Glass Over Teak Decks... Good? Bad?

Saw listing for a boat that seems to have all I am looking for. One concern is the way that the teak decks have apparently been glassed over (I'm guessing to fix leaks). Picture below shows it. Question is, does this look like an acceptable solution? Or am I asking for lots and lots of work down the road with this? Thanks.

It's only going to be lots and lots of work if you decide to remove them. Now, I don't want to be the guy that tells someone they have an ugly baby........but that looks horrible. I suppose you could take a bad idea and really run with it. Sand the glass somewhat smooth, then awlgrip with a non-skid to cover it up? To me that is like 'sweeping it under the carpet'.

probably many sins under that deck. Look for water damage inside.

An if I can add my 2 cents... if he glazed over some rotten wood, in the end you will get a rotten glazed teck deck. I would not want to be the one that will need to remove all this mess to repair. For me this looks like a bad cheap repair.

Sadly not the way to do it, teak is naturally oily even after many years, and it's always difficult to bond too even using astringents etc (acetones). I'd have to rip them up and do it properly, and fix the hidden gremlins that caused the glassing in the first place

There is a CHB on my dock with glassed over teak decks that are painted, looks fine. I would say that as above the oils in teak can be hard to bond to, but if it was well dried out and perhaps epoxied over or painted with resin a couple coats before glassing it may be fine. The other thing to note is that teak is very resistant to rotting and if properly treated first and in good shape should last a long time under glass. I would sound it out and if purchased paint it.

My opinion too, bad job that may come back to bite you.
The odds are the teak was leaking and leaked water into the core which is now saturated.
Just covering it and stopping any more water entry will not stop what is already there from rotting out the rest of the core.
The fact that the teak seams show still means a very poorly applied, thin layer which may start to break down with much use and flexing from a weakened deck.

If you are still interested then find a GOOD shipwright and ask them what is the cost for rebuild. That will at least be an idea although I doubt any decent shipwright will quote a fixed price and once opened up there can be all kinds of other trouble.
A friend bought a boat, a 36'Albin tricabin now gone although for different reasons, that had the side decks and bridge deck redone and it was about $13,000 ~ 10 yrs ago.

Of course not all leaks stopped as there were other spots for trouble.

If you pursue it be very carefull.

Greetings,
Mr. den. Advice thus far is probably fairly accurate BUT if the boat is cheap enough, like really cheap, you could lay another 2 or 3 coats of FRP over the top and forget about it. Use her for what you want and eventually sell her really cheap.

From my own experience - under the teak, there is thin layer of fiberglass, balsa core and then fiberglass again. The proper way to fix is to remove teak, cut out the first layer of fiberglass and remove rotten balsa. Replace balsa with a plywood, glass over and put back the teak. If someone glass over the teak, most likely to stop a leak. Look for crack fiberglass from inside - under the walkway.

1. Looks like a bad job to me....even the least amount of effort shouldn't be showing the old planks.

2. The only real way to tell the extent of rot is to take boring throughout the entire deck. Even teak plywood can be wet for years and neither delaminate or rot.....mine is a good example of that. Lots of wet, little actual damage.

3. Not all decks are cored with balsa.

4. The only way I would leave the teak and still glass over it would be to screw/epoxy a thin plywood or glass panel skin over the top and then finish off. That to me still seems a waste as getting the old teak up is a chore, but not that bad.....then more coring if thought necessary and final finish.

5. Without more info than a picture, real assessment is impossible. Get an estimate and deduct the price from the offer of plan on doing it yourself and ballpark at least $5K in materials and tools.

"Question is, does this look like an acceptable solution?"

If you boat where there is no chance of having a wave climb aboard it might be OK for a while.

If you have the skill set , the time (months) , and the ambition this could be rebuilt properly.

I would use a foam core never plywood or balsa .

My guess is few folks would have the ambition unless the boat was a fantastic deal.

Bad. I'd be running from that one. I call them stupid owner tricks. You are already buying some one else's problems no need to compound them. Are looking for a project or a boat?

I recommend to go inside and check everywhere for leak signs on ceilings and walls. Also check the deck surface for cracks in the fiberglass lay over. Then I'd take a moisture meter and check every place whether it looked even slightly compromised or not. If it appears there is little to no really bad-deck locations and the rest of boat is good enough condition, and I could get the price on the bottom $$$ for purchase... I'd do another couple coats of resin and then paint with a good boat deck paint. Seems to me that you could have years, maybe even decades, of boat-fun ahead at a reasonable initial cost.

