Synthetic teak deck

Yeah, just because yacht owners with multi-million dollar yachts are using this stuff is no reason to see reason.
Just go off now..., having demonstrated your tremendous vision and open-mindness.\
Yours is the only perspective.
Right.

 

A few years ago I read that 4% of all "rainforest" (flexible term) that "vanish" is actually used for woodworking. The rest is burnt or left to rot. Of those 4%, how much do you think is used in the marine industry? Most of it is used in the building industry locally.

Without becoming too political:
500 years ago many thousand square kilomteres of Norway was covered with pine woods. Now it's "mountain plains" because we cut it down and sold it to Holland and UK. Now, Burma (Myanmar) is not a country where the workers seem to benefit much from export of goods. But I don't think Norwegians that are not able to leave as much as 1% of our woods untouched (as natural "rainforests") should decied what people in Asia or Africa is doing with theire forests (or elephants),

Phu!
__________________
Regards,
Ragnar Thor Mikkelsen

Hello Ragnar,

Not easy to defend the folks in power in Myanmar. However, their logging practices are far more 'enlightened' then most would believe from what they read in the media. Myanmar's logging is conducted primarily with elephants because teak,padauk etc. does not grow naturally as a monocrop, but dispersed throughout a varied species forest. Most species have little commercial potential and since road building costs are prohibitive,elephant logging proves economically viable.Because of this, teak is selectively harvested, and has been so for the last 200 years. Myanmar has the last natural intact teak forests ...because...they have been/are primarily selectively harvested. Clear cutting teak forests is simply not a commercially viable way to log in the Myanmar ecology/geography. Myanmar's 'backwardness' and insight has gone a long way toward maintaining sustainable naturally grown teak stocks.

regards.......Ken

 

I know we are not supposed to discuss politics here, but I just get so tired of europeans and north-americans that want to tell other people how to use or preserve the nature.... And that is after we have cultivated 99% of our own land...

 

Of course I hope no one got offended by this, I hope we still have teak in 500 years

 

I have looked at all other synthetic 'teak' products, and most look like they are plastic. Take a look at Flexiteek, it is a little more expensive than say, Plasteek, or Tek-Dek, but the quality is far beyond any of the others. The expected life for Flexiteek is 15 years for heavy traffic. The non-skid is unsurpassed (wet/dry). It is stain resistant (fish blood/red wine/usual foot dirt) all you will need is a semi hard bristled brush and some Simple Green, and brush across the grain, and it is back to new. You will never have to replace a caulk seam (as you would with Tek-Dek). Flexiteek is also UV resistant, and has a very low combustibility.

Personally I would never put a real teak deck on any boat, if for nothing else than the cost and the maintenance. Unless you mill the teak yourself, you are looking at about $100 per squre foot installed for 14 mil. (Florida Prices). And then you have the yearly cost of sanding, replacing failed caulk seams, split bungs, etc. With Flexiteek, you are looking from $40 - $60 a square, installed, and only an occasional clean with soap and water. To get the same life out a real teak deck you would have to install 24 mil teak, and that is $150 square foot (conservatively). You also have no holes drilled into your deck. And you use a hybrid bostick epoxy to adhere it to your deck. This doesnt completely harden, so you have a completely watertight membrane protecting your deck from water damage, mold, or rot.

And if none of that does it for you, consider the gas. A square foot of 14 mil teak weighs approximately 6 lbs. A square foot of Flexiteek weighs 1.5 lbs. That makes more a lot less weight to haul around, and that means alot less gas.

If you need any other info, please feel free to contact me via email.

Thanks,

Mark

 

Im in Queensland Australia and the best price have to date for Flexiteek is $800 per square meter. I cant se the price difrence from $30 US per sqr foot to $800 per sqr meter here in Australia.

Stu

 

I agree with you about the overuse of the wood. If this much devastation goes on in the forests in the entire world,One day we are not going to have any tree to cut.I have recently started to grow opposite ideas about wooden boat building.

But I have never seen a synthetic deck like that,does it make you feel the same, I mean does it give the same warmth as real teak does?
Also the maintenance is another issue, what has to be done for maintenaance?

 

Alpamis, the maintenence on the Flexiteek is minimal. If it gets dirty, you simple wash it with a brush, and some detergent, preferably simple green (across the grain). If the surface gets scratched, all you need is some 60 grit sandpaper, and sand out the marks. (with the grain). You can check out a couple jobs we have installed at the following address:

http://www.yachteng.com

 

synthetic "teak"

This is clearly a shameless plug for a product that you install and nothing to do with an objective comparison.
I like Practical Sailor's conclusions. Why don't you buy an ad somewhere? Too cheap?

Your statement about the the quality being far beyond the others is based on what objective criteria other than your own extravagant claim?

