Moisture reading

[Looma]

Just had a survey on my 20 year old boat...
All good but when surveyor as the lastbthing meassured with his moistor? Meter on the Deck (Teakdeck) he had high? values on one part (140-180 something?) on the deck. And even higher just around the windlash.
He dont know why but it got the buyers very nervous and a dealbraker after spending 4 days engine survey, rigg survey, haul out and hull survey, electrical survey and Sea trial ... everything good but this very last meassurement was a dealbreaker,.
How big a problem is this? Shall I remove the whole teakdeck , get down to the core on this part and get going rebullding. Or how serious is 140-180 (whatever it is on a 20 year old high quality boat?

[Emmalina]

If its a screwed down Teak deck forget it !

[S/V Illusion]

The so-called moisture meter is actually a capacitance coupled conductivity meter. They don’t measure only moisture as they are affected by any nearby metallic object, wire, screw, etc... most surveyors don’t have a clue about how to use them, where to use them and no clue how to interpret the results.

Before you do anything, find a surveyor who has the expertise necessary to use one.

[psk125]

Rain on deck could have set the thing off too. They are quite finicky. We had a surveyor tell us to RUN from our boat because of moisture throughout the hull below the waterline. A better-informed surveyor placed his moisture meter on the INSIDE of the hull, where there was no paint. No moisture reading, either. The antifouling paint was giving the meter fits. Sorry it messed up your sale.

[Looma]

Its really hard to say if he has expertise... they all claim they know ����

[Northbound44]

Moisture on teak deck! Unless he took reading from underneath the deck, the moisture meter is not useful. You don’t need a moisture meter anyway to determine that a 20 years old teak deck screwed down every feet or so would be damp humid.
If you use your boat in the northern water were there is a risk of freezing, chance are that your deck is delaminated. In the southern waters , rotting of the balsa core is also a recurring problem after several years , however, in my opinion, foam core should not be an issue or a deal breaker if the new owners do not intend to go to an area where the temperature is below freezing.