would you buy a used trawler with teak decks?

seattleboatguy said:

Can you elaborate on how you would do your teak deck inspection? Do you need to be pretty experienced with teak decks to have a high enough skill level to do this inspection?

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I'm far from an old hand at this and would not feel comfortable guiding anyone. Suffice it to say the specific boats we looked at had a wow factor to the decks until you scrutinized what was under them. Water stains below gave the first indication to look closer above. Then the dreaded soft spots on deck where found.

Without painting the subject with too broad a brush all boats can sell for a price point. Decks like Mike's boathouse kept in post #2 are my dream as I use a boathouse too. Gigatoni is another member whom knows exactly how to take care of teak. However not all boats are treated with that much love and care. Pity considering the cost to refurb them is steep.

I will have a teak deck someday but it is going to be an item well scrutinized by an experienced pro before hand.

I knew my foredeck had soft spots before buying the boat. It was fg over balsa core, and obviously several areas of balsa had rotted. There was fg under the balsa also, but no leaks as this fg had no screw holes in it.

Estimate to repair were $10-15,000, so I factored that in and went ahead. I removed all of the deck hardware and teak. There were 960 fasteners for a deck area of approx. 92 sq ft.

Then the yard cut off the the top fg layer in sections, laid new core and reglassed over the top, and refitted the deck hardware. Finish was non-slip awlgrip. I love teak, but to glue down a teak deck was expensive. Also, teak gets very hot in sunny climates, too hot to walk on uncovered teak in bare feet. I still have teak side decks and aft deck, and these are largely covered so bare feet is fine.

The yard's cost was $18,000. So, it costs but is by no means a deal-breaker. If soft spots are known then you might get quite a discount on purchase price, as most potential buyers are scared away.

During my repair we found about 90% of the balsa was wet or rotten. It did take 30 years to get that way, and clearly the boat caulking had been allowed to degrade at some point to get the rot started. The PO had tried patch up jobs a number of times, achieving little benefit. I suspecgt he may well have spent as much as I did, but achieved little benefit. Removal of the balsa, recore and reglassing is the way to fix it once and for all.

My boat deck was fg over balsa also, painted with non slip. Where stauchions were fitted the screw holes leaked - the balsa had not been cored and prepared for fasteners.

Some pics of foredeck during and after repair, and boat deck with rotten balsa (black) surrounded by wet balsa. Although I replaced the entire foredeck, for the boat deck we just chased the wet areas out.

Seattleboatguy, check just what is under the teak planking. Mine,totally unexpected, was foam sandwich,not teak block sandwich. Except for 2 small teak squares at a step point,which were soft, damp and black.

Are you guys positive you are seeing teak blocks as core material ?
I have seen 18-20 Taiwan trawler decks opened up and all I have seen are approximately 4" squares of low grade plywood and none of it was in good enough shape to identify.

Insequent said:

I knew my foredeck had soft spots before buying the boat. ...

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Congratulations for saving the boat.

I think you need to be very aware of the costs. In our area covered moorage is a $250/mo premium and I am on the only dock with covered in our size. It can be hard to find. I moved our boat under cover mostly as insurance against what I know is coming. A lot of work and expense. I have three areas of teak deck. The flybridge is in the worst shape and needs to be dealt with first. The foredeck and side decks are in good shape but take the most abuse from wash downs, etc and with the fuel fills are my secondary concerns because of the potential expense of fuel tank replacement. My aft deck is under the Europa fly bridge extension and therefore has faired the best. It is where fish guts and parties get the heaviest use so it is also a concern.

With all that said, I love them. My feet and my kids feet love them. They are never slick, they are generally cool, and most people love the look. Good luck!

boatpoker, my foam core seems to be an IG exception, I`m fairly sure AndyG`s IG36 had teak blocks and he removed them. But IGs were built in PRC not Taiwan, finished in HK and exported, mostly to OZ.

I love the look of teak decks but don't have any on my boat.

I have plenty of wooodwork inside, and the small amount of exterior woodwork (cockpit door and window frame) is painted.

Nice & easy to care for, but I am toying with the idea of laying teak planking in my small cockpit. It has a few holes drilled in it from past table mounts etc, and needs extra sound insulation, so I thought a layer of teak would assist in both issues. If I do it, I would glue the teak down with a few screws from underneath rather than above, so plugging would not be required.

AusCan said:

\..... If I do it, I would glue the teak down with a few screws from underneath rather than above, so plugging would not be required.

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Screw holes and bungs on top are seldom the cause of problems. Its the caulking between the teak strips that fails. It would let water get to your screws/screw holes even if put in from underneath.