The stain resistance and cleaning is the same for ALL the sythentic teak products you mentioned. Your claims are not exclsuive to Flexiteek. The non-slip "grain" is also the same for all the them i.e. there is little to set them apart in terms of effective non-slip.

FYI, the others have 5 to 10 year UV and stain resistance warranties and both PlasDeck and Tek-Dek are self extinguishing. Again not an exclusive feature of Flexiteek

Not that I am advocate of teak decks, but did you know that the SG of teak is about 0.72 and the your product you are pushing is 1.4? That's about twice the weight of teak. Check your math matey !!

So much for your extensive study. Advertising hype and hogwash. Read the Practical Sailor article. At least they don't have a vested interest.

 

I hate to burst your bubble, but I install traditional teak as well, and I am well aware of the weight differences, and I assure you that real teak is far heavier than Flexiteek once it is installed. If it was a shameless plug, I would have gone into depth about all the facets of my business. As for the properties of the other products, I never once implied that these were unique to Flexiteek. Although the quality is better in my opinion as I have found that other products have more of a plastic feel and look, whereas Flexiteek has alot less obvious PVC attributes. The thread was about synthetic decking, and I replied regarding the product I use, and my experience with it. I apologise if my reply wasn't clear enough for you to see that.

 

synthetic teak

You have to be kidding !! I am holding this sample of Flexiteek and it's a consistent orange colour, and being so consistent it looks like plastic, albeit with a nice non-slip feel. In my other hand, is the other product which is inconsistent in colour, has the appearance of a grain, the inconsistencies of real wood, and a similar good non-slip feel. I think that's how Practical sailor viewed them too.

Frankly I don't much care for the flexible products since they have had histories of bubbling in hot climates, (despite many successful installations) apparently caused by not being absolutely perfect in expelling trapped air when the deck is laid into the adhesive. I have also heard that if you lay big prefabricated panels into moisture curing polyurethane bedding adhesives, the adhesive in the middle of the panel could get starved of moisture to fully cure it, hence adding to a risk of bubbling.

I personally like the rigid Tek-Dek "professional" product. As a real teak deck layer, you may want to check it out. It has all the benefits of the flexible stuff (UV and stain resistance) yet it has real wood fibre in the PVC. It can even be heated and bent to follow curves in toerails, bulwarks etc... It also has the dovetailed channels on its underside like their flexible stuff so there's some mechanical grip to the adhesive and it's not 100% dependent on a bond to a shiny plastic on the underside.

Talk about durability.... unlike the flexible products like Flexiteek and the others which can scuff reasonably easily with deck furniture etc... this piece of the rigid Tek-Dek I have looks bullet proof. I have spread mayonnaise, axle grease, machine and vegetable oil, and soy sauce on it and been able to wash it off despite the natural fibres in it. The axle grease did need a little persuasion with some clutch and brake cleaner but it all came off. I have also charred it with a blow torch until it was black and could sand it out. Interesting stuff.

I have looked at the Bostik website and couldn't find any "epoxy hybrid" adhesive you refer to for the marine environment. What's the product name? Are you sure it's not one of their polyurethane moisture curing adhesives?

 

If your flexiteek is orange then you are probably holding Plasteek. I have NEVER seen orange Flexiteek. Synthetic decks will bubble in hot climates IF too much adhesive is used. I have checked out Tek Dek and to be honest I didn't care for it. As for durability, both Flexiteek and Tek Dek are running about head to head. The only annoyance with Tek Dek is that you join it using essentially, super glue. Once you have the deck down, you have to go back and caulk all your margin board, and that is alot of messy work for your average boater. With Flexiteek it is joined together using heat welds of the PVC compound, which is as sturdy as the batons once adhered. The plus to Flexiteek is that all the caulk seams are built into the compound. This plus the heat welds gives you a completely water tight product, the same cannot be said for Tek Dek.

I understand that you don't care for synthetics, but people out there don't have the patience, time, and money to deal with real teak. The only reason I replied to this topic was to impart the information I had. Nothing more.

Have fun, and Happy New Year.

 

Synthetics, Vinyl Are Really Hot

TAKE A LOOK AT: WWW.SEACORK.COM

 

I have seen the cork decking only after 3 years of installation, and it was horrible. Really orange, and coming away in places. The captain of the boat assured me that he hadn't applied anything to it that would cause a colour shift. If you want to see the Flexiteek installed, we have a boat in Southhampton Beach.

 

I have been working with cork for 6 years and never any problems. Flexiteek is vinyl and gets extremely hot. we have worked with it as well, it is horrible stuff. Don't understand the cork problems you described. Coming away in places indicates to me a poor installation. There are two cork products marine deck 2000 and seacork either I prefer to any synthetics.