BTW - Keep her under covered dock if at all possible. That eliminates huge percentage of wear and tear on above water areas.

Happy Boat=Search Daze! - Art

cafesport said:

............. I call them stupid owner tricks. You are already buying some one else's problems no need to compound them.

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I agree and will go one step further. This looks like a 'lazy workaround'. I think it is fair to assume the decks were leaking and this was the solution. The cheapest and fastest solution the owner could execute.

I will now have to deduce that all or MOST of his other fixes are similar. What's next? Wire nuts and electrical tape rather than shrinkwrapped crimps?
Or the "why buy a marine alternator when NAPA carries the same thing at half the price?" Cheap automotive oil rather than a proper weight diesel oil? Leak Stop and JB Weld?

I try to avoid paying someone to take their problems off of their hands for them. Just my .02.

I would moisture test from the bottom/inside and get an idea if the coring is wet. That thin layer of glass is not much covering, which also means not that "hard" to rip up/sand off.
If gotten for the right price might be worth just dropping off at a good yard and have them rip it all out and re-core/re-glass and then you have brought of the value and resale by a lot.

Denver, I take it you've not seen the boat yet? If not, watch out for the other inevitable surprises.

Shrew said:

I agree and will go one step further. This looks like a 'lazy workaround'. I think it is fair to assume the decks were leaking and this was the solution. The cheapest and fastest solution the owner could execute.

I will now have to deduce that all or MOST of his other fixes are similar. What's next? Wire nuts and electrical tape rather than shrinkwrapped crimps?
Or the "why buy a marine alternator when NAPA carries the same thing at half the price?" Cheap automotive oil rather than a proper weight diesel oil? Leak Stop and JB Weld?

I try to avoid paying someone to take their problems off of their hands for them. Just my .02.

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My first thoughts exactly!

A fellow in our marina epoxy-coated the Teak decks and house of his 1963 Hinckley B 40. Seems to be holding up after about 10 years. Looks fine, if you like white painted 'glass decks.

I would have thought it a very bad idea since you really could not bet on sealing the perimeter (he left his toe rails bright, so the coating stopped at the rails). If the installation included wrapping the 'glass on to the surrounding 'glass, well, maybe. You'd still have all the various penetrations to seal; they and the existing associated problems and ongoing maintenance would continue.

I've epoxy glued a lot of Teak over the years. I've had no problems. I think bonding to the old Teak with epoxy would not be a problem, either. West System concurred with the Hinckley project above. I think bonding/coating/glassing with polyester would be an eventual failure in the making.

The fact that the joints show suggest to me a pretty thin, unreinforced coating. I imagine that the sealant's solvents are weeping through the coating.

If this boat speaks to you and is cheap compared to her prettier sisters than go for her. You'd be out only the proper repair that you'd be out on another boat that needed a new deck. In other words, I don't think the removal of the coating and the Teak is any worse than the removal of the Teak.

"I think it is fair to assume the decks were leaking and this was the solution. The cheapest and fastest solution the owner could execute."

GRP is high brow , tar and roofing material ,or just tar ad pebbles is lowest cost

Kind of what I expected, though I still wanted to hear it from those with more experienced eyes than myself. The asking price is good, but not all THAT good. There are enough other boats out there that this one will be scratched off the list.

Thanks for the responses.

You are shopping for a boat. There are lots of boats out there especially if you are patient. Why would you chose a boat that has a potential problem of this sort? The type of repair also suggests stop gap rather than in depth repair of a problem so where else has this attitude been applied? If you have the skills to rebuild neglected boats and can buy the boat for a price to justify the coast and time including what is not yet apparent (there is often more than seen on initial inspection) well maybe, otherwise walk to the next prospect. It is always best to find a boat who's previous owner is knowledgeable and taken the necessary care to preserve or improve the boat. The deck repair shown raises considerable doubts.

denverd0n said:

Kind of what I expected, though I still wanted to hear it from those with more experienced eyes than myself. The asking price is good, but not all THAT good. There are enough other boats out there that this one will be scratched off the list.

Thanks for the responses.

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Yo, On...

Never be afraid to offer a really, really low Ca$h price on a boat that needs some work, but that speaks to you in other ways. Ya never know, the owner just might say - OK! Horse traden and boat traden have distinct similarities. One of those similar traits is that... Ca$h Talks!
















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Those upper wood windows look crappy too! Painted over the teak? IMHO that boat needs a cleansing fire...