Teak decks. Should I run away????

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by goeasy123

What make a model of boat is it?

Boat is year 2000, Regina 43.

[Na Mara]

Most problems with screwed teak decks stem from owners messing with the screws. They think that when the bungs no longer fit due to the deck wearing away that they can fix this by taking out the screw, deepening the countersink and then tightening the screw. DO NOT DO THIS!!!! Doing it breaks the seal around the screw made when it was screwed through the then virgin teak in the first place. Even if you use sealants when you tighten the screw again you are very unlikely to get a perfect seal and so you will get leakage.

Leave the ruddy screws alone and live with exposed screw heads in your aging deck. Once too many of these are showing it’s time to replace the deck. It is a false economy to mess with the screws to try and extend the deck’s life. You will get leakage, this will get into the core and you will have to dig out the rotted core before replacing the deck.

It’s also a good idea to thoroughly dry out the boat once and a while. Balsa only rots if left wet for a long time. Periodic drying out will prevent rot even in a leaking deck.

[George DuBose]

Flex-i-teek

[C38]

I have a boat with teak decks that are in worse condition than what you describe. Although the boat has a solid core and that is the only reason I bought it. I have taken up removing and replacing with kiwi grip part by part. Messy work but not that bad. All doesn't have to be done at once is helpful. It's how much you love it the value and what your energy level to put into it is. There will be as many opinions as replies. That's mine.

[Oeanda]

These are some of the solutions I’ve seen locally-

One fellow who is a welder stripped the teak off and has put aluminum diamond plate down for decking. The teak was surprisingly fast and easy to pull up with crowbars, though I gather this isn’t usually the case. I’ve also ended up with several truckloads of teak from the deal, which I’ve been running through the planer.

Another couple removed all the teak, with a fair amount of drudgery, patched and painted the underlying fibreglass layer which was in decent shape and apparently strong enough as-is, and has lived happily ever after.

Another guy at the dock stripped his teak, screwed and glued down 1/4” plywood, and fibreglassed/painted above that. Beyond the grunt work involved, it was surprisingly expensive when all added up. Or at least more than we would have expected. But what else is new....

Several boats have limped along as is- replacing plugs and re-caulking spots here and there in an attempt to minimize the leaks, always playing catch-up. I suppose we are in this camp. I wanted to say something about a little Dutch boy and his finger in dikes.

Some people have painted over their decks with pickup bedliner as a temporary solution to stop leaks, generally with good results. We may go that route with Durabak to buy time before taking more permanent measures- probably with plywood/fibreglass. Our teak is sound and the core is (fairly) sound -so we would rather leave the teak there for strength, and add on top. Anyway- doesn’t sound like the OP’s boat is anywhere near that point.

I don’t know anyone who has re-decked with teak or any other wood, though that’s a nice dream.

Anyway, people seem to be dealing with the issue.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Na Mara

Most problems with screwed teak decks stem from owners messing with the screws. They think that when the bungs no longer fit due to the deck wearing away that they can fix this by taking out the screw, deepening the countersink and then tightening the screw.

.......Balsa only rots if left wet for a long time. Periodic drying out will prevent rot even in a leaking deck.

Respectfully disagree. DIY repair or not, screwed-down teak decks will almost assuredly leak eventually. 30-years of weather and flex from hot/cold cycles, boat movement, people walking plus normal deterioation of bedding/caulking is not a recipe for waterproofness. Even if 95% of the screw penetrations are fine, that could easily mean 50+ leaking penetrations.

BTW - Any tips on drying a wet balsa core that doesn't involve peeling skin, then re-fiberlgassing?

Peter

[MicHughV]

What about the rest of the teak deck components.....eg...the joints....and the joint filler...these too can tell a tale.

Who can't love a teak deck?? but it does require a thorough inspection.....might be worth it, to get a quality surveyor that knows his deck stuff too take an informal look at it.

Getting an opinion here is one thing, but what you really need is another set of eyes.

[double u]

R-U-N!!!
(even a brand new, immaculate, vacuum-bonded teak deck is highly impractical: impossibly hot in the sun to stand on & heating up the interior of the boat!
Senseless vanity!)
remember.
"Function before beauty - beauty without function is useless!"

[Sailor647]

Our 1988 Norseman 400 had factory installed teak decks on it when we bought it in 2013. The teak was still 3/8" thick (original was 1/2'), so we opted to re-caulk the whole thing. Total cost was around $3,000 USD. (We did a lot of the labor.)

Fast forward to 2020 after 6 years in the Mexico sun. The 32 year old teak was starting to split and lift, even though the new caulking was still in good shape.

So, we tackled the job and removed the teak in our slip. (Our marina in La Paz allows working on boats.) Which included removing topside hardware, every single screw, drilling, cleaning, and filling every hole with epoxy resign and thickener, then laid down two layers of finish cloth, then two coats of epoxy. Then paint, then non-skid.

We found and repaired two small areas of wet in the AirEx cabin top, which we knew about because they were picked up in the original pre-purchase survey. Turns out it was wet because the standard molded cabin top was cut to accommodate the purchasing owner's teak deck request and the teak deck caulking eventually failed in that area.

