Teak Deck replacement - techniques

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Delfini

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I recently bought a beautiful Swan yacht with a 20 year old laid teak deck which is coming to the end of its life - I pretty much accounted for a replacement deck in the final purchase price and having looked at all of the options of refurbishing the existing deck or replacing with fake teak or no teak, I have decided the only thing to do is to bite the bullet and refit the deck with the best grade teak I can find

However there are 3 x methods being offered by competing UK yards and I wonder if anyone has experience of any or all of these and can offer any comment as to the good or bad points of each method

The first method is to cut, fit and glue individual 12mm planks with a 3mm caulking rebate direct to the GRP sub deck - caulking done afterwards

Second is to build a template of the deck and then make up appropriate sized panels using similar 3mm rebated 12mm planks and then caulking (this holds the panels together) before gluing to the GRP sub deck

The third method is to fabricate the entire deck from templates using square section planks laid upside down on jigs and covered with a thin glass fibre mat before gluing the whole thing to the GRP sub deck - caulking done after the deck has been laid

Thanks for any advice
 
A better method is to use spacers when laying the boards instead of the rebate. That rebate is there to make the deck easier to lay, but it effectively reduces the useable deck thickness down to 8 or 9mm compared to 12mm

Consider going to a white fibreglass deck, except for the cockpit. It will be much cooler and cheaper. The financial damage to your 20 yr old yacht from doing this will be less than the cost of a new deck I suspect.
 
1 = sort of traditional but as Zing says rebate may not be best. The gap is supposed to allow for the teak to expand and contract, if the rebate is hard up against the next strip then how does this happen?
2= the rebate issue again, also not sure how caulking would hold it all together during fitting/
3= Sounds feasable. no rebates and something to hold it all together.

having said this I usume that these yards know their stuff ( my experience is just re fitting my own deck) Cost is also an issue.
You didnt invite the question but ( like Zing) I would consider the option of removing the teak! Quite a weight benefit too!
 
... just to note - the original deck was laid by Swan using rebated planks - I can see some of these rebated joints now showing level with the caulking and proving the deck has worn down 9mm in these areas - in terms of expansion problems etc it seems this isnt something to worry about as the deck is very sound, however its clear that you get less than the original thickness for wear when using a rebate technique for spacing

pcatterall said:
1 = sort of traditional but as Zing says rebate may not be best. The gap is supposed to allow for the teak to expand and contract, if the rebate is hard up against the next strip then how does this happen?
2= the rebate issue again, also not sure how caulking would hold it all together during fitting/
3= Sounds feasable. no rebates and something to hold it all together.

having said this I usume that these yards know their stuff ( my experience is just re fitting my own deck) Cost is also an issue.
You didnt invite the question but ( like Zing) I would consider the option of removing the teak! Quite a weight benefit too!
Click to expand...
 
Delfini said:
... just to note - the original deck was laid by Swan using rebated planks - I can see some of these rebated joints now showing level with the caulking and proving the deck has worn down 9mm in these areas - in terms of expansion problems etc it seems this isnt something to worry about as the deck is very sound, however its clear that you get less than the original thickness for wear when using a rebate technique for spacing
Click to expand...

I think that, if 9mm has worn away, the deck is pretty well worn out anyway. If there's only 3mm left, that's realistically only another 1mm or so of wear. So any of the methods you've mentioned would work. One thing you might do when comparing prices is to check how long the boat needs to be in a workshop. Doing the whole job on the boat obviously requires a lot of time in a workshop; whereas fitting pre-made panels will take much less workshop time.

As an aside, I'm a little surprised that your deck has worn so much in 20 years. Maybe the previous owners scrubbed it. If you go for a new teak deck, be sure never to scrub it, only wash gently with a sponge. Applying Boracol a couple of times a year will keep the deck clear of algae and mould spots.
 
Delfini said:
... just to note - the original deck was laid by Swan using rebated planks - I can see some of these rebated joints now showing level with the caulking and proving the deck has worn down 9mm in these areas - in terms of expansion problems etc it seems this isnt something to worry about as the deck is very sound, however its clear that you get less than the original thickness for wear when using a rebate technique for spacing
Click to expand...
Those rebates will more likely be 4mm and if the deck is as I expect not worn to the rebate you should have an average of 5 or 6mm left. I’d seriously consider sawing out the rebate and recaulking if I were you. It’s a labour intensive job and doesn’t need a yard facilities, so ideally find someone on day rate to do it. It will be cost effective that way.
 
Thanks for the feedback - I was also surprised it had worn so much - the boat was a professionally crewed race boat in its past and I suspect the skippers were keen to impress the owner by scrubbing the deck to within an inch of its life before each of the various regattas - I can't think its worn down that much by general wear and tear even though the boat averaged 12 x crew whilst racing

pvb said:
I think that, if 9mm has worn away, the deck is pretty well worn out anyway. If there's only 3mm left, that's realistically only another 1mm or so of wear. So any of the methods you've mentioned would work. One thing you might do when comparing prices is to check how long the boat needs to be in a workshop. Doing the whole job on the boat obviously requires a lot of time in a workshop; whereas fitting pre-made panels will take much less workshop time.

As an aside, I'm a little surprised that your deck has worn so much in 20 years. Maybe the previous owners scrubbed it. If you go for a new teak deck, be sure never to scrub it, only wash gently with a sponge. Applying Boracol a couple of times a year will keep the deck clear of algae and mould spots.
Click to expand...
 
I have mentioned this before, we had heavy displacement steel ketch that fully loaded weighed 15 tons. i was worried that water mught get under the teak and had it removed. After removal the boat was two inches higher in the water. I helped the company that removed teak that also had marrine plywood under it and even a small peice was heavy.
 
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