cork for decks

[Vega]

I want to know more about cork decks (photos and sites please).

I know that some new production boats are using it, like for instance the new Etap 46 and it looks good (at least in the photos).

I can only find this on the internet:

http://www.lacarene.com/sitegb/covering.htm

It looks ugly

can you add information ?

[gonzo]

I can't imagine it is very durable. Cork boards for posting notes and cork gaskets are quite fragile.

[Raggi_Thor]

It's a lack of cork for wine bottles now. I suppose it's hard to find good quality cork in large pieces.
I suppose you have looked at syntetics like tek-deck?

[Vega]

Thanks.
I have found what I was looking for.
Cork has some interesting properties. Is a very good Acoustical insulating and is a good thermal insulating.
Take a look.

http://www.stazo.nl/html/exterior.html
http://www.stazo.nl/html/pictures.html
http://www.marquipt.com/marineDeck.html

[Raggi_Thor]

I looked at stazo.nl, Marindeck 2000.
I see that it comes in 9mm thickness with a density of 0.5.
So it weighs 4.5kg/m2, approx the same as wood, but it has no strength, 100N/mm2 is approx 1% of wood.

Have you checked the prices?

[Sander Rave]

Cork is used in indoor flooring. To prevent wearing, a elastic coating is used.
That is something you don't want cause it's slippery when wet.

Indeed Thor. The cork is getting scarse now, so it's an interesting product ;-)
They use chippings for the panels. It has no strength, but it's extremely flexible.

I like a cheaper and more "ethical" alternative for teak. The prices for synthetic alternatives for teak are not material driven, but marketing driven. they charge you just little under the price of teak. An other isue is the UV-stabillity of the alternatives. Does anyone have long lasting experience with this synthetic products?

[Vega]

Originally Posted by Sander Rave

Indeed Thor. The cork is getting scarse now, so it's an interesting product ;-)
They use chippings for the panels. It has no strength, but it's extremely flexible.

I like a cheaper and more "ethical" alternative for teak.

Looks like you really don't know much about cork. As an architect (houses) I have been using cork floors for the last twenty years. I know also something about Sobreiros (the tree), because I have grown between them. Portugal is the world leader in cork and my family used to have a Herdade ( big farm) whose main product was cork.

You seem to think that cork is made of trees, or at least that you kill the tree to have cork. You are mistaken, cork is the natural protection of the tree ( the outside layer of the trunk), that in that tree is several cms wide. A skilled worker can take it from the tree every 9 years without harming the tree.

The trees (they are beautiful and big) last for several hundred years and in Portugal it is forbidden to kill sobreiros, even if they are yours and in your own land.

If there is a shortage it is simply because the demand is bigger, not because they are at risk.

Now, I love cork characteristics, but even if Portugal is the biggest cork floor manufacture, we don’t use it on the exterior.

Australians use it outside

http://www.spec-net.com.au/company/aclcork.htm

And there are at least two, probably more companies that have specific products for decks.

I have made a little search in the internet and I have seen that most people that are applying cork decks had previously owned boats with cork decks or are substituting old cork decks by new ones. That seems to be a good sign as well that Etap had chosen the product to use in their new top of the range boat, the Etap 46ds (an expensive boat).

For what I understand, a cork deck will cost half the price of a teak deck. It is much easier to apply and to substitute, if damaged, and it is a lot more comfortable than teak (elastic, softer, warm in winter, cold in the summer, 7 times better temperature insulating, and even better as an acoustic insulator and has only half the weight of teak.

Now, that is theory. Has anybody have real experience with cork decks?

I really would appreciate some real experience here.

[Sander Rave]

Hmm.. don't know if I should write this down, just my ego speaking...
I don't read killing trees? And if so, it is related to teak. Just saying it is getting scarse. I know the trees, I know the product. As demand rises, the price goes up. Nice feature for a more exclusive model of a brand like Etap
I'm interrested in this question so I'm with you, and put my own doubts and questions down next to yours.
Sorry for polluting your thread.

Regards,

[Vega]

You are welcome...and perhaps you can help. I have noticed that you are Dutch. For sure you know the Dutch training sailing ship EENDRACHT, but do you know that she has a cork deck?

http://www.eendracht.nl/nl
http://www.hellers.dk/da/Coelan-UK.pdf

Can you find more information about that? When has it been laid? Are they satisfied with it?

A training boat will give to her decks more use than a cruising boat, so I think it will be the perfect test to the resistance of the material.

[Deering]

Here's a cork-based marine deck product. Friends have it on their sailboat and love it. Has held up for 5 years and a circumnavigation.

http://www.vetus.nl/indexns.asp?lang=2&productid=36

[Sander Rave]

Dear Vega,

The Eendracht has moved from Scheveningen to the port of Rotterdam and will stay there at least until the end of december for maintenance. It's not too far from my studio so maybe I can pay them a visit during the week (if at least I can see some blue skies again from behind the piles of work ;-)
Otherwise I'll give them a call to find out.

The names connected to it may tell something about quality and endurance:
Design: W. de Vries Lentsch
Yard: B.V. Scheepswerf Damen/Gorinchem
Rigging: Royal Huisman Shipyards B.V./Rondal B.V.
Not the least names in the business

[Vega]

Sander, If you can do that I believe that we will learn a lot aboat the qualities and faults of that material.
It's a nice boat with a nice looking deck.

[Vega]

In the Dusseldorf boat show I have seen the new Etap 46, the one that comes with a cork deck and I have talked with a French guy from Etap. I have asked him about the material resistance and longevity and he said that the boat comes with a deck 10 Year warranty. He has also said that that material (cork covered with some kind of hard resin) has a superior longevity, compared with teak...well over 10 years.

I have looked at the deck, and it looks alright. I tried to scratch it with a nail without success. It looks harder than teak, at least the one I have in my boat

Comercially it seams to be a success. The boat is brand new and they have already sold 20 with no complaints about the kind of material used in the decks, and that is an expensive boat (about 500 000 euros).

[longliner45]

cork is harvested only once every 9 years......at least in portugal

[Wellydeckhand]

Originally Posted by Deering

Here's a cork-based marine deck product. Friends have it on their sailboat and love it. Has held up for 5 years and a circumnavigation.

http://www.vetus.nl/indexns.asp?lang=2&productid=36

Thanks for the thread.........