The most time consuming part was removing the interior pieces of the boat so we could remove the exterior hardware like sail tracks, eye bolts, cleats, and the windlass. Luckily, the interior of the Norseman 400 is made to dis-and re-assemble.

Total cost for the teak deck removal, with all new topside paint (hand painted) and KiwiGrip nonskid was $3,426. We did most of the labor ourselves (hired a few days of day labor for sanding @$50 per day) and bought all the product in La Paz, Mexico, except the Kiwi Grip, resin and cloth which was ordered from the US and trucked down.

The teak was great in the Pacific Northwest, but hotter than hell in the tropics. The white non-skid made it easy to walk on without burning your feet and lowered the temperature inside the boat about 10-15 degrees.

It's not a difficult project, just very tedious and time consuming. It took about two months of working mornings and late afternoon.

[jewt]

I had a Choy Lee Clipper Ketch in the '70s with teak decks; RUN away as fast as you can!!!

jewt

[donradcliffe]

I love teak decks for their looks and non-skid qualities. However, I would run from anything that wasn't teak laid down over a fiberglass deck. My solution was to have new teak put on in Thailand after 20 years. Total cost was $5000 for a 45 ft boat in 2006. The old teak was glued and screwed, and didn't leak. The new deck was glued with no screws, and can't leak.

[Na Mara]

When the time comes for my deck I won’t be replacing it with screwed down teak, but rather a glued down more eco friendly wooden deck substitute. I accept this to be part of the cost of owning my boat. It would look sort of naked without its wooden decks.

But to put that day off I am very careful with my deck. I do not touch the screws, I annually check and repair all plugs and caulking requiring repair from bow to stern, and most years I store the boat inside a climatically controlled warehouse for half the year to dry everything out. My decks are now 26 yrs old and still going strong. I reckon they have about 15-20 yrs left with similar levels of care as they have now.

[Chalifour]

We just had ours replaced on a Jeanneau DS43. Cost us 7500 euros excluding the cockpit which only had to be sand down to match colour and surface. Great job but messy + you must check for water infiltrations while work is in progress

[CarinaPDX]

My teak deck is more than 40 years old and going strong; I expect at least another decade from it. A proper teak deck done correctly with quality teak and maintained well can last half a century, so 22 years is not necessarily near end of life. The condition the OP describes would indicate to me that the deck needs some maintenance, and of course needs to have a professional surveyor look for problems.

My deck is teak over sapele plywood, so removing exposed screws, counterboring lower, then replacing the screw with a bit of sealant (and new plug) is the proper, and durable, repair. Every decade or two the seams need reefing out and replacing, and any damaged or warn planks replaced before lightly sanding. This is just part of the maintenance.

The potential problems with the OP's prospective boat relate to three things: the factory teak may have been thin (5/16" instead of 5/8") which will have a shorter life, the screws are into fiberglass (not wood) which crushes the resin at the sides of the holes and does not seal as well, and there may be a core (which on its own is more problematic than just teak decks). Traditional teak over plywood decks, if done properly, are far more robust than more modern teak over cored fiberglass. (IMHO cored decks are a nightmare - YMMV). That said it sounds to me like this deck may have some life left in it, assuming there is enough thickness to allow for the needed maintenance.

As much as I like Carina's teak decks, when they hit end-of-life (if I haven't) I expect to take up the teak and then glass over the plywood. Getting the quality seasoned teak to make a durable teak deck is nearly impossible now. Of course replacing the deck is a big job, but once every 50 years isn't so bad...

It has always seemed to me a bit crazy to take an innately waterproof fiberglass deck and then puncture it with 1000 screws. Fiberglass is a good, reliable solution that has the advantage of reflecting the sun's heat. Putting teak on top is mostly a fashion statement at the cost of weight and potential leakage, plus more maintenance. There is a reason so many owners have pulled up the teak, sealed all of those little holes, and gel-coated or painted over it.

For the OP: if you can get a good survey result, the teak has enough thickness to last for a decade or more, and you love teak decks then buy her; otherwise, consider a boat with fiberglass deck, and ideally without a core.

Greg

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Boat is year 2000, Regina 43.

Good to know the make of boat. I have no knowledge of that one. Some well built boats ( I had Passport and Hans Christian with teak decks) dont suffer too much from all those screws.
-You can remove the screws that show, redrill/sink the hole, then rescrew with a bit shorter screws. Now the bungs will go in.
-I had this done for me on the Passport. No sign of wet core, (Passport were built with 3" squares in the core and resin between the squares to avoid intrusion)
-I stripped the teak off my Hans Christian, no apparent core wetness. These decks were bedded so well that I had to break the planks apart to get them off. The screws really weren't needed, but probably were to build the boat until the bedding hardened up.

Although looking a bit messy, teak decks are the best non skid out there really. But can be hot.

For the life of me I cant figure out why builders put core in those teak decks, with all that 3/4" teak on them they dont need the stiffness...

I would research the Regina brand and see if you can find out how the deck is constructed.