I understand that to caulk properly you need to put non-stick tape in the bottom of the groove. Then the caulking just sticks to both sides and not the bottom, and can tolerate some movement without pulling away. If it is stuck to the bottom of the groove then any movement tears the caulking away from one side or the other.

AusCan said:

I love the look of teak decks but don't have any on my boat.

I have plenty of wooodwork inside, and the small amount of exterior woodwork (cockpit door and window frame) is painted.

Nice & easy to care for, but I am toying with the idea of laying teak planking in my small cockpit. It has a few holes drilled in it from past table mounts etc, and needs extra sound insulation, so I thought a layer of teak would assist in both issues. If I do it, I would glue the teak down with a few screws from underneath rather than above, so plugging would not be required.

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Irrespective of its need for care... On another slant regarding teak (or anything of weight)...

Every hull design and size boat has an optimum weight as well as optimum distribution areas aboard said boat of the individual items that comprise its total weight.

Therefore, I remark:

To add extra weight that any boat was not originally designed for (engineered to correctly accommodate) that weight may become problematic in the grand scheme of the originally engineered plans that rule a boat’s “living” composition.

Not all, but most, boats have considerable marine engineering aback their design and weight ratios/placements. I’ve found that interfering too much with the educated marine engineer’s initial weight-ratio-placement considerations can develop problems under certain sea conditions.

Weight placements/additions aboard any boat should receive close scrutiny as to developed effects the “new” extra-weight may provide.

Smaller the boat... more easy it is to override the boat’s originally engineered hull-plans with even minor additions/placements of weight.

Jus sayen!

Happy Boating Daze! - Art

Boatpoker, I can absolutely confirm some are made of scraps of solid teak and very thick teak at that, they appeared to be 3/4 inch. Two MT's (1984 32ft flush deck & 1985 40+ft?) I have seen personally and one Albin owner here on TF reported same. I don't recall if there were plywood scraps mixed in with the teak, but in any event I suppose they would also be well protected due to this unusual method of construction.

seattleboatguy, any of this helping?
Eric, I thought you accidentally posted on the wrong thread, but can`t find another yours fits.

BruceK said:

seattleboatguy, any of this helping?

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Hi BruceK. I have found the replies to all my recent posts very informative, including this one. My inclination for a no-teak deck was reinforced by what I read here. I've also enjoyed reading other threads from other members. All of this is sort of a Trawler 101 course for me so I won't be completely clueless when the day comes that I start shopping for a way to transition from a sailing slob to a trawler slob. But, I've got to tell you, one of the things I enjoy most about this forum is looking at the pictures of the boats belonging to the various contributors. There are some REALLY nice trawlers amongst ye.

We've all been there, SBG! Welcome to the party!

We purchased our first trawler in 1994, a 34ft aft cabin Marine Trader, and yes, she had teak decks. We "thought" we maintained them properly for the 8yrs we had the boat. Never noticed any leaks from down below decks.
A year after we sold the boat, the new owners came to the boat one weekend and discovered a bilge full of diesel fuel. One of the black iron fuel tanks had become corroded to the point that it finally gave out. Because of the way the tanks were mounted, pretty much impossible to inspect the bottom of the tanks, at least the outside of the tanks. On Marine Traders, as with most trawlers, the engine and tankage was all installed prior to putting the "house" on. The new owners ended up going with smaller plastic tanks.

We loved the decks, but when we soon begin searching for our next boat, I highly doubt it will have teak decks.

Jim

No teak for me, anywhere outside.

No teak for me....anywhere on the outside of the boat. I owned a Cape Dory sailboat and that cured me very quickly!!!

Great information in this tread, we have copious amounts of teak trim which I don't mind keeping up, the teak cockpit is over open support beams so damage from leaking to sub-decking is not there. But looking at trawlers in the 80's plus period the OP is correct a lot of complete bow to stern teak decking, which I too would not want, or at least would budget in converting over to FB. I will say, nice teak deck with bare feet feels right, but it comes with a price.

Baker said:

No teak for me....anywhere on the outside of the boat. I owned a Cape Dory sailboat and that cured me very quickly!!!

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Preferably, No Wood of any sort for me anywhere outside of or in the hull of a boat, i.e. stringers or transom or keel or bow stem/sprit... etc. That said... there are two side-sliders on our Tolly that have some wood in their construction as well as their frames. Also there is horizontal wood spacer along each side of fly bridge for attachment to salon top as well as wood cabinet doors on bridge. Kept in covered berth that amount of wood presents little problem.

Depending on condition of a boat, and for what reason I might purchase, certain amounts of wood would not be a kill-all on the deal as long as the wood was in near perfect condition to begin with or needed little to no restoration.

