Squadron 58 Replacement Decks

[dustywings]

We bought our Squadron 58 at the beginning of 2019 and from the outset it was clear that the teak decks had come to the end of their life. Years of the Mediterranean sun and wear had seen them off so we negotiated a suitable reduction in sale price. The wood was worn away totally in some parts with the epoxy showing through!

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With the boat back in the UK we lived with the decks for the first year not wanting to have the boat out of action when we could be using it. Towards the end of the season we looked at our options and like Hurricane we opted for the synthetic teak for a variety of reasons – my apologies to the purists! I have been fascinated by Hurricanes thread (which I read after ours was completed) and would have definitely taken this option if I had thought about it or actually had the time!

I got quotes from a few companies who all came in around the same price band. Having weighed up the differences we opted for Elite Teak who use Permateek and is owned and run by Tye Conway who it soon became clear is actually an artist in this medium!

So with the supplier decided the next question was what colour to go for. Initially we had not planned on doing the whole boat as some areas were not too bad, so the colour of the new deck had to match the old. This thinking was clearly not going to last long and we quickly decided to do all areas (flybridge, cockpit, side deck and bathing platform) so matching a colour was not an issue. Many days were spent with the samples Tye provided in various positions and lights. Eventually we settled on ‘Ash’ which was perfect, a sort of mid-point between new golden and faded grey.

So all was set for the job to commence early this year, then someone caught something called Covid 19 and the world came to a halt! Tye was finally able to get onto the boat at the end of lockdown when the process of templating and removing the old teak commenced. This was a huge task and took many weeks with it all being removed by hammer and chisel. I assumed that there would be some power tool which would fly though it but apparently all these are too damaging for the boat itself.

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While this was going on the decks were being built back at the workshop with photo updates sent through showing the progress.

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Once an area was stripped there were inevitable scrapes and areas which needed filling so the whole area was sanded then filled then sanded again.

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After this the new deck was dry fitted and trimmed where necessary.

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The new deck was then bonded in place and left to dry. Then came another long process of caulking all the edges, blue tape became a very familiar sight!

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Finally, after over five weeks work with a team of up to five people, the decks were finished and we saw the amazing transformation which had taken place! The boat looked and felt like new plus hopefully has added to its value.

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For anyone looking at doing the same in the UK I would wholeheartedly recommend Elite Teak, their craftmanship is amazing and Tye is a great guy (usual no connection disclaimer!). One small example was when he asked me if I would like some bars put in, I naturally had no idea what he was talking about! He explained that real teak comes in a maximum of 4m lengths so the runs I had were not actually possible. He then measured our 4m lengths and welded in a black caulking bar!

We had all of August away on the boat and we had admirers of the deck wherever we went. It was a chunk of money but the improvement is awesome and makes us love the boat even more! If you have time then the DIY option would be a very rewarding project which would clearly save a large sum of money however I am afraid I still have a day job!!!

 

[petem]

Looks great.

Vince Coda who owns Permateak is a good guy too and a Fairline owner!

 

[Switch]

Looks great, Tye is doing some work for me at the moment so good to see an example of his work.

 

[Hurricane]

Join the club

I've been doing exactly the same - myself.
And there is lots of work involved.

I reported on my progress in this thread (with lots of pics of my progress do far).:-
DIY Synthetic Teak

You are correct when you say an artist - lots of parameters to consider.
I looked at some of the Permateek examples and chose to follow the old Watson wood designs rather than redesigning the layouts.

Also, AFAIK there isn't a machine that takes it off easily - we found that wood wedges and hammers was the best way to go.
I read on this forum that someone used a router to cut sections out - we tried - that didn't work.

Anyway, the result you are getting looks good.
I see that they have designed Snapes into the panels.
I couldn't make Snapes look good in my DIY process so I opted for cleaner lines without Snapes.
Snapes are those curved bits where wood teak can't go to a point - wood at a point can splinter.

 

[alt]

Wow, fair play. Hurricane and yourself have inspired me to do this job on the platform of my Smeraldo 37 this winter.

As i'm in the UK i'm going to have to make a template and send it off.... that's the most worrying bit.... really can't mess the template up.

 

[jrudge]

Having seen the boar first hand I can say it looks lovely ( and better than mine !)

 

[Hurricane]

Wow, fair play. Hurricane and yourself have inspired me to do this job on the platform of my Smeraldo 37 this winter.

As i'm in the UK i'm going to have to make a template and send it off.... that's the most worrying bit.... really can't mess the template up.

