teak laid decks?

[Malish]

A pal in the USA lives on board her Vancouver 42 - 14 years ago she decided to strip the teak off her deck and paint it instead.
This literally took her months to do, working singlehandedly - it took a long time just stripping the old teak off (filling the screw holes as she went along, to reduce the risk of water getting into the core), and then sanding, filling and fairing.
She used a moisture meter along the way as well, and was very happy to find that moisture levels in the core were low.
Here is a photo of the port side deck before the teak and the ally toerail was taken up.

So was this purely a precautionary removal?

 

[pretzel_logic]

Another consideration is where you're going to sail it. In the Med, teak decks get unbearably hot to the extent that it's painful to walk on in bare feet, and Mrs PL has burnt herself sitting on the teak before now.

 

[lustyd]

Thankfully buckets of cool seawater are cheap and instantly cool the deck! Many white plastic decks have very abrasive patterns so although cooler can still hurt to walk barefoot.

 

[Bajansailor]

So was this purely a precautionary removal?

Partially - but the teak was very worn down, with high caulking ridges between the planks, many of the plugs over the screws were missing, and she was worried about what condition the deck core might be in.
I think that if she knew in retrospect how long it would take her, she would have thought twice about doing it - and then she would probably have still done it, as she is fastidious about her boat. She had spent pretty much most of the previous 10 years working part time on rebuilding and improving the boat.

 

[PeterWright]

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.

The plastic imitations of teak have improved ascfst as the price of good teak has gone up in recent years. When Spirit Yachts built Geist, a 111 ft. all wooden beauty, her owner, being very green, wanted to avoid using genuine teak (she also has all electric propulsion, the batteries being charged by the prop spinning as she sails). Her decks are all in synthetic teak and she looks a dream. Google yacht Geist or Spirit 111 to find photos.

It's not the material used for Geist's decks, but take a look at the current product of Flexiteek for a reasonably priced (by 2025 standards) synthetic teak which looks pretty good and will outlast genuine teak.

I have no connection with either Spirit Yachts or Flexiteek.

Peter.

 

[benjenbav]

The plastic imitations of teak have improved ascfst as the price of good teak has gone up in recent years. When Spirit Yachts built Geist, a 111 ft. all wooden beauty, her owner, being very green, wanted to avoid using genuine teak (she also has all electric propulsion, the batteries being charged by the prop spinning as she sails). Her decks are all in synthetic teak and she looks a dream. Google yacht Geist or Spirit 111 to find photos.

It's not the material used for Geist's decks, but take a look at the current product of Flexiteek for a reasonably priced (by 2025 standards) synthetic teak which looks pretty good and will outlast genuine teak.

I have no connection with either Spirit Yachts or Flexiteek.

Peter.

Geist is certainly a beauty but aren’t her decks a treated wood (like lignia) rather than a pvc-based product (such as the brand of synthetic teak mentioned)?

Appreciate that the distinguishing point is sustainable sourcing.

Also, of course, the decks on Geist are the decks rather than a material laid on top of something else; itself a structurally adequate item.