Fear of trawlers

kpinnn said:

Wow a lot of good information and much very encouraging. I think Main ship, I belive 35's, were one of the possibilities. Problem was just about everyone I looked at had a soft deck somewhere. There must be something on these boats that typically leaaks. I also think they are cored with balsa. I would prefer plywood as opposed to balsa or foam. I did find one main ship with redone decks but the bilge housing the perkins engine had a lot of oil in it. Oil leak is my guess. I am told once they start to leak it is not going to stop without complete rebuild. Just about all of the Tiawan trawlers had leaking windows and consequently my quess a rotted house. I am going to look for a trawler. I will make a list of the possible problems and check as suggested.

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Just because they leaked...it may or may not be a problem...even saturated teak lasts a very long time and retains it's strength...it's when it delaminates from the glass you have a problem...but one that's still easy to fix (well sorta easy )

Total rebuild? Who told you that????

psneeld said:

Just because they leaked...it may or may not be a problem...even saturated teak lasts a very long time and retains it's strength...it's when it delaminates from the glass you have a problem...but one that's still easy to fix (well sorta easy )

Total rebuild? Who told you that????

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question, does teak ever rot unless its sealed from contact with air?

bfloyd4445 said:

question, does teak ever rot unless its sealed from contact with air?

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It may...I'm not a wood guy...all I know is my teak..both solid and plywood even though saturated remained strong enough to encapsulate after it was dried out...while some parts of my boat needed major surgery...much was salvageable because the teak was OK once dried out.

I've heard of teak logs being in the water for a very long time (100's of years) with little or no deterioration.

psneeld said:

It may...I'm not a wood guy...all I know is my teak..both solid and plywood even though saturated remained strong enough to encapsulate after it was dried out...while some parts of my boat needed major surgery...much was salvageable because the teak was OK once dried out.

I've heard of teak logs being in the water for a very long time (100's of years) with little or no deterioration.

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your earlier comment made me realize that in all the years of messing with boats i had never seen rotten teak so i asked the question. I like teak decks because of the way they grip your feet but i hate the work required to keep them looking good. I'm going to look at a california made defever 40 tomorrow that never had teak decks. Boat was made in Santa Ana ca.

bfloyd4445 said:

question, does teak ever rot unless its sealed from contact with air?

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Teak is a very rot resistant wood thanks to the oil content, as you know. The clipper ship Cutty Sark is iron-framed with teak planks and until it caught fire and burned a few years ago, most of the planking on its hull was original. So that's what, a couple hundred years old? Exposed to air and rained on (it IS London, you know)

Encasing wood so air cannot reach it does not result in rot as long as the wood was dry when you encased it. We have various pieces of external trim on our boat that we completely finished all round with many coats of Bristol some ten years ago or more. Bristol is a very tough coating and does not "breathe," but wood encased in it is in the same shape today as it was when we finished it.

Wood is dead by the time it gets put on a boat (usually). It does not need to breathe. Where this notion comes from is that if there is any way that piece of wood can get wet or absorb moisture, the moisture needs to evaporate out of of the wood or rot will begin. So in that sense, wood that gets wet needs to "breathe" simply so the moisture that gets into it can get out.

But if the wood is going to stay dry, it doesn't need to breathe anything.

So say all the wood experts we've talked to or read over the years.

Once a teak deck is in good condition, which primarily means the seam sealant is all intact and adhering and the deck plugs are all in, a teak deck takes no more maintenance than a fiberglass deck as I've described recently in another thread.

If the deck is not in good condition it can take a fair amount of time, effort, money or all three to put it in good condition. But once it's there, it's no more trouble than anything else.

I started seriously looking about this time last year. I read everything I could find on this forum and others and talked to any broker that would answer the phone. I think the best advice is to actually look at a bunch of boats. Even boats that you know you will not buy. Getting on the boat, smelling it, seeing what is good and back, will pay dividends when it is the boat you want to buy. There is another thread about Yachtworld photos going. I took the opportunity to look at two boats very close to eachother geographically. One had great pictures and a much lower price, in person it was a piece of crap. The other had only a few photos, not much in the way of a description, and was not what I thought we wanted in a trawler....in the end we bought it We learned with the crap boat that pictures can be very misleading...and usually don't show the leaking diesel tank. The second boat only suffered from a poor advertisement. It has covered side decks, this keeps the windows dry in all but driving rain, and none of the leak! It has twin Ford Lehman 120's that will run forever, are easy for a novice to work on, and sip fuel. Buying a boat is a give and take, we sacrificed updated electronics, two comfortable helm seats, and speed for something that we could afford to maintain, run, enjoy, and upgrade as time goes on. Oh yeah, this is our first boat and is a 41' PT41 Cheer Men Europa style trawler. The other thing I learned was that I didn't want to buy a 34 footer and want a bigger boat in a few years....though I really like some 50 footers I see now.....

Teak decks can (won't always, but can) result in some high maintenance and repair bills. Check these few paragraphs from BoatUS, describing the construction and some of the maintenance issues of the Grand Banks 42:

"Originally the GB42's were built of wood utilizing traditional carvel planking and sawn frame construction techniques. Beginning with hull #353 in 1973, the hulls of the GB42 have been built with hand-laid fiberglass with an integral, full-length keel that protects underwater running gear. The hull is supported by a system of fiberglass stringers embedded with dense, closed cell foam. The construction is not high tech but is strong and well done.


Even though Grand Banks has built their boats of fiberglass for more than 27 years, to this day, they retain the molded-in planking lines reminiscent of their wood heritage. Another signature of Grand Banks, the teak planked transom, adds to the classic wooden boat appearance of the GB42.


It is not uncommon for older, fiberglass GB42s to suffer some degree of osmotic blistering if they have not been previously protected with a moisture barrier coat. Boats that spend a significant amount of time in warmer, tropical waters seem to suffer more than those that spend most of their time in colder water. The hull thickness of the GB42 is substantial and I have never seen any blistering condition that I would consider to have structurally weakened the hull to the point that it was unsafe for normal service. However, the condition can significantly effect a boat's salability and value. Repair of a blistered hull is very expensive, commonly costing between $10,000 and $15,000 but may be a worthwhile investment to protect the boat's value and long term structural integrity.


Decks of the GB42 are composite constructed with fiberglass over a plywood core with a teak overlay. The teak deck is fastened with screws and is a potential source of serious problems and considerable maintenance expense as these vessels age. Deck fastenings and bedding compounds loosen over time and water eventually migrates into and damages the plywood deck core. Fasteners and seams must be maintained at the first sign of wear or aging. If left unattended until an extensive repair or replacement is necessary, the cost of repair can easily top $25,000."