Teak Replacement

So Hurricane? How did it go last summer? Was the flexiteek "unbearable"? Or did you have no problem standing on it? The feedback seems to be all over the map!

We consistently have 30-35c, up to 40c some days. Curious how it would be to walk on.
 
ckrieg said:
So Hurricane? How did it go last summer? Was the flexiteek "unbearable"? Or did you have no problem standing on it? The feedback seems to be all over the map!

We consistently have 30-35c, up to 40c some days. Curious how it would be to walk on.
Click to expand...

Yes, it does get hot.
But so does natural teak.
As with most things, there is no perfect solution.
Pluses and minuses - I will try and go through them.

The biggest plus for Flexiteak is "how easy it is to work with".
A Stanley knife and the special adhesive/caulking is about all you need.
I will give an example:-
Princess designed a really flimsy hatch in our bathing platform. With the old teak, it creaked every time we walked on it. I should have re-enforced it before fitting the Flexiteak. The result was that during the early part of the summer, the hatch bending was causing the Flexiteak to become unstuck. So, I peeled the Flexiteak back at the edges, fitted some strengthening plywood inside/under the hatch and re-stuck the Flexiteak back. It had to be peeled back to fit some screws from the top down into the new strengthed plywood. The whole job has worked but the point here is that it is very easy to repair/rework Flexiteak. And a simple rub down with sandpaper cleans it up making it look like new.

I am a bit disappointed with how dirty it gets. It is definitely cleaner than natural wood and easier to clean - worth it just for that but I had wrongly expected it to be clean all the time. The manufacturers all say that it just needs pressure washing. And , yes, pressure washing does clean it but not back to new. That needs a scrub. This season will tell though.

An interesting point is that when all the teak is wet, Flexiteak remains that nice new look whereas natural wood goes a lot darker. Kind of strange when you have both fitted as we have at the moment.

As for getting hot - as I say, yes it does get significantly hotter than natural wood. We had some really hot weeks last summer (48 degrees in Aug) and it wasn't possible to walk on the natural teak either. So the question is "how important is this". Of course it is dead easy to throw a bucket of sea water over both natural teak and Flexiteak. So does this difference in surface temperature really matter. At the moment my view is "no it doesn't matter that much".

I think this pic shows that it isn't that bad when in use

serve.php


So, the 64,000 dollar question is - will I do the rest of the boat?
The jury is still out on that one but in balance, I think that Flexiteak has the edge.
I want to see how it works this year before I make any decisions.
The real test will be as it starts to get dirty.
The big problem with natural wood is that it gets VERY dirty.
When we are at anchor, the first job in the morning is to "flunky down" the topsides whilst we still have the dew (free water!!!).
At that time of the day, the teak deck is wet as well as the GRP topsides.
As you wipe down, you cant avoid stepping from teak onto a clean GRP leaving a dirty footprint behind. That shows just how dirty teak is - even though clean our teak regularly.

So to recap - still not completely sure.
 
Hurricane said:
Yes, it does get hot.
But so does natural teak.
As with most things, there is no perfect solution.
Click to expand...
Of course there is, at least with plastic boats: leave them the way God intended, and forget hot, dirt, maintenance, whatever.
Unfortunately, that's a bit tricky when the boat already has teak, because the original anti-skid GRP finish can't be recovered - assuming that it did exist, that is: in my boat, teak was standard on the main deck, so it was moulded with flat GRP.
But it's still feasible, anyway - the KiwiGrip which I used being just one of several possible alternatives.
Trust me, if you should go that way (leaving teak or FT only in the cockpit and swim platform), you would never regret it.
 
MapisM said:
Of course there is, at least with plastic boats: leave them the way God intended, and forget hot, dirt, maintenance, whatever.
Unfortunately, that's a bit tricky when the boat already has teak, because the original anti-skid GRP finish can't be recovered - assuming that it did exist, that is: in my boat, teak was standard on the main deck, so it was moulded with flat GRP.
But it's still feasible, anyway - the KiwiGrip which I used being just one of several possible alternatives.
Trust me, if you should go that way (leaving teak or FT only in the cockpit and swim platform), you would never regret it.
Click to expand...

Yep a good solution but, as I said there is no perfect solution to these kinds of things.
It is a matter of taste, teak looks good - Flexiteak looks very very nearly like teak.
IMO they both look better than your very practical solution.
 
MapisM said:
Of course there is, at least with plastic boats: leave them the way God intended, and forget hot, dirt, maintenance, whatever.
Unfortunately, that's a bit tricky when the boat already has teak, because the original anti-skid GRP finish can't be recovered - assuming that it did exist, that is: in my boat, teak was standard on the main deck, so it was moulded with flat GRP.
But it's still feasible, anyway - the KiwiGrip which I used being just one of several possible alternatives.
Trust me, if you should go that way (leaving teak or FT only in the cockpit and swim platform), you would never regret it.
Click to expand...

I've used KiwiGrip (off-white) and found it stains very easily.

AwlGrip is a better product but considerably more expensive.
 
Nigelpickin said:
Mike
We are just about to finalise our order for the boat here in the USA, can you confirm that your finish is bleached/black?
Many thanks
Click to expand...

Sorry, I can't confirm the actual colour.
We chose it in SIBS
I think it is a recent one though.
Maybe a quick call to Daren - I'm sure he will know/remember what colour he fitted to Jennywren.
https://www.theteakman.co.uk/
We definitely used standard black for the caulking.
 
We had our bathing platform done after seeing Hurricane,s photos, been down nearly a year, boat is based in the south of England, can confirm that we have been absolutely chuffed with it ,even after one of our hottest summers, unlike hurricanes ours has kept very clean , colour has slightly darkened , matches the original teak even better, we always had a job with the original teak keeping it looking good, as we two part clean every year and then apply semco, which always used to come off
 
Hurricane said:
Yes, it does get hot.
But so does natural teak.
As with most things, there is no perfect solution.
Pluses and minuses - I will try and go through them.

