Teak Decked Yacht - 2 But or not 2 Buy

[dje67]

Been rummaging around the forums looking at teak deck horror-stories and, in parallel, been looking for a newer yacht to replace the trusty older one. I'm maybe interested in a 10 year old Beneteau Oceanis that has a teak deck. Most other aspects of the particular boat I'm looking at fit my requirements well, apart from the teak deck - I'm worried about some of the difficulties many on here have had.

So:-

Am I mad considering a 60K 10 year old boat with teak decks?

Are 10 year old Beneteaus likely to suffer from the problems that some boats have whereby water can get into the fabric of the decking underneath?

How much of a difference does having a teak deck make on this type of boat in terms of selling price now and in the future?

How much less should I offer for the 10 y.o. teak-decked yacht compared to a non-teak equivalent model?

Is the teak deck structural and, if the caulking were to leak, would the be "terminal" in terms of the rest of the deck?

How much maintenance work does a teak decked boat really need, over and above routine cleaning (I'm not interested in keeping a showroom-finish)?

Have ony other Forumites has problems with 10 year old Beneteau teak decking?

Finally, am I insane even contemplating a teak-decked yacht.....should I start saving for the replacment deck now??!

D.

 

[sighmoon]

All my knowledge on the subject has been gleened from this forum rather than first hand knowledge, but here's what I know:

Buying a yacht is usually a little bit mad, but the mad are often happier than the sane.

Your deck is probaby glued down rather then screwed down so it shouldn't allow water into the deck underneath. Look for (absence of) screwplugs to be sure.

When the deck is lovelly looking it adds a bit of value on, but once it needs some work doing, it makes the teak deck version worth less than the non teak deck version. (i.e. no teak deck makes for a better investment)

It's not structural.

There can be a wide variation in the condition of the deck for boats of the same age and type, depending on how well it's been looked after, whether it's been sanded or regularly scrubbed, etc.

Yes, start saving now. My ad hoc reckoning for a slightly larger boat, based on the cost and lifespan was that it adds about £1k a year to your sailing costs.

 

[demonboy]

How much maintenance work does a teak decked boat really need, over and above routine cleaning (I'm not interested in keeping a showroom-finish)?

None. Just take your boat for a jolly good beat and the salt water will look after them.

Our boat is 20 years old and we still have a good 9mm in most places, leading me to think 15mm may have been laid originally. Not sure. But I imagine the Oceanis has rather less thickness and that's the only thing that would bother me.

 

[tcm]

Another poster has answered the important questions.

Your questions bout resale are interesting. I imagine that those with blue hulls and teak decks wil feel their boats a bit more special since those options cost more new, but of course they are only cosmetic. If you likem, buy it. I would not have either of these options if you plan to ever go south to med or sunnier places - white decks cooler on the feet, white hull needs less maintenance to look good etc

 

[demonboy]

I would not have either of these options if you plan to ever go south to med or sunnier places

The weather gets so hot in the Med that having a teak deck or a blue hull makes little difference to the ambient temperature throughout those long, hot summer months. I remember the ever controversial Lady Jessie even arguing that having teak decks actually kept the temperature down below a few degrees cooler.

It's all academic: I know of no one here in Turkey complain about their blue hulled boat being hotter than a white one, or those with plastic decks claiming their saloon was cooler down below than those boats with teak decks. I'd suggest the OP not get too hung up on these issues. Which he wasn't anyway

 

[rogersimms]

dont know about down below but I have have certainly done a hope skip and jump from the hot teak deck onto the nice white cool plastic bit round the mast on very hot days. Dont care about the hull just those blue cushions that I foolishly had made to look the cockpit look nice. cant believe how hot they can get.

Still like teak decks though!

 

[dje67]

Hot Decks

Much as I would love the Scottish climate to be such that worrying about a hot deck was something that would ever happen.... it's not! Well, not very often anyway. In that vein, though, the Scottish climate is prone to the occasional rain shower, so I think my worry is more along the lines of certain areas of the deck being permanently wet and then rotting. Is this a common failure mechanism?

Assuming the deck is purely cosmetic, how easy would it be to remove and replace in the future? I don't think I would consider using teak for a replacement deck, so would look to a man-made alternative. Anyone got experience of doing this sort of job on a 36 footer (the top of the main cabin is GRP, not teak, so the surface area is not as large as it might otherwise be). Is it a DIY job and how much would it cost?

Ta.
D.

 

[Stemar]

I've never seen fake teak that looked anywhere near as good as the real thing and I wouldn't dream of putting it on a boat of mine. Were I in a position to buy another boat, which I'm not, I'd regard a cosmetic teak deck, even in good condition, as a definite minus point, but not a show stopper.

I'm second to none in my admiration for real wooden boats, but I'd leave anything with a structural teak deck to those who like to spend their time and money fixing things...

When the time came to replace the teak, which on a Beneteau is probably a teak faced ply, I'd get it all off by fair means or foul then make good any damage to the gelcoat - if there were a lot of screw holes, I'd be tempted to fill them then epoxy a couple of layers of glass cloth over everything - then I'd just put a couple of coats of non-slip deck paint or B&Q textured masonary paint, depending on budget and the standard of the rest of the boat.

 

[1bobt]

I've never seen fake teak that looked anywhere near as good as the real thing and I wouldn't dream of putting it on a boat of mine. Were I in a position to buy another boat, which I'm not, I'd regard a cosmetic teak deck, even in good condition, as a definite minus point, but not a show stopper.

I'm second to none in my admiration for real wooden boats, but I'd leave anything with a structural teak deck to those who like to spend their time and money fixing things...

