Teak Deck Condition

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

LOL. That's actually no joke. No teak deck has ever been ruined by neglect.

A pressure washer, on the other hand, will ruin a teak deck in less than a second. Over enthusiastic scrubbing only slightly slower.

They do like sea water, and relatively constant heat and damp, but will suffer erosion damage over time. 31 years on the foredeck in our case. Mainly where non straight grain was evident.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by leftbrainstuff

They do like sea water, and relatively constant heat and damp, but will suffer erosion damage over time. 31 years on the foredeck in our case. Mainly where non straight grain was evident.

Indeed. It's a common sign of boats with lots of ocean miles that the foredeck teak is deeply grooved from green water. Oyster 485 I almost bought six years ago was like that after an Atlantic Circuit and a few trips back and forth to the Aegean from the UK. My own boat is starting to show some signs of that, too after all the heavy weather miles I've put her through.

Teak's greatest weakness is probably the very soft pithy material in the light layers in it, which is so easy to strip out.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

That just looks like a ding where someone dropped something etc. AFAIK, Bene does not screw their decks down. I see no evidence of screws from the top, they would show as teak plugs in the center of the plank. Without screws in the deck, there's no detriment to leaving even caulk that looks much worse than that. No where for any water that seeped in to go anyway.
That deck looks just great to me. Don't touch it!
I don't know how worn those decks are at all, they look pretty level across the plank. if they were well worn, the wood would be concave near the center of each plank, impossible for it to wear right up against the proud caulking. But there is a bit of apparent wear, hard to see actually in a pic like that.
If you are curious flood it with buckets of seawater. let it dry for a day and go around and see if any water is bleeding out of any cracks etc. Walk around see see if walking on them makes water bleed out.
I took the teak decks off my Hans Christian 38 and it had screws. The caulk was actually holding the teak fine, even with the screws out I couldn't get it up.... ending up breaking it into 1-3 ft pieces to pry it off!
Recaulking is terribly difficult and will never equal the original job. Too hard to remove all trace of old sealant from the wood to get a great bond. Been there, done that and had it done too. JMHO

You start with removing all old caulking using battens and a plunge router. This removes all traces of original caulk to bright clean wood, with perfectly fair seam edges, no hacking it up. Then you stick sandpaper to the edge of a plastic spreader and use it to abrade the vertical inside walls of the seams, for prep. Then you pay seams, no tape, rebung as necessary, let cure and sand flat. Makes perfect new seams better than the old ones 90% of the time.

[rkjbnz]

Thank you all so much for some great information and was very happy to hear that its not a deck to run away from. I agree the colour is wrong and from what I hear they do use a product on it and clean it all the time.

This teak business is a real mix bag as I have heard time and time again from dealers for new boats saying don't put teak on as its a maintenance nightmare but from what I have read from this forum and other sources it sounds rather easy to maintain as long as you are gentle with it and don't use chemicals. I have no problem with the silvery grey colour it is suppose to be in fact I quite like it so if I end up with this boat I will take note of this information and do lots of salt water and very very soft brush/sponge across the grain to keep it clean.

I also noticed that (what looks like) screw head only after I took the photo and was a little curious about it. I am getting this boat surveyed this week so I might send him this photo get them to check it out.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by rkjbnz

Thank you all so much for some great information and was very happy to hear that its not a deck to run away from. I agree the colour is wrong and from what I hear they do use a product on it and clean it all the time.

This teak business is a real mix bag as I have heard time and time again from dealers for new boats saying don't put teak on as its a maintenance nightmare but from what I have read from this forum and other sources it sounds rather easy to maintain as long as you are gentle with it and don't use chemicals. I have no problem with the silvery grey colour it is suppose to be in fact I quite like it so if I end up with this boat I will take note of this information and do lots of salt water and very very soft brush/sponge across the grain to keep it clean.

I also noticed that (what looks like) screw head only after I took the photo and was a little curious about it. I am getting this boat surveyed this week so I might send him this photo get them to check it out.

Your reading is good!

Teak is NOT a "maintenance nightmare" -- on the contrary, it is much less maintenance than a normal deck. Because you don't have to wash it so often; it sheds dirt.

However, do keep in mind that a teak deck is likely to be the single most expensive thing on your boat -- replacing it will likely be more expensive even than repowering. And no matter how well you maintain, err, neglect it, it has a limited lifetime -- probably rarely more than 20 years and almost never more than 25. And less in the tropics. So factor in the annual depreciation of the decks in your cost modelling.

My next boat will not have teak decks, but only because my next boat will be metal. I would not want a plastic boat without teak decks -- they are gorgeous, practical, and worth every bit of the money -- in my humble opinion. YMMV.

[FamilyVan]

^^ there must be exceptions to the age restrictions, my deck is original from 1979 and (I think) in pretty good condition. The boat has been by no means babyed. The Previous owners took her at least 4 times Toronto-Bahamas. She's sailed extensively in the caribean, been subject to snow and ice and the road salt that goes with her. 36 years later, I'm still sailing her harder than your average week end warrior.

Is it due to thickness maybe. Its maybe 1/2-3/4 inches thick? I've noticed newer boats seem to be 1/4" or less.

Sent from my XP7700 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app