The biggest plus for Flexiteak is "how easy it is to work with".
A Stanley knife and the special adhesive/caulking is about all you need.
I will give an example:-
Princess designed a really flimsy hatch in our bathing platform. With the old teak, it creaked every time we walked on it. I should have re-enforced it before fitting the Flexiteak. The result was that during the early part of the summer, the hatch bending was causing the Flexiteak to become unstuck. So, I peeled the Flexiteak back at the edges, fitted some strengthening plywood inside/under the hatch and re-stuck the Flexiteak back. It had to be peeled back to fit some screws from the top down into the new strengthed plywood. The whole job has worked but the point here is that it is very easy to repair/rework Flexiteak. And a simple rub down with sandpaper cleans it up making it look like new.

I am a bit disappointed with how dirty it gets. It is definitely cleaner than natural wood and easier to clean - worth it just for that but I had wrongly expected it to be clean all the time. The manufacturers all say that it just needs pressure washing. And , yes, pressure washing does clean it but not back to new. That needs a scrub. This season will tell though.

An interesting point is that when all the teak is wet, Flexiteak remains that nice new look whereas natural wood goes a lot darker. Kind of strange when you have both fitted as we have at the moment.

As for getting hot - as I say, yes it does get significantly hotter than natural wood. We had some really hot weeks last summer (48 degrees in Aug) and it wasn't possible to walk on the natural teak either. So the question is "how important is this". Of course it is dead easy to throw a bucket of sea water over both natural teak and Flexiteak. So does this difference in surface temperature really matter. At the moment my view is "no it doesn't matter that much".

I think this pic shows that it isn't that bad when in use

serve.php


So, the 64,000 dollar question is - will I do the rest of the boat?
The jury is still out on that one but in balance, I think that Flexiteak has the edge.
I want to see how it works this year before I make any decisions.
The real test will be as it starts to get dirty.
The big problem with natural wood is that it gets VERY dirty.
When we are at anchor, the first job in the morning is to "flunky down" the topsides whilst we still have the dew (free water!!!).
At that time of the day, the teak deck is wet as well as the GRP topsides.
As you wipe down, you cant avoid stepping from teak onto a clean GRP leaving a dirty footprint behind. That shows just how dirty teak is - even though clean our teak regularly.

So to recap - still not completely sure.
Click to expand...

Hi Mike as you know I’ve had flexiteek for 5 years now.

Neat starbrite non skid deck cleaner works well on it. As does sctewfix no nonsense degreaser. I actually mix the 2 and use a soft brush along the “grain”
For oil etc use a Brillo pad or scotchbrite pad along the “grain”
Electric jet washes don’t work but my petrol one gets it like new. The yard one gets it like new in seconds but beware blowing open pinholes in adjacent GRP.
The only thing I miss about teak is the smell.
 
DiscoVolante said:
I've used KiwiGrip (off-white) and found it stains very easily.
Click to expand...
Do you mean that you experienced any permanent stains/colour changes, or just that it gets dirt more easily than diamonds GRP?
If the first, I didn't experience that at all so far, fingers crossed.
If the latter, yes, it is probably a bit more of a dirt trap compared to "normal" GRP.
That's nowhere nearly comparable to teak anyway, and a fresh water rinse with a hose is enough to clean it 90% of the times.
For the remaining 10%, all it takes is a soft brush while rinsing.
I wish my old wooden boat with acres of teak decks were half as practical for cleaning, even without considering the other factors already mentioned...
 
MapisM said:
Do you mean that you experienced any permanent stains/colour changes, or just that it gets dirt more easily than diamonds GRP?
If the first, I didn't experience that at all so far, fingers crossed.
If the latter, yes, it is probably a bit more of a dirt trap compared to "normal" GRP.
That's nowhere nearly comparable to teak anyway, and a fresh water rinse with a hose is enough to clean it 90% of the times.
For the remaining 10%, all it takes is a soft brush while rinsing.
I wish my old wooden boat with acres of teak decks were half as practical for cleaning, even without considering the other factors already mentioned...
Click to expand...

I agree with the thrust of above .
Surprisingly the white none slip paint finish , peaks and all on the Itama is a doddle to keep clean . Not exactly sure which brand buts it’s a paint and roller for the peaks effect - white as driven snow. Red rain in the Med ( Sahara dust ) just hoses off easy. Bird s8it deck brush no residual stains .

We have solid 12 or 14 mm planks of teak on the swim platform which auto washes when running - gets a sea water rinse .
The white never gets hot either .
So all in all I don’t miss acres of teak or have the worry about veneers etc wearing thin .
But realise it sells boats and in exhibitions smells and looks nice - new .

One wonders in a new build if you could unspecc it ? On the main areas but keep real not veneers on the swim platform. Say a SL 62 or S/Skr 70 something? More so if Hilo , gets dunked . Solid planks last no caulk just bolted down to a SSteel frame.
 
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Elessar said:
Hi Mike as you know I’ve had flexiteek for 5 years now.

Neat starbrite non skid deck cleaner works well on it. As does sctewfix no nonsense degreaser. I actually mix the 2 and use a soft brush along the “grain”
For oil etc use a Brillo pad or scotchbrite pad along the “grain”
Electric jet washes don’t work but my petrol one gets it like new. The yard one gets it like new in seconds but beware blowing open pinholes in adjacent GRP.
The only thing I miss about teak is the smell.
Click to expand...

I tried starbrite non skid deck cleaner, when I saw teak coloured water running off on rinse I though never again.
 
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