Teak decking

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I am going to "teak" my cockpit this winter. Bravely I am going to do this myself! Firstly what is the best way to bond it the existing fibreglass seats and wooden locker lids? Secondly any tips on filling the gaps?

All help gratefully received.
 
steve_cronin

steve_cronin

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There are those who might question your sanity for wanting to cover your boat (or part of it) with an easily damaged, difficult to repair surface.

However it does look smart and gives a very good non-slip surface.

There are a few teak faced ply panel "fake" systems which might be better in a cockpit than teak strips with caulking between them. Bavaria Boats fit this to all their boats as standard.

The best caulking is black Sikkoflex and should be no problem on the ply panels. However if you are going to use solid teak strips then one principle of elasticity of alkyd & butyl rubber needs to be remembered. That is that it will not easily flex in two directions at the same time. This means that if you just fill the joints allowing the sealant to adhere equally to the bottom of the groove as well as to the two teak strips on each side then you will soon experience failure. You need to ensure that the Sikkoflex only adheres to the edges of the teak strips so that it will flex sideways only and not fail by trying to flex when the teak strips move (albiet very slightly) relative to the fibreglass base. There is a tape made expressly to avoid this multi-planal adhesion which is readily available from serious chandlers or from companies like Odyssey or Alan Dring. As to an adhesive, well Sikkoflex again is probably the best bet.

Steve Cronin
 
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jollyjacktar

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Get a Real Boat

What a waste. Are you trying to pretend that your plastic thing is a real boat. Get a wooden boat and you will not have any real problems pretending. Please excuse my reply after all this is "Skuttlebutt" not "Practical Boat Owner" I would answer a little differently there and presume that you are just asking for a good argument here.
 
G

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What a rude oaf that 'jollyjack' feller is! He's probably crouched under a sheet of mildew spotted oiled cotton avoiding drips from a leaky deck head as his '19-oat cake' clinker-clunker squats on it's mub berth...

I need to replace the teak planking stuff on my 1984 Beneteau and have half-decided to use that 'TBS' decking which looks a lot easier to apply and softer to sit on. I wouldn't consider the fake teak planking stuff as I've heard bad things about the veneers used to make it. ("thin,wears out quickly, nightmare to replace-probably lasts a week longer than the warranty"

Good luck!

Wully.
 
G

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Re: Get a Real Boat

Well jollyjacktar when you can spell Scuttlebutt correct maybe the postee will give your opinion a fair hearing!

Kind regards
Bluebeard
(I thought I was a bad speller but Skuttlebut with a K.
Kor Blimey)
 
G

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Sorry, I disagree

I have been maintaining and recaulking a teak deck for 13 years now and have tried it with and without the adhesion breaker tape or cotton at the bottom. I have found no more reliability when using it than without and it is much easier to do without.

Where the tape is inserted, there is no adhesion to the bottom, the idea being to spred the flexing throughout the full width of the caulking.

Where there is no tape, the narrow part between the planks at the bottom is going to be severly stressed when the planks move and since it is quite thin, it will break away. After it breaks away, you now have a larger cross section of caulking to take the stress and it no longer breaks away. So you still have some adhesion left on the bottom and you have all the adhesion in the area on the sides of the groove that would have been occupied by the tape - more secure than just giving up the space that the tape occupies in the first place.

I have done extensive testing and there is a very complete web article on teak deck caulking where you can read this analysis in detail at

http://www.yandina.com/TeakDeck.htm

tech@yandina.com
 
G

Guest

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Alternative

Check out the "Marinedeck 2000" material. It is a fake teak but made out of natural cork with some binders. It is laid just like teak with black polysulphide seam caulking and they supply all the materials you will need. It doesn't fade or go silvery like real teak - looks like oiled teak all the time. It looks a little too perfect up close but from 6 feet or more you can't tell the difference. It won't rot and requires no maintenance like teak will. Some OEM boat manufacturers are using it now as original equipment.

It is made in Holland I believe - a web search on Marinedeck 2000 should find it.

tech@yandina.com
 
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jollyjacktar

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Re: Get a Real Boat

Ooo Arrh me hearty, You know us old sea dogs, if you expected me to improve my spelling, then I would expect your grammar to improve as well.

Note that "spell" is being used as a verb so the correct form is to use an adverb as a qualifier, thus you should say "correctly" not "correct". Correct? Also on the point of spelling, sorry my spell checker did not pick up the "k" and replace it with a "c" but at least I spelled the word with two "l"s not one as you used in your lesson on correcting my spelling. Touche, I think. [sorry I do not know how to insert an acute above the "e". Anyway, he should get a proper boat.
 
G

Guest

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Your question is entitled "teak decking" but the text is about covering the cockpit (seats, locker lids etc). Most of the earlier replies seem to be quite appropriate to flattish areas of deck, but I am unconvinced they would work on more flexible surfaces like GRP locker lids. What about the edges?

Wouldn't it be more appropriate to use teak lattice washboards for the cockpit floor? The same could be used on the cockpit seats if you could work out an arrangement for fixing them in place - preferably with toggles so that you can remove them for cleaning, rather than with through fastenings.

morawel@hotmail.com
 
G

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Guest
Re: Touché

é é é é é it's easier to press "Ctrl + Alt + e"
 
J

jollyjacktar

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Touché, touché, and eureka!

"ctrl + alt + e " doesn't work with me and the rest is too much of an effort for them froggies, however I am sure that now you have sorted things out that 15 million Frenchmen will be pleased. " é " got this from using the character map with some sort of foreign alphabet full of chicken scratchings and such like. Nevertheless I still think that teak cladding on a plastic boat if purely for poofters. Teak has its place with real boats and its function is not really to make a pretty thing prettier.

Au revoir, I am casting off for another shore.
 
G

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Re: Touché

Thanks. Added to my collection of ways to annoy those employed to type things for me. Keyboard short cuts are the key to retaining credibility as the Alzheirmer's gets a grip.

morawel@hotmail.com
 
G

Guest

Guest
Re: Leçon for getting odd characters

Spose there are enuf around here.

Experiment with holding down the alt key and typing in a number on the keypad. é is alt-130. â is alt-131 and so on.
 
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