teak laid decks?

[barca nova]

changing boat and thinking Swedish, but at my budget ( under 100k) and size (34ft ideally) its likely yo be something round 25 years old. And they all seem to have teak laid decks which would / could be a horrendously expensive nightmare. Am I being realistic or just worrying unnecessarily? What is the likely cost of replacing a teak deck with plastic teak on a 34 footer?

 

[Supertramp]

If (or when) you need to replace teak decking it will be expensive either in time or money or both. Removal is one part of the cost (and much of the work is removing deck fittings), the other is what you replace with. As a very rough guide and using a 3rd party go with £10k to remove and another £10k to replace with wood/plastic. Obviously less if you can DIY and much depends on how many fittings are disturbed and any underlying problems uncovered.

Much depends on the specific boat and the deck condition. You can only judge each on its merits, and if you want the boat negotiate the price to account for the work.

I removed teak decking on my boat (English not Swedish) and replaced with paint. Happy with the result but it could devalue some models.

 

[Tranona]

Most Scandi boats - HR, Malo, Najad, Sweden Yachts etc do a good job on their teak decks on terms of thickness and method of attachment. In terms of wear, 25 years is between 50-70% of their expected life. You can expect to see some signs of refurbishment such as local re-caulking and/or plug replacement in high wear areas, but in general at that age there should be plenty of life left. The dilemma is that as suggested replacement is £20k+ and plastic just does not cut it on these boats so teak is expected or the boat is seriously devalued. As Supertramp says you have to look at each boat individually.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Avoid teak decks if possible.

I have 2 close friends who have had teak decks and associated problems, one had original teak from the factory on an otherwise beautiful Sunbeam 37 from 2001 .... the weathered black caulking went chalky and was leaving black marks on the fiberglass every time it was walked on, the owner spent hours cutting out the old caulking, masking up, re-applying and sanding. Another friend has a Bav 37 from 2015 which had synthetic teak decks from new. It had the same problem with the caulking, and was too hot to walk on bare-foot in the Mediterranean summer sun. I had a Bavaria 36 from 1999 which had the same problem with the caulking, even though the teak/ply was only in the cockpit. It is infuriating getting blacked dirty clothing, feet, and fiberglass due to weathered caulking.

.... and then there is the issue with thousands of screw holes in the deck before glue was the prefered method of attachment, every one a potential leak into the decks core, even glued on decks become a problem when the glue lets go, allowing moisture underneath. Sourcing new teak is a problem these days and it is expensive because it has to be high quality heartwood.

In my last marina, I watched my neighbour remove the teack deck on his HR41 ... there were hundreds of screw holes in the deck which needed filling and sanding. He replaced with textured paint and the boat now looks fantastic, but isn't "original" any more.

If you can live with it, textured fiberglass is the best deck material IMO. Cleaned with oxalic acid and rinsed off, then sealed with a good wax polish. HR did produce boats without teak decks but they are hard to find.

I've had a boat in the med for about 15 years now and have many boating friends, first hand experience of teak and synthetic teak has been negative .... those that have swapped boats went as teak-free as possible. (It is quite nice in the cockpit though.)

HR without teak decks.... https://www.clarkeandcarter.co.uk/1995-hallberg-rassy-31-3/

 

[fredrussell]

Can you not just make an offer on teak-afflicted boat that takes into account the cost of replacement? It’s a buyer’s market. A couple of years berthing and running costs of their unsold boat likely to be similar to the cost of teak replacement.

Edit: sorry, just realised Supertramp has already suggested this.

 

[Frogmogman]

The owners of the 1972 Swan 43 I used to race on down in St Tropez were faced with this dilemma back in 2016.

The yard in Cogolin quoted €60 000 euros for the job. TBF it is an absolute bitch of a job as Nautor had glassed over all the fixings under the deck, so removing the deck hardware required taking down the headlining and grinding back the glassfibre to get them.

@Bajansailor and I advised them to strip, fair and refinish the deck. Lighter, cheaper, lower maintenance… all good sense. However, the owners, not unreasonably, said a classic swan had to have teak decks, so they sailed the boat to Turkey where a beautiful new teak deck was fitted for about €22K.

Personally, I’d avoid buying a boat with teak decks like the plague.

 

[Babylon]

Total recent quote (south coast) for my 43 year old Vanc 27 to remove all deck fittings, remove old teak, make good holes etc, apply 2-pack non-slip paint or similar, reinstall fittings etc, three weeks ashore and all craneage £8.5k. Add another £1.0k to repair worn areas of cockpit teak. (I didn't ask for additional cost of laying fake teak instead, as it's not what I wanted, but reckon it would have been another £3-4k-ish, so allow something like £12k all told.)

