Teak options

When we bought our current boat, the PO had renewed the swim platform planking. For whatever reason, I suspect cost, he didn`t use teak -he used a manufactured/compositre "synthetic" home decking timber (Modwood or Ekodecking www.ekologix.com.au/ ). Its been down for over 12 months and still looks as new. Its the same colour as teak

Its started me thinking. This stuff can be worked/machined just like natural timber/teak. How would it go if it was machined down to the same profile as teak and laid on the deck - good longevity, minimul maintenance, no natural oil to interfere with glueing or caulking - can be drilled, bent doesn`t split........... All lengths are perfectly straight with no warping

Obviously not perfect - a repair section (ie soft deck repair) would never weather to blend in with the original old teak but that could be overcome by confining it (say) to defined areas ie the cockpit or flybridge.

Anyone had any experience with it?

There are many companies that already do this.

meridian said:

There are many companies that already do this.

Click to expand...

Thanks Meridian - do you mean that there are many suppliers or many boat builders currently use the "pretend" wood.

If the latter, any owners of boats with this decking care to offer a comment?

Over the years there have been some member of the Grand Banks owners forum who have used synthetic teak, if you will, to re-surface the decks of their GBs. From the photos they posted when the decks were completed, they looked very nice. How the material has held up over time is something I don't know.

There are several (don't know a number, though) suppliers of synthetic wood products that can be used for this application. Ameriteak, Plasdeck, and Flexiteak are names that come to mind. Google synthetic marine teak decks and a whole list will pop up.