markc
Well-Known Member
Yes please!
Teak Replacement
- Thread starter Hurricane
- Start date
Yes please!
longjohnsilver
Well-Known Member
That makes about 5 of us now. Form an orderly queue:encouragement:
BartW
Well-Known Member
and I see the business opportunity here 
well done Mike ,
for me, solid and straw brawn colour teak is part of the boating pleasure !
well done Mike ,
for me, solid and straw brawn colour teak is part of the boating pleasure !
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
OK
Time to come clean.
IT ISN'T TEAK
IT IS FLEXITEAK - synthetic teak
Sorry to anyone who thought it was wood.
It wan't my intention to embarrass anyone.
But I just wanted to point out just how good this new synthetic teak really is.
The feel and look is just like the real thing.
The only time the two look different is when both are wet - wood teak instantly goes a darker colour - Flexiteak stays the same colour when it is wet.
I chose to use "The Teakman" whose work has been reported on these forums.
I too can confirm his excellent workmanship.
He has a long history in working with synthetic and was initially trained in conventional teak.
Here is a link to his website.
https://www.theteakman.co.uk/
You may have noticed that we replaced the bathing platform and the two steps that lead up to the cockpit.
My plan was to see how it looks on the bathing plan and to do the steps before negotiating with SWMBO for enough money to replace the rest.
I have said many times on this forum that keeping teak looking like new takes a lot of work - especially if you have a lot of it - like on JW.
I just want my teak to look as good as the day it was delivered and that is not easy with real teak.
In fact after a few years, it is impossible to remove stains without sanding back aggressively.
The teak I chose is a new lighter colour in Flexiteak's second generation range.
As we all know, teak is an emotive subject so there will be people who disagree with this new material.
Maybe we will see more new boats with synthetic teak now that it looks so close to the real thing.
In fact, I know someone on this forum who is seriously considering a new boat with Flexiteak.
He might even have ordered it by now.
And if I were buying a new Princess, I would want synthetic teak rather than real wood.
Time to come clean.
IT ISN'T TEAK
IT IS FLEXITEAK - synthetic teak
Sorry to anyone who thought it was wood.
It wan't my intention to embarrass anyone.
But I just wanted to point out just how good this new synthetic teak really is.
The feel and look is just like the real thing.
The only time the two look different is when both are wet - wood teak instantly goes a darker colour - Flexiteak stays the same colour when it is wet.
I chose to use "The Teakman" whose work has been reported on these forums.
I too can confirm his excellent workmanship.
He has a long history in working with synthetic and was initially trained in conventional teak.
Here is a link to his website.
https://www.theteakman.co.uk/
You may have noticed that we replaced the bathing platform and the two steps that lead up to the cockpit.
My plan was to see how it looks on the bathing plan and to do the steps before negotiating with SWMBO for enough money to replace the rest.
I have said many times on this forum that keeping teak looking like new takes a lot of work - especially if you have a lot of it - like on JW.
I just want my teak to look as good as the day it was delivered and that is not easy with real teak.
In fact after a few years, it is impossible to remove stains without sanding back aggressively.
The teak I chose is a new lighter colour in Flexiteak's second generation range.
As we all know, teak is an emotive subject so there will be people who disagree with this new material.
Maybe we will see more new boats with synthetic teak now that it looks so close to the real thing.
In fact, I know someone on this forum who is seriously considering a new boat with Flexiteak.
He might even have ordered it by now.
And if I were buying a new Princess, I would want synthetic teak rather than real wood.
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petem
Well-Known Member
To be honest Mike, if I hadn't been able to get a replacement platform made from the original drawings from Wattsons I'd have gone for synthetic too. And of course, maintaining the teak on a 34ft boat is an awful lot less work than on a 60ft one.
BartW
Well-Known Member
NGM
Well-Known Member
Lovely job Mike, what shade did you choose ?
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
Not sure what colour they call it - I'll find out and post here.
I just took a load of samples and compared them to the real thing and then chose.
After that Darren (The Teakman) gave me a piece about 400mm square.
I then cleaned JW's teak using the usual Wessex cleaner and plonked Darren's sample on top.
It was virtually impossible to see any difference.
longjohnsilver
Well-Known Member
I did wonder.
