TEK-DEK is there a cheaper alternative?

[paulsmith]

I'd like to replace the tatty treadmaster in the cockpit of a Westerly Griffon with Tek Dek but its just too expenive around £250 just for the materials and its only a small area. Does anyone make a similar product. But at a more affordable price?
Paul

 

[Freebee]

Ive pm'd you.

 

[andy_wilson]

TEK-DEK is a cheaper alternative....

... to teak.

Paint and a handfull of silversand is next cheapest to doing nothing

 

[Graham_Wright]

Do tell the rest of us as well. We all have the same problem.

 

[adrianm]

I'd second that. Surely it defeats the purpose of this board if questions are answered privately?

 

[Courageous]

Yeah c'mon now - I just recently asked similar question but referred to plasteak in the title..... be fair!

 

[tcm]

Re: TEK-DEK is a cheaper alternative....

Hm, silversand is a bit expensive, is there a cheaper alternative? And the paint will need an expensive brush, so can it be daubed on with handfuls of moss or an old rag, by any chance? Obviously i'm looking for a perfect finish.

 

[twisterkai]

Why use Tek Dek anyway? It only looks like teak from about 100 yrds if you're myopic - and those glasses have to be at least an inch thick.

For £250 you could probably do it properly with real teak.

 

[Courageous]

Hmmmm - not sure I'm personally worried whether it looks like teak as long as it looks pleasant as a contrast to the completely white aspect of a modern day fibreglass cruiser. For what it's worth a good reason to use it is as follows:

Recent quote for new teak side decks on mine ............................. €19000
Recent quote for the longer lasting and no maintenance alternative €4500

Hmmm.... now let me think.......???

 

[RichardPerou]

Are you talking about teak or teak faced decorated ply?

 

[H4B]

I replaced the cock pit treadmaster with tek dek on my W Fulmar . It looks great . I made up four panels and stuck them down , easy. Ok its not teak and doesnt look like teak , but then westerlys are not built of wood either. I could not find anything like tek dek at any saving . Your quoted price seems about right, and the grooves on the under side of the strips make it less likely to lift at some later stage , apparently. No probs with mine yet though.

 

[Courageous]

To be honest Richard I can't be certain since it's from a spanish yard and they are notoriously shy of giving you a specification for works quoted. "Signor open you bank account". I had already had a budget figure of 5k from flexiteek and when I received the 19k quote I just passed out! Has to be the real "deal" (yawn) doesn't it????? For any of you interested in alternatives you have Flexiteek and Plasteak. Derek Gribble is being very helpful at Plasteak BUT they are in the US and the price will have to be VERY competitive for me to import it. We'll see eh? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[twisterkai]

19k euros is bloody expensive for teak decks on a 35 ish footer. A friend has recently had the deck and cockpit done on a Hans Christian 41 in a UK yard (a respected one) for about 80% of that figure.

I guess my hatred of Tek Dek comes from doing the cockpit on my own boat a few years ago. Having had a quote from TD for materials etc and seeing their advertising blurb -'...the looks of teak without the maintenance.....' and then getting the sample pieces which I thought were pretty grim, I then found a very good and cheap supply of proper quarter sawn teak. Ok so I was doing the job myself, but the teak + epoxy + sika together was a fair bit cheaper. I suppose if a yard is taking on the whole job the plastic stuff is cheaper overall because there's less labour involved.

 

[Courageous]

Twister - yes they are expensive, asked the same yard for a price to paint a bavaria style blue stripe around the coachroof and they came up with €900...... NOT the cheapest place but perhaps if I was a Cataloony???