Teak deck repair

[briank]

Does anyone have experience of repairing teak decks?

My F39 PHS has teak laid just about everywhere the builder could put it. Wherever it's been regularly walked on or where water tends to sit there are problems which come in two kinds: (i) occasional loose planks with water underneath after rain (ii) loose between-plank caulking.

The latter is easily fixed given decent weather, patience and care, though which caulking is best is debated a lot on the web, as is the technique to use, with some saying 'shoot lots into the seams then sand off the excess' (fine if your teak is still thick) and others saying 'mask up, fill and draw level'. I favour the latter; so long as you get the tape off early you get some good lines which a light sanding in the spring will improve.

Of course water could be creeping down screwholes on the side decks. Of the dozen or so plugs and screws that I took out to get three loose planks off it was only a problem in one, at the the lowest point of the deck. So this probably isn't too much of a worry. I widened until the balsa core was dry - no more than 2.5 cm diameter -then filled with epoxy.

It's very tempting to take all the side deck planks off and do a non-skid paint job. Kind of a shame and might look weird with teak on cabin top areas and painted side decks... The side deck planks are pretty worn though still 8-9 mm thick which after 20 years isn't bad. My wallet and eco-friendly conscience won't let me fit new planks, so I'll probably stick the old ones back on. Any thoughts/advice/encouragement welcome.

This seems a useful source of info:
http://www.hrowners.net/ModTeak.htm

Best wishes

Brian

[Mike Holibar]

Brian,

try this link. I have seen this product installed on yachts in Nelson NZ and it looks really good with a few practical advantages over real teak. I have similar problems on Fyne Spirit with the deck although I haven't found any penetration of the deck as yet. My impression of Tekdek is that it could be installed for a similar cost to applying a non-skid painted finish. I think I would use this product if I was to remove the teak.

Kind regards,


http://www.deckspecs.co.nz/tek-dek.html

[Michel]

One of the magazines here in the NL's recently compared a few different kinds of imitation teak decking. They all are similarly priced as real teak or even more expensive.