I was at the Valencia boat show a few weeks back and was very impressed by the flexiteak on display there. I brought some samples home and still would have real difficulty seeing (and feeling) the difference between that and the real thing. Very nice job and a good choice!
I was at the Valencia boat show a few weeks back and was very impressed by the flexiteak on display there. I brought some samples home and still would have real difficulty seeing (and feeling) the difference between that and the real thing. Very nice job and a good choice!
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
Yes, the thing that caught my eye is the grain that they have now introduced into the product.
TonyR123
Well-Known Member
will the flexiteak be hotter underfoot than real teak? Or is that one to find out this summer? Middle of summer in the med even teak can get too hot, although bizarrely this year it was always bearable. I might have different teak on current boat to the last boat so maybe if proper teak it is never an issue.
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
I wondered how long it would take for this observation.
Yep - I fully expect it to be hotter that wood.
However, this is the new version of Flexiteak that is supposed to be cooler than the original versions.
That said, I disagree, the teak was unbearably hot at the end of July and into August in Mallorca last summer.
So hot that we were throwing buckets of water over it to be able to walk on it.
For me, if Flexiteak is hot, we will just do the same - chuck a bucket of sea water over it.
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
MapisM
Well-Known Member
Nah, wishful thinking.
There is only one thing that can make a difference with teak: its thickness.
Wood has excellent insulation properties, and the high surface temperatures driven by direct sunlight can dissipate better, when the planks are thicker.
In several occasions I've experienced that the 15mm structural planks in my old wooden boat were cooler than 6mm planks on GRP aboard some friends boats, in the very same conditions (also tied up together, occasionally).
But after several hours of summer sunshine, also my deck became uncomfortable to bare feet, eventually.
And of course, it would be silly to use 15mm planks above a GRP deck, for a number of reasons - cost not being the last one.
For anyone whose boat has a GRP deck, and wants to keep the boat in hot climates, there's nothing better than putting nothing at all above it!
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MapisM
Well-Known Member
No need to apologize, it was a very effective test indeed! And even if as I said it's extremely hard to evaluate the quality of a teak deck from a pic, I must admit that I never thought it could be synthetic.
Actually, before your disclosure, I was going to ask how they could avoid screwing the margin plank of the intermediate step, as Princess did in the second step (see your pic below). Now I understand, of course!
Btw, the only thing which I would have made a bit different in a natural teak deck, i.e. the thin wedge in the corner (regardless of the fact that it replicates the original design), becomes irrelevant in a synthetic floor.
Great job indeed, well done. I can see why someone is speccing it for a new build. Magnum, by chance?
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Hurricane
Well-Known Member
SWMBO gave strict instructions - it HAS to look the same as the original.
So Darren did just that!!
Great job indeed, well done. I can see why someone is speccing it for a new build. Magnum, by chance?
No, not Magnum - but I won't steal his thunder.
MapisM
Well-Known Member
Well, nothing wrong with that! :encouragement:
Just to better explain my concern, in a "normal" teak deck that would be a weak point, which over time could lead to a detachment of the caulking around the wedge, with rainwater infiltrations under the corner planks.
I suppose Princess started laying the planks from either the swim platform or the cockpit, and for the step planks they just followed the alignment with the rest.
Regardless, that's not a problem with synthetic stuff!
No worries ref. not spilling the beans on who's going to spec boat Flexiteak for a new build.
All the very best to him, anyway!
NoviceRod
Well-Known Member
Mike - I wondered when you would come clean as we were talking about FlexiTeak before you went back to Spain, and I thought you had decided to go for wood after all!
Just to confirm, we have ordered FlexiTeak for the new Nimbus, and it gives us a saving compared with the original too.
Just to confirm, we have ordered FlexiTeak for the new Nimbus, and it gives us a saving compared with the original too.
Portofino
Well-Known Member
Well it certainly looks good ,
Incidentally when upsizing ,I deliberately did not want to inherit any previous owner teak issues .We have just got thick sold planks on the bathing flatform only these days .I have not regretted it moving away from teak .
Earlier I posted some pics of various teak bathing platform s there’s some artificial stuff near the end .
Personally if the boats a keeper or even a sell in 5/6 years then artificial teak starts to become a compelling answer .
