Teak Decking ~ Beware ???

Ship's Cat 73

Ship's Cat 73

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Have been looking at a 7 year old yacht with teak decking. The teak strips are slightly curved across their width and that sounds alarm bells with me.
Should I be hearing these alarm bells on the basis of what I've just described ???
The yacht has just recently arrived in the U.K. from the Med where I presume it started its life and has been there for around 7 years.
I mention its 'Med life' in case the hotter climate there has a different effect on the lifespan/ageing characteristics of teak in a marine environment.
I don't know these things as I have no experience of teak (or similar) in this environment ~ but I know some of you guys will !

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If the teak strips are concave, this may be a result of frequent cleaning. It would be possible to sand the whole lot flat, but teak on most recent AWBs only starts out around 6mm thick, so there isn't much to play with. If you end up with a teak deck, treat it several times a year with Boracol and try not to touch it otherwise.
 
Don't touch a second-hand boat with a teak deck - especially one that has spent more than 5 years in the Med. Unless you can negotiate a discount of about £200/ft for it's replacement.
Ironic, isn't it - teak was a 2nd best replacement for white pine for the RN.
Now the gullible think its real nautical.
 
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You are right to be wary. However, not all teak decks are constructed in the same way, so it is worth investigating further to find out how thick the teak is and how it is attached to the deck. As pvb says many modern boats have very thin teak glued to the deck and will not tolerate much sanding to level irregularities. However, some boats have thicker teak - 9 or even 12mm and it may be possible to carry out remedial work to extend the life, although at some point in the future replacement may be necessary.
 
We took our teak decking off and the boat was two inches higher in the water and that's on a 12 ton boat that at the time weighed 14 tons with all the cruising gear on board. If you buy the boat I would take the teak off, as said it'd expensive to replace.
 
Close to me are two HR 312s, both about 25 yrs old. Both were bought S/H a few years ago. One needed the deck sanding down a couple of mm and the other just needed some caulking made good. My own HR has done 15 seasons and has needed no attention and not even lost any teak plugs, so it is not true that all teak is a disaster.

On the other hand, the OP refers to a boat with teak that has "curved", by which I understand warped and lifted from the deck. I wouldn't have thought that sanding would help this much, though it might disguise the problem for long enough to make a sale!
 
johnalison said:
Close to me are two HR 312s, both about 25 yrs old. Both were bought S/H a few years ago. One needed the deck sanding down a couple of mm and the other just needed some caulking made good. My own HR has done 15 seasons and has needed no attention and not even lost any teak plugs, so it is not true that all teak is a disaster.

On the other hand, the OP refers to a boat with teak that has "curved", by which I understand warped and lifted from the deck. I wouldn't have thought that sanding would help this much, though it might disguise the problem for long enough to make a sale!
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The climate makes an awful lot of difference to the viability of teak decking - 25 years in UK are about the same as 5 years in the Med. Ask any surveyor. It's very risky arguing from the particular to the general.
 
Thanks for all your comments so far, and it seems I was/am at least partly justified in "hearing alarm bells".
Keep the comments coming!

johnalison said:
. . . . . the OP refers to a boat with teak that has "curved", by which I understand warped and lifted from the deck. I wouldn't have thought that sanding would help this much, though it might disguise the problem for long enough to make a sale!
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johnalison ~ our "inspection" of the yacht wasn't a lengthy, thorough inspection, just a bit more than a 'cursory glance' and I have to admit that we didn't look in depth at the decking. It just had the appearance to the eye of being a little concave and this was confirmed by feeling it in several places with my fingers.
Even if it had started to lift from the deck I couldn't say that was the case for sure . . . it was the slight concave feel that gave rise to my concerns.
 
to be fair HR are a quality build and are a bit of an anomaly due to the thickness of their teak decks which they laid in the build stage. Most other builders deck their boat with half the thickness of a rassey.


johnalison said:
Close to me are two HR 312s, both about 25 yrs old. Both were bought S/H a few years ago. One needed the deck sanding down a couple of mm and the other just needed some caulking made good. My own HR has done 15 seasons and has needed no attention and not even lost any teak plugs, so it is not true that all teak is a disaster.

On the other hand, the OP refers to a boat with teak that has "curved", by which I understand warped and lifted from the deck. I wouldn't have thought that sanding would help this much, though it might disguise the problem for long enough to make a sale!
Click to expand...
 
robertj said:
to be fair HR are a quality build and are a bit of an anomaly due to the thickness of their teak decks which they laid in the build stage. Most other builders deck their boat with half the thickness of a rassey.
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If you're talking about 25 year old boats, probably most builders used fairly thick teak back then. The HR which I sold this year was 24 years old, had been in Spain for the first 5 years, and the UK the rest of its life. The decks still looked good, but they were getting close to the crunch time of renovate or replace. One problem with HR (and some other Scandinavian boats) is that the teak planks are narrower than on other boats, so the labour cost involved in either renovating or replacing is immense. New-build AWBs typically use 6mm teak. I specified fake teak for my new boat!
 
charles_reed said:
The climate makes an awful lot of difference to the viability of teak decking - 25 years in UK are about the same as 5 years in the Med. Ask any surveyor. It's very risky arguing from the particular to the general.
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That is not necessarily the case. My Bavaria survived 10 years in the Med and the teak in the cockpit is still sound despite regular power washing to look nice for each new charter!. Now 14 years old and all I have done is recaulk part of the seats where water lies.

I think straight laid strips are much better from a durability point of view than swept, particularly if it is thin to start with (and probably plantation grown on newer boats).
 
Find out whether the teak is a "ply" with a teak top layer, or solid teak. The former is a pain and once the water gets through to the ply it de-laminates!!! The latter just wears down over the years.

I had a Bav 42CC and one section of the teak (ply) was peeling apart when I sold it at 9 years old, but my current yacht (Oyster 485) has solid teak and at 18 years still has some life in it yet although I can see an expensive re-fit in the future some time!!!

But still, it does look awesome and is great to walk on. Take care with your choice of yacht!

cheers,
 
Tranona said:
That is not necessarily the case. My Bavaria survived 10 years in the Med and the teak in the cockpit is still sound despite regular power washing to look nice for each new charter!. Now 14 years old and all I have done is recaulk part of the seats where water lies.
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Ah but cockpit teak has a much easier life (usually) in the shade of a bimini
 
tcm said:
Ah but cockpit teak has a much easier life (usually) in the shade of a bimini
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You are right - but it still spends 6 months of the year exposed, and lasted 10 years whereas Charles was suggesting 5 years. And it has done another 4 years in the UK with the bimini stowed away.
 
DickB said:
............
But still, it does look awesome and is great to walk on. Take care with your choice of yacht!

cheers,
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We disagree with your comment regarding walking on... teak is blistering hot in any very sunny environment. It also increases temperatures in the cabin by a considerable margin.

"No teak" was the first item on the top of the features list when I replaced Pegasus.

Cheers
 
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