bertram31.com

What's on the deck now?

When our deck was done the old deck was thrown away and a new marine plywood deck laid out. The teak was attached by epoxy to the marine ply and the seams betweeen each board that were roughly 1/4" caulked with thiachol. The black seams are the standard and help absorb the contraction and expansion that naturally occurs in wood(this is necessary). The bottom side of the plywood was sealed with West Epoxy along with any open end grain. Then the bottom coated out with bilge coat to make cleaning easier down the line.

You can go over an existing fiberglass deck and use a similar mounting scenario. Expect to pay loads for the teak and more for the thiachol. If you have to go from scratch prepare to spend 6k +++++++.

John,

See http://bertram31.com/proj/deck/
Br,

Patrick

Have any of you guy's used the Plasteak? I had them send me a sample and it looks extremely authentic. Should be very durable. Cost is certainly not cheap, but a long way from real teak. First look would appear to be about 30% of teak? The texture should provide excellent traction and you can pressure wash it.

Any opinions?....other than"it ain't real"

http://www.plasteak.com/boating/plasdeck/gallery.htm

There is a company that sells the teak already attached to 4x8 sheets of plywood. My buddy said there about 1700 a piece. Might be something to think about.

This is what I used on my B31. Bruce has the boat now and might be able to coment on it .


http://www.flexiteek.com/

John,
I followed the instructions that Capt. Patrick cited to build the deck in my cabin. I used West System with graphite for the seams and it came out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. I built it over 1/2" marine plywood and I cut the teak strips myself with a table saw. I copied the original hatch and floor configuration. It was one of the first projects I tackled on the boat, and I enjoyed doing it.

The cockpit deck, however, is a different story.

I watched Caver's build my cockpit teak deck and JP's. They guys on the 31 next to me in the shed this winter also just finished building one themselves (with Carver's supervision and help and getting the materials) and it came out perfect. The guy who did it, however, is a cabinetmaker by trade.

From what I saw, building a teak cockpit deck, with stringers and hatches, is job that requires a very advanced level of skill, and is very labor intensive. I think it is hard even for the pros. It would probably be a big help if you had one to copy from.

John,
I used some Plasteak as trim around the salon door entrance. It does not look real to me and I will probably not use that product again. No maintenance however. I like that part. Zero Cavity's looks better than the Plasteak. Dave K

ZeroCavity,

Now that I think back it may be the Flexiteek that I have a sample of??? can't recall, but it is extremely authentic. Is the Flexiteek sold in sheets with the black chalking strips already in the molding? The product sample I have is very flexible and the back side reminds me of commercial vinyl base board trim. It's also actually fuzzy on the exposed side, just like real teak?

It's tough getting older!

Scot,

Your sample is most likely Flexiteek... Plasteak is pretty much crap, looks more like linoleum flooring.

Br,

Patrick

i installed flexiteek on the back deck of a 34' hatteras. i found it to be a product that performs as advertised, maintenance free and looks good. you send them a template of the area and they send you back a deck. it comes in a roll like a carpet. roll it out, let it sit for as few days to flatten out, then glue it down.

hope this helps

scot:
i see you are from tx, flexiteek does retain heat moreso than a real teak deck. this was not an issue up here (northeast) but might be down there.

Has anyone seen or installed tek-dek? I understand it is reccomeded by power boat (?) or some similar name. The pictureson their web site sure look good.
Chuck