Re hot in the med - even real teak gets hot and the caulk tacky .Tacky if you press your heal all your weight on the caulk and swivel on the heal , So it can get messy and hot .We often had to douse it in the cockpit on our old ( all teak boat ) with a bucket it too of sea water - no biggie ,
So tossing water over a bathing platform is imho no hassle considering it’s gonna get wet, with folks in / out , showering etc
So I don,t buy into - the poring water / wetting it negativity , as you or I had to do that anyhow with real teak .
https://imgur.com/gallery/cnP0M
Incidentally when upsizing ,I deliberately did not want to inherit any previous owner teak issues .We have just got thick sold planks on the bathing flatform only these days .I have not regretted it moving away from teak .
Earlier I posted some pics of various teak bathing platform s there’s some artificial stuff near the end .
Personally if the boats a keeper or even a sell in 5/6 years then artificial teak starts to become a compelling answer .
Re hot in the med - even real teak gets hot and the caulk tacky .Tacky if you press your heal all your weight on the caulk and swivel on the heal , So it can get messy and hot .We often had to douse it in the cockpit on our old ( all teak boat ) with a bucket it too of sea water - no biggie ,
So tossing water over a bathing platform is imho no hassle considering it’s gonna get wet, with folks in / out , showering etc
So I don,t buy into - the poring water / wetting it negativity , as you or I had to do that anyhow with real teak .
https://imgur.com/gallery/cnP0M
jfm
Well-Known Member
Very nice job hurricane. What follows is a bit rain on parade but as you know I say it as I see it and the problem I describe won't much affect you on a bathing platform scenario.
My thoughts on plastic teak- my brother had it fitted on his now sold 52 footer. He had the standard product on one deck then the following year he had the new "stay cool" version put on the other deck.
In the med it got unbelievably hot. Far far far hotter than real teak. (Just to be scientific, it isn't a matter of temperature; it's a matter of heat capacity and conductivity. But you know what I mean). My brother's kids ( then 5-6-7 years old) occasionally walked on it on hot afternoons before their brains had engaged (as kids do when goofing around) and they literally cried/screamed with pain as their feet burned. He had to keep it wet and be very careful with the children. It's fine in N Europe and on an adult only boat, but I wouldn't dream of speccing it on a family/kids boat in the med. I sincerely hope magnum hasn't specced it.
The newer "keeps cool" product is snake oil. We had the perfect comparison of one boat, with one product on one deck and t'other product on t'other deck. The difference wasn't meaningful.
Remember the science - burning your feet is about heat capacity and conductivity more than temp. If I give you a thick steel bar at 100deg it will burn your hands. If you take a dish out of a 200deg oven and touch the tinfoil it doesn't hurt because despite being hot the tinfoil contains insufficient to heat energy to overheat your fingers. Plastic decks have far far more joules of heat energy than teak per kg of material for any temperature, and they conduct the heat to the surface faster. That's their problem.
My thoughts on plastic teak- my brother had it fitted on his now sold 52 footer. He had the standard product on one deck then the following year he had the new "stay cool" version put on the other deck.
In the med it got unbelievably hot. Far far far hotter than real teak. (Just to be scientific, it isn't a matter of temperature; it's a matter of heat capacity and conductivity. But you know what I mean). My brother's kids ( then 5-6-7 years old) occasionally walked on it on hot afternoons before their brains had engaged (as kids do when goofing around) and they literally cried/screamed with pain as their feet burned. He had to keep it wet and be very careful with the children. It's fine in N Europe and on an adult only boat, but I wouldn't dream of speccing it on a family/kids boat in the med. I sincerely hope magnum hasn't specced it.
The newer "keeps cool" product is snake oil. We had the perfect comparison of one boat, with one product on one deck and t'other product on t'other deck. The difference wasn't meaningful.
Remember the science - burning your feet is about heat capacity and conductivity more than temp. If I give you a thick steel bar at 100deg it will burn your hands. If you take a dish out of a 200deg oven and touch the tinfoil it doesn't hurt because despite being hot the tinfoil contains insufficient to heat energy to overheat your fingers. Plastic decks have far far more joules of heat energy than teak per kg of material for any temperature, and they conduct the heat to the surface faster. That's their problem.