My many early years of refinishing/restoring/repairing/maintaining all sorts of wood boats in NY and Maine cured me of the need for wood on any of my own boats! Well founded FRP with good gel coat is my choice for ease of ownership that leaves lots o‘ time for cruising, gunk-holen, swimming, imbibing, BBQing... and other delightful forms of marine life boat-play!

We loved the teak rails, trim, and especially the interior, which was all teak. And all of the Marine Traders had personal touches from the families that did the teak work, either a special carving on a bulkhead, or on the wine cabinet, etc.

But...all that interior was easily taken care of with some pledge and a rag.



Not so with decking. I have no idea what it costs to rip it up and replace it, but I will be factoring that into our next boat for sure, because that's the same era we're looking at, and as was mentioned above, most of those boats had teak decks.

Jim

My experience with teak decks on 70's to 80's marine traders and other imported trawlers is that the decks leak, whether you see it or not. Someone here counted 900 plus fasteners on their boat...to me it seemed like thousands. lol If you see water damage, its extensive and goes far beyond the area of damage to the interior you can visualize. The decks were often just wood of some sort and not encapsulated in a resin, but covered in a layer of fiberglass. I helped a friend pull up a teak deck on a 1979 marine trader 42, and it was a mess.

The teak and deck itself took several days of work to rip up. Doesn't look like a huge area, but it isn't easy. A lot of deck wood had to be replaced. We erected huge tarps to let the decent wood dry out over the winter. If it had been indoors that would have been easier. Then in the spring we replaced the bad wood, used a penetrating epoxy (git rot?) in questionable areas, and then laid down new glass over the decks.

During this process the bottom layer of glass (there was one in most areas) was left in place. It had been a sandwiched core. I forget now what we used to finish the decks after the glass mat, but it wasn't a gel coat. Like someone elses pictures here it had sand mixed in for a rougher finish in the walk areas.

All told I think supplies were around $4000 and it took us (2 men) about 2 full weeks (not all at once of course). Its the labor costs that kill. Don't want to do it again, but if I were retired, and nothing else to do I might.

New member here, can someone clarify what method a 1985 45' Sea Ranger teak deck install would be ? The above post would suggest that I should know before I get involved ? Thanks

mpgjr said:

New member here, can someone clarify what method a 1985 45' Sea Ranger teak deck install would be ? The above post would suggest that I should know before I get involved ? Thanks

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Screwed and plugged, take that as you will

boatpoker said:

Screwed and plugged, take that as you will

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Boatpoker puts it well. A thousand screws and plugs!
Scanning the thread, most of the issues are well covered, if a fellow owner responds you may get more specific advice, even then construction can vary boat to boat within a brand. The big issues are what`s under the planking, and the extent of water damage.
It`s much cheaper and faster to go with a painted non slip finish over 2 fresh layers of fibreglass, on a prepared surface. Much of the cost of fresh teak (over 1 layer of f/g) is in laying it by gluing rather than screwing, which was fast, cheap, and sure to give trouble later.

A teak trivet next to the range , to hold a hot pot, is all the endangered forest I need on board.

Albin 43 with teak decks

I've seen quite a number of references to a fair number of these older trawlers with teak decks as having water penetration into the core materials of the deck.

Would an Albin 43 be likely guilty of this??

Does this teak , in any ones humble opinion , appear to be at the "the teak tells you when it's going bad " stage ? Thanks for any help

>the core materials of the deck. < What core material???

A cored deck is created with GRP on both sides , and the core keeps the sides in place like the web of an I beam.

Only the Chinese boat sellers claimed that house plywood with a single layer of GRP was a composite construction .

AS the plywood was of questionable quality , to me the solution is to ignore it , grind smooth whatever is left after stripping the teak overlay , lay down GRP in epoxy and bond in a layer of REAL CORE material, then lay up a top layer of GRP in polly and add non skid as required.

Same numbers of GRP laminate , just split with the core , FAR stiffer than just GRP and stiffness is required for the deck not to flex and crack .

I bought a 1986 Krogen 42 in 2001 with teak decks. Yea, I could spend tons of time and money babying it, but I don't. About once a year I replace maybe 100 screws and plugs because in all those years, the deck has worn down such that the plugs have become paper thin and depart on their own. The few leaks that have occurred I have fixed either by re-doing the caulking with TDS caulk, or if I'm lazy, flowable silicone. Either works. I'm sure I have some rotting underneath but hey... nobody has fallen through. I've thought of just sanding the deck with a belt sander, sealing with CPES then applying one of the synthetic deck materials down to it, but that's not a priority.