When the time came to replace the teak, which on a Beneteau is probably a teak faced ply, I'd get it all off by fair means or foul then make good any damage to the gelcoat - if there were a lot of screw holes, I'd be tempted to fill them then epoxy a couple of layers of glass cloth over everything - then I'd just put a couple of coats of non-slip deck paint or B&Q textured masonary paint, depending on budget and the standard of the rest of the boat.

You would rip off a teak deak .Fill holes with epoxy .Slap on a couple of coats of non slip or B&Q masonary paint.

Bet it looks better when you have finished !!! how sad

cheers bobt

 

[alan]

2 Buy or not to Buy

I think the important question on a ten year old boat is if the 'balsa' (or whatever) core under the teak deck is sound. So, as proposed above, trying to ascertain if the deck is screwed down or glued down would be an important item on my check list; and if screwed I would want to be sure that the core was sound all over (not sure how easy it is to check this but walking on the roof/deck and feeling for soft spots is a good start, although it may not be so easy to tell under the teak).
I saw an HR for sale the other day, which had the the wooden plugs which should cover the screws fixing the teak, either missing or just laying on the deck!! Also visible were hairline cracks in the gelcoat at the peripheral of the teak on the coach roof ............... now I was not looking to buy her, but if I had been I would have walked at that point as I would not like to see what was under the teak when it was lifted for replacing which it was certainly due for!!

Alan.

 

[Mandarin331]

It all depends what you want. Having owned an old wooden yacht, and enjoyed it - including re-laying pine plank decks, rebuilding the transom etc, we decided that we now wanted to focus on sailing, and not maintenance, therefore the less wood on board the better!

Having seen the potential horrors of a teak deck - which are well beyond most peoples DIY abilities to rescue - (see Guapa's blog) I personally would not touch one with a very long bargepole - which is a shame as they look great.

 

[tcm]

The weather gets so hot in the Med that having a teak deck or a blue hull makes little difference to the ambient temperature throughout those long, hot summer months. I remember the ever controversial Lady Jessie even arguing that having teak decks actually kept the temperature down below a few degrees cooler.

Um, if you read my post - ambient inside temperature wasn't why i advised against - teak wil be hotter underfoot, and the surface temperature of non-white hulls is also higher (esp upward facing parts) and hence speeds uv degradation etc. Unless a coloured hull is pretty darned new (when it looks great) - then it looks quite old without a load of polishing/painting etc maintenance.

 

[AIDY]

Matt... nothing on mailasail since late august

 

[tcm]

Wrist slap noted. Rubbish assorted video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnBVq67y3Jo - will get next transat

 

[AIDY]

thanks matt always look forward to your next blog instalments

 

[wotayottie]

teak deck on a 10 year old Bendytoy? Seems like a risk to me and you wouldnt be asking the question if you didnt think so yourself. It is a maintenance issue even on a Swan which will have been built to a much higher standard, and whilst I wouldnt expect it to be a problem at 10 years I would expect some difficulties at 20 years. At that point it becomes an issue of spending serious money replacing the deck on a relatively cheap boat.

Just bought a boat and any I saw with teak decks were ruled out - I'd put them higher up the problem list than osmosis.

 

[mollyoxford]

I didn't want teak decks - but I have them - and we are currently battling with Fein to remove dodgy Sika flex and reapply. It is evil, evil black goop. Job is soul-destroying punishment - but not as bad as trying to fix rot underneath would be. The seams just about all need redone now... Molly is 20 years old, teak is nice and thick as previous owner, like us, only washed with saltwater and maybe a dish scrubber. I tend to use a foam squeezy mop... We did cut back with oxalic acid after last winter left a bit of a green algae issue in places.

Don't do it if you have a choice would be my advice...

 

[Koeketiene]

I've never seen fake teak that looked anywhere near as good as the real thing

I know I'm biased, but I don't think this looks bad at all.
In fact, we're now 5 months down the road and it looks even better than this.

 

[richardbrennan]

For what it is worth; when I bought my boat the surveyor told me that there were two things that people only do once. One was buying a boat with a dark blue hull and the other was buying a boat with a teak deck. I cannot speak for the teak deck, but he was right about the dark blue hull, it shows every mark!

 

[dje67]

Buy or not?

teak deck on a 10 year old Bendytoy? Seems like a risk to me and you wouldnt be asking the question if you didnt think so yourself. It is a maintenance issue even on a Swan which will have been built to a much higher standard, and whilst I wouldnt expect it to be a problem at 10 years I would expect some difficulties at 20 years. At that point it becomes an issue of spending serious money replacing the deck on a relatively cheap boat.

Just bought a boat and any I saw with teak decks were ruled out - I'd put them higher up the problem list than osmosis.

You've pretty much hit the nail on the head, wotayottie. I've no specific burning desire to own a teak-decked boat, so the issue of whether to buy this particular yacht really comes down to money and future inconvenience. The logical way forward would seem to be to make an offer that is some margin lower than an equivalent non-teak model. This allows for future repair-work costs to be "banked". Question is, how much? I'm going into this yacht upgrade with a view to it being a lifetime purchase, i.e. I intend to keep it for many years. So, a 10-year old deck sounds like it will definitely need some signficant money spent on it over the next decade. If I were to factor-in a complete overhaul of a poor deck in 10 years time, how much should I reduce my offer at this point in time, so that I can mentally reassure myself that my future costs are covered?

I think that I've convinced myself, on the basis of my own knowledge and the helpful comments above, that for a lifetime purchase a teak decked yacht makes little sense, unless my offer were sufficiently low. I'm not trying to screw the seller, but need to protect my investment (if you can ever call a boat an investment...!!!).

D.