Teak or fake?

benjenbav

benjenbav

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I want to replace the carpet in my cockpit.

Teak would be nice but I am worried about cleaning out sun lotion, cola etc stains.

I have some samples of fake teak which look ok (much better than I expected) but not quite the same.

I understand the advantages are that fake teak can be pressure washed and will retain its colour.

The main disadvantage seems to be that it will not mellow like teak.

I should appreciate the panel's thoughts and, if it's got to be real teak, where to buy it. (Boat in Chichester: Assume no ability on my part to fit the stuff myself.)

Thanks in advance.
 
It's got to be real teak, tis like equating a real rolex to a fake one.

We've spilt loads of stuff on our teak and everything comes out, even used engine oil if you use that WCF two part teak cleaner. Obviously you can't pressure wash real teak, neither can you scrub it, but you don't need to if you use the above elixir.

If you wreck some strips of real teak you can take them out and replace them, I don't think you can do that with fake teak. It's also very easy to make teak panels yourself and fit them, if you do that then you buy all the bits from KJ Howells in Poole at a pretty reasonable price, alternatively you can get him to make the bits for you and you then just stick it on the boat with some Sikaflex 292 (i think) adhesive. I'm sure there are other teak people around but we've used him because his teak has always looked the nicest (some people sell teak that is really dark), it's been the cheapest and it's been sustainably produced.

Teak has the major advantage of not having to explain to people that actually your decks are fake teak!
 
Thanks. I think I will contact KJ Howells. Mind you I've bought so much stuff from Poole this year that it would have made more sense to move the boat round there!
 
The real stuff. If you get the fake stuff, you will forever look at it and wish you'd got the real deal. As No1 Moose says, we've spilt red wine, oil, butter and all sorts of stuff on ours and it always cleans up. Apart from that it fades brilliantly. For heavens sake, dont oil it though
 
TekDec made a "fake" that is actually bonded teak-wasnt sure it looked either like teak or fake!, but maybe it has the advantages of both. ome more to look at perhaps
 
Well just to be controversial, take a trip down D pontoon and have a look at my bathing platform... Windy 33

Old real teak was a right pain in the bum to look after… split dirty took ages to clean 15 mins later looked crap again…

IMHO Tec Dek is the only way forward…

Lots of “Real” snobs about!
 
Thanks. My swim platform actually has the only teak on the boat at the moment but it's 25mm x 25mm bars in a grating rather than laid on top.

I think I would probably go down the same route as you if I was laying a surface on grp where it was going to be in and out of the water all the time and I did originally think teak might be too much of a pain but reconsidered when I reflected that in the cockpit (which is the only area I'm going to do) it is mostly under cover except when the boat is actually in use and then largely dry.
 
Obviously your choice, but I still stick by my original comment... have a look and see what u think... especially if your SWMBO is like mine... got to wear my high heels done the yacht club, back late dark and three sheets... wouldn’t like to think about teak with those heel marks
 
My SWMBO insists on wearing high heels on my teak deck. I go ballistic about it but in truth, I've never noticed and indentations. I think solid teak is pretty hard, maybe laminated teak as used by some manufacturers is not so hard
 
yep, it takds one heck of a whack to make an indentation, drop a full winebottle and still only slight dent. The ridges are formed around the v hard bits. Also of course Mrs Deleted User is famously sylph-like and unlikely to even dent carpet pile imho.
 
yep, lower maintenance with tekdek no question. I reckon some nice Lino would be quicker to fit tho and just as good? Or just paint mixed with a bit of sand would be ok? Newspaper? Or what about the hardboard - marked with a big thick felt pen to look like teak would be ok too, but you would have to be ded careful.
 
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Also of course Mrs Deleted User is famously sylph-like and unlikely to even dent carpet pile imho.


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Mmm, depends if she's throwing one of her shoes at you or not
 
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