used no fasteners, all adhesives. But they spent a lot of time on steaming the strips for an accurate fit, which I guess might be less necessary with screwed fastenings?

 

[Tranona]

I had a look around the Rustler Yachts factory today.

Interesting to see that they now install teak decks without any screwing and plugs. They are just glued down.

Very common noiw. Tom Cunliffe has just had his boat done using that method. Builders have learned from the disastrous practice of screwing down, particularly into cored decks which has blighted so many otherwise classy boats.

 

[Tranona]

Tranona,

They aren't that thick, prob 5-6mm of teak on a similar thickness of ply. I think I will put a few of the bolts back in, even if only the ones one the four corners and plug the rest. I was already thinking about having a cockpit cover made up... if nothing else it'll help keep the ****ehawks off

That is enough thickness to last you out! Really would not bother with fastenings as they only provide a potential source of leaks allowing water into the ply. If the ply is only 6mm thick you may get flexing, so might be worth adding some battens underneath.

I Have 2.5mm teak strips on the cockpit seats of my Eventide actually epoxied onto the ply that show no significant wear in the 20 year since I put them on. My modern Bavaria has teak strips about 3mm thick bonded onto ply then onto GRP and are still sound after 12 years - 9 of them in the Med.