Teak decks!

[pmagowan]

Who has them, what style, why and do they leak?

I have a teak on ply deck and it is screwed down. The screws have failed but are impossible to remove, the deck leaks all over and the ply is probably rotting. All good but are there any convincing reasons why I shouldn't have a teak deck??

I will probably pull it up in the next year or so and replace it with a new glassed in ply deck onto which I will restick either the same or new teak. I won't use any screws. This way I will get the benefit of teak without the leak! (I am a poet).

What are your experiences?

 

[FWB]

My teak deck is glued down and does not leak. Ply, 4 layers glass which run up the bulwarks then the teak. Total thickness is 3cm.
Only weak point is where the sides of the coachroof meet the deck since the glass does not go up them. 12 years old. So far it doesn't leak, fingers crossed.

 

[maby]

We have - teak laid onto GRP - and I wish we didn't! It's nearly new now and in fine condition, but everytime I look at it I see a ticking financial time-bomb! The boat was the dealer's demonstrator, so we had no control over specification, but I certainly would not have willingly paid to have so much teak bolted on...

 

[pmagowan]

We have - teak laid onto GRP - and I wish we didn't! It's nearly new now and in fine condition, but everytime I look at it I see a ticking financial time-bomb! The boat was the dealer's demonstrator, so we had no control over specification, but I certainly would not have willingly paid to have so much teak bolted on...

Aww but it is lovely and good non-slip. It is so much better than the GRP lumpy stuff which wears through on the top and is a bugger to clean (it always looks dirty). Scruffy teak just looks fine, clean teak looks like you are about to invite royalty on board.

 

[maby]

Aww but it is lovely and good non-slip. It is so much better than the GRP lumpy stuff which wears through on the top and is a bugger to clean (it always looks dirty). Scruffy teak just looks fine, clean teak looks like you are about to invite royalty on board.

How long do you give it? Twelve years? It's been suggested that the replacement will cost at least £12k, so that's an extra grand running costs per year!

 

[FWB]

How long do you give it? Twelve years? It's been suggested that the replacement will cost at least £12k, so that's an extra grand running costs per year!

I suppose my decks are a little worn after 12 years but they don't look it and the sika is not noticeably proud. So to infinity and beyond

 

[maby]

I suppose my decks are a little worn after 12 years but they don't look it and the sika is not noticeably proud. So to infinity and beyond

Hmmm, I think you'll find that modern teak is a bit different - we're not allowed to strip rainforests any more and the current stuff is plantation grown and so young that it is soft. I'm not optimistic that ours will look acceptable in ten or twelve years!

 

[pmagowan]

How long do you give it? Twelve years? It's been suggested that the replacement will cost at least £12k, so that's an extra grand running costs per year!

Just don't scrub them too much. I am not aware that mine have ever been replaced but they must have been. My boat is 50 years old. I was thinking I might replace by flipping htem over to use the other side. They are after all simply a finish rather than anything structural. I would not pay 12K but then I am going to attempt it myself. I have a pile of teak at home that I would use if the old stuff is past it that my Ma picked up from a salvage yard.

 

[FWB]

Hmmm, I think you'll find that modern teak is a bit different - we're not allowed to strip rainforests any more and the current stuff is plantation grown and so young that it is soft. I'm not optimistic that ours will look acceptable in ten or twelve years!

Don't know how 'modern' the teak is on my boat. It was constructed 12 years ago and the teak planks were standard deck planks I think. 60mm wide and 10mm thick, with a rebate for the sikaflex.
This is a bit of deck cut out for one of the deck prisms...

 

[maby]

Don't know how 'modern' the teak is on my boat. It was constructed 12 years ago and the teak planks were standard deck planks I think. 60mm wide and 10mm thick, with a rebate for the sikaflex.

Ours is far more cosmetic - probably no more than 5mm thick. When they give out, it will be fake teak all the way!

 

[pmagowan]

Ours is far more cosmetic - probably no more than 5mm thick. When they give out, it will be fake teak all the way!

Get off this forum and wash your mouth out!

 

[maby]

Get off this forum and wash your mouth out!

Sorry - didn't notice the name of the forum - I tend to read the boards via the "New Posts" link rather than going into specific forums!

 

[pmagowan]

Sorry - didn't notice the name of the forum - I tend to read the boards via the "New Posts" link rather than going into specific forums!