My current guesstimate to redo a 32ft plus boat (much more deck area) with fake teak is circa £20k for a wholly professional job, but one can obviously save money by removing the old teak and doing loads of the other donkey-work like stanchion removal/replacement oneself.

PS - all this "avoid teak like the plague" hysteria isn't helpful. Yes, some boats in some locations can be a particularly expensive nightmare, but in general it is just another factor to allow for (alongside other big-ticket items like engines etc) when buying an older boat, or realistically pricing one to sell.

 

[johnalison]

changing boat and thinking Swedish, but at my budget ( under 100k) and size (34ft ideally) its likely yo be something round 25 years old. And they all seem to have teak laid decks which would / could be a horrendously expensive nightmare. Am I being realistic or just worrying unnecessarily? What is the likely cost of replacing a teak deck with plastic teak on a 34 footer?

My HR is 25 yrs old. The teak teaks have only needed a little trimming of the caulking and a few screw covers replaced. The teak is massively thick and looks good for another 25 years, so don’t believe all the sob stories you hear. Teak is easy on the eye and pleasant to walk on, so it is perfectly practical if not everyone’s choice.

 

[Supertramp]

My HR is 25 yrs old. The teak teaks have only needed a little trimming of the caulking and a few screw covers replaced. The teak is massively thick and looks good for another 25 years, so don’t believe all the sob stories you hear. Teak is easy on the eye and pleasant to walk on, so it is perfectly practical if not everyone’s choice.

Agree with this.

Judge each case individually. I think the Swedish do this well and better than when it is an "add on" option as mine was. My biggest concern was having balsa cored decks rather than foam core and the potential leaks from 2000 screw holes were stopping me sleeping! In the event no water ingress was found anywhere despite some lifting planks so I could probably have renovated the deck (although 4mm of the original 12mm was worn away in places).

 

[SaltyC]

Agree with John and Supertramp, condition is all. Maintenance / cleaning is the key to overall wear and condition.
If a deck has been regularly scrubbed, particularly along the grain it will remove the 'soft' fibres and will appear ridged - avoid!
HR recommend treating with Boracol, this stoos / removes any green mould whilst not damaging the wood.
My previous boat was 25 years when sold, i had remoced the caulkibg standing proud of the deck and lughtly sanded. There was more thickness if teak after this treatment than some manudacturers fit when new.
As Baggywringle said, there are some HR's without teak decks, to tge best of my knowledfe these were HR31's supplued to Joint Services Training at Kiel around 94 /5. When they replaced them with 34's I understand they bought with Teak decks as second hand value had been badly affected.

 

[Blueboatman]

changing boat and thinking Swedish, but at my budget ( under 100k) and size (34ft ideally) its likely yo be something round 25 years old. And they all seem to have teak laid decks which would / could be a horrendously expensive nightmare. Am I being realistic or just worrying unnecessarily? What is the likely cost of replacing a teak deck with plastic teak on a 34 footer?

Join the relevant owners association before you do anything.

Anything can be done of course and you don’t have to replace the teak with synthetics.

No point in writing more because this is purely hypothetical
But expect lots of incoming saying ‘ don’t’!

 

[benjenbav]

Odd, really, to put a teak deck atop a composite boat. But I do quite like the look; more than I do the idea of the maintenance.

If I was buying a 25-ish y/o HR I would be mindful that that’s about when they changed from gluing and screwing to fixing the cosmetic teak with adhesive only. I may be wrong but I think it was approx 2001.

AOTBE I would be happy to pay more for an OEM teak deck that was not screwed down.

 

[benjenbav]

Deleted: duplicate post

 

[johnalison]

Odd, really, to put a teak deck atop a composite boat. But I do quite like the look; more than I do the idea of the maintenance.

If I was buying a 25-ish y/o HR I would be mindful that that’s about when they changed from gluing and screwing to fixing the cosmetic teak with adhesive only. I may be wrong but I think it was approx 2001.

AOTBE I would be happy to pay more for an OEM teak deck that was not screwed down.

If you look at the teak on Bavarias and others you could well describe it as cosmetic, but HR and the other Scandinavian builders have had a long experience with wooden decks and the wood is there to give a durable and practical surface for working on. It is true that some that have been poorly treated, and possibly when exposed to Mediterranean or tropical weather have not lasted as well, but there are plenty of good original ones still giving good service.

 

[benjenbav]

I am sure your final words are absolutely spot on.

Perhaps cosmetic was unjust; I was simply seeking to distinguish between the structural deck of a traditional wooden craft and the surface material applied over the structural element on a composite boat.