Don't plan for this but synthetic teak is very stretchy - you have to heat it up with a hot air gun - then it moves all over the place.
Helps to heat it when fitting anyway.
When we were doing the side decks a professional installer told me that he could stretch the 9m long pieces (that we made for our side decks) as much as 40mm.
I didn't believe him but I was very worried when we first unrolled out the port deck panel - I thought I wouldn't have enough to make the step joint.
I had deliberately left the last border to fit as the last piece when we were actually on the boat.
No need to worry though it easily stretched to fit.
In fact it was better under tension.

This was the bit that stretched



And this was the piece that I fitted to it on site - this piece has a solid 20mm x 30mm section at the front drops over the edge of the deck
So pulling hard and stretching it after it was welded to the long panel made it fit nicely.




So, don't worry too much if don't make the template perfect, you can stretch it a bit.
That said, I tried to make my templates accurate to within 1mm
I believe that the professionals make templates undersize and mark a line inside the template using a known spacer.
I preferred to make the template the EXACT size as the panel that I wanted.

Give Trakmark a call, they have a professional division as well as a DIY supply.
Synthetic teak is really easy to repair and Trakmark supply a repair rod which I believe you can weld into the deck if you ever damage it.
I've never damaged mine but I use the repair rod to make odds and sods like the step edge piece in the pic above.
Once welded in and sanded off, you wouldn't know that the repair rod was there - just like in the pic.

EDIT
Another tip when making the templates - stick them down with double sided tape.
Like this

 

[alt]

Hurricane - Thank you for the tips. What did you use to make the template? I presume you went right to the edge, just leaving a small gap for the caulk around the edges?

 

[Hurricane]

Hurricane - Thank you for the tips. What did you use to make the template? I presume you went right to the edge, just leaving a small gap for the caulk around the edges?

Yes - my logic was that the template needed to be EXACTLY the same size as the final panel.

I used the same templating material that I use for my sewing projects - the same material that I use for canvas covers etc.
The stuff I use is called Fibretex - I buy it from here:-
PE Fibertex 183cm Patterning Material (4 colours)
The clear version
At the moment these people only seem to be selling it by the roll but I'm sure that I've bought it from them in the past by the metre.

EDIT
Also the double sided tape that I used was, again, from my sewing projects.
Basting tape.
It doesn't stick particularly well to the deck but does do the job in the end.
It is sometimes called Venture Tape but I buy a cheaper version from eBay - see here
Sailmakers double sided clear Acrylic basting tape for fabrics,canvas,sails. | eBay
Really good on fabrics anyway.

 

[alt]

Excellent, thanks!

Did you make the template before or after removing the old teak?

 

[kashurst]

Great result - I was re-reading the MBY story about you and Clan 2 this afternoon. I hope all is going well.
Boat decks look really good. Especially around the anchor windlass.

 

[Hurricane]

Excellent, thanks!

Did you make the template before or after removing the old teak?

I made the templates before removing the old teak.
I also drew rough lines on the template with a Sharpie pen showing the layout of the existing planks.
The new planks are different widths than the old wood ones but the drawn lines helped me "line up" the new planks especially round the side decks.
The first decision you must make is whether to make the new panels with borders.
It is MUCH easier to make a panel without borders but it doesn't look as good.
And once you have decided to use borders, I think you should think of the size of the borders.
IMO, borders need to be slightly wider than the other planks - I think it just looks better.
dustywings ones look a little wider - about the right amount.

Sorry dustywings - I seem to have stolen this thread.

 

[alt]

I made the templates before removing the old teak.
I also drew rough lines on the template with a Sharpie pen showing the layout of the existing planks.
The new planks are different widths than the old wood ones but the drawn lines helped me "line up" the new planks especially round the side decks.
The first decision you must make is whether to make the new panels with borders.
It is MUCH easier to make a panel without borders but it doesn't look as good.
And once you have decided to use borders, I think you should think of the size of the borders.
IMO, borders need to be slightly wider than the other planks - I think it just looks better.
dustywings ones look a little wider - about the right amount.

Sorry dustywings - I seem to have stolen this thread.

I'll also stop thread hi-jacking now! Just wanted to say thanks for the info.

I would like to keep the 'design' the same. I will be sending the template to the UK to have it made up... no way i'm going to attempt to make my own (I admire you for doing it. Trust me, I love a challenge but not this time).

Thanks for the tip re. the borders - i'll make note of this.

 

[Bigplumbs]

That decking looks lovely and a credit to the Boat and the person who did it.

On the DIY score I love doing things myself but this sort of work scares the heck out of me so Kudos to those that do

 

[Tony W]

Great thread, very informative and it looks amazing.
I’m considering the same on identical boat and wondered how it’s held out over the last 3 years?
- Any “benefit of hindsight thoughts”
- You happy its lasting the test of time

out of interest when it came to the flybridge, did you remove all the seat casing’s to cover the whole floor plan or cut upto their edges and seal off after new had been laid?