I have been here a while and didn't even know there was such a thing. I just go in and out of the various forums as my fancy takes me.

 

[maby]

I have been here a while and didn't even know there was such a thing. I just go in and out of the various forums as my fancy takes me.

The trouble with that is that the message turnover on some of them is so slow that it is easy to miss interesting items.

 

[johnalison]

I too wandered on here by mistake, but as I have teak decks feel entitled to linger.

The issue of durability must have something to do with quality and thickness. My HR decks are now 15yrs old and look good for several more without attention. The wood has lost a little thickness, exposing some of the caulking, but none of the screw heads are exposed yet. In a few years, it will be worth sanding the deck down a couple of millimetres and re caulking and then the deck should be fine for another twenty years.

 

[maby]

I too wandered on here by mistake, but as I have teak decks feel entitled to linger.

The issue of durability must have something to do with quality and thickness. My HR decks are now 15yrs old and look good for several more without attention. The wood has lost a little thickness, exposing some of the caulking, but none of the screw heads are exposed yet. In a few years, it will be worth sanding the deck down a couple of millimetres and re caulking and then the deck should be fine for another twenty years.

I'm quite convinced that the teak fitted to boats bring built today is very different to that used as little as ten years ago. Sustainability is a great thing, but you can't compare the wood from a tree that has grown to a couple of hundred years old in the middle of a rain forest with the wood from a tree a few tens of years old on a plantation.

 

[tillergirl]

Who has them, what style, why and do they leak?

I have a teak on ply deck and it is screwed down. The screws have failed but are impossible to remove, the deck leaks all over and the ply is probably rotting. All good but are there any convincing reasons why I shouldn't have a teak deck??

I will probably pull it up in the next year or so and replace it with a new glassed in ply deck onto which I will restick either the same or new teak. I won't use any screws. This way I will get the benefit of teak without the leak! (I am a poet).

What are your experiences?

Exactly my experience some 5 years back. On investigation I found that the screws were ordinary steel screws and of course over 40 years had eventually rusted and given way in places. I hear the builder saying to the original owner 'don't worry, they'll outlive you!'. I started removing screws and at an average of just under 2 hours a screw, I worked out that it would take me 10 years or so to get the deck off (I was working them and so didn't have much time). I therefore gritted my teeth and drilled out the screws and removed the teak. To find damaged half beams, damaged beam shelf starboard side, damaged gunn'les and of course really rubbish marine ply underneath. I sat and thought a long time about renewing the teak and eventually reckoned that another failed deck would destroy the boat. So I selected a high grade sapele marine ply (repairing as required underneath) which I glassed over. The result is a deck that 15 years later is still perfect, stiffens the boat very nicely and I hope will keep her going for a long time. Do I missed te laid teak deck? Not really. It would be nice but there sureness of the sapele marine ply is more reassuring.

 

[LittleShip]

My decks are now 41 years old and have never been replaced. They are left to go grey and I wash with salt water, occasionally very occasionally I et on my knees and give them a wash with a weak soap solution.

All that said I do have to repair seams and refit bungs but that the joy of owning teak decks.

Modern day boats with teak have decorative decks for aesthetics, older vessels will have old grown teak which was fitted as the best underfoot decking around (at the time).

If I ever get to the point of having to replace my teak I won't be replacing with something 3/8" thick and I won't be able to afford teak of 1" thick as it is now-ish. That's why I'm looking after mine they should be good for at least another 20 years. :encouragement:

Leaks, yep I've had a couple but all repairable, all were from the side of the recess on the teak board.

Tom.

 

[ffiill]

Plywood and glassfibre no no no.
My old wooden boat was redecked this way probably back in 1970s after removing the canvas covered deck.
Even a small wooden boat moves and twists wheas a glassfibre and ply deck is rigid and sooner or later let's the water through.
If I redeck my boat which I have thoughts on doing either I will go back to traditional canvas or ply bonded to the old wood with one of the modern flexible water loving glue sealants.

 

[johnalison]

I'm quite convinced that the teak fitted to boats bring built today is very different to that used as little as ten years ago. Sustainability is a great thing, but you can't compare the wood from a tree that has grown to a couple of hundred years old in the middle of a rain forest with the wood from a tree a few tens of years old on a plantation.

I think you are right, but I doubt if forest grown teak has been available for over twenty years and I'm sure that mine isn't. The deck that has lasted best is where it receives the most wear.