Teak Substitutes

Teak, Chinese built ships with it ,then the Britts.

 

Ive worked with teak for 35 years and i love the way it works,however it is not the be all end all wood,it simply is not the long lasting wood some might think it to be, i have replaced too many teak decks that have been maintained to death.When you have to lay a new teak deck on a 20yr old boat that does not translate into a cheap wood over the lifetime of the craft. There are thousands of old fiberglass boats out there with the requisite minimal teak trim such as cabintop handrails, toerails,companionway trim and dropboards, caprails,etc, etc, and most of it is worn out. Now these boats dont have a lot of value and its hard to justify $25/bd ft lumber(read,polishing a turd) so i think using one of these jungle woods makes sense, please note i am not talking laid decks here, just the type of trim i mentioned previously, furthermore i think some of these woods may be superior for these items as they will withstand the damn scrubbing that folks like to do that so often ends teaks life prematurely. Just because these woods are cheap does not mean they are junk, in fact some are gorgeous,however im largley speculating here until i get some experience with them. As i said earlier i have limited experience with ipe and found it too hard to work with, i also used it as shims when i jacked my house up(it had sunk 1.5" in the middle over 100yrs) that is some hard wood.
Steve.

 

Hey Steve,

nobody can fight a solid bias.

Go for what you want... You anyway know better.

For us builders it is at least the best timber available, and when serviced, the longest lasting.

My best regards
Richard

 

Says he that pushes one and only one style of vessel and deems all others as worthless.

 

About 3500 years ago? Not before you entered the yacht scene, I assume, but not much later.

 

Retard,


I build more than 67 different boats! And lots of them.....

And you cannot know about my ***** size, you are a ****.....

 

Let me guess
Not one multihull amongst them
and of course yours are the best.....better than all the rest

Again Richard, this is a description of you to a tee

And where did this come from you may wonder?

mentalhelp.net Small ***** Syndrome

 

Apex, exactly where have i shown a bias on this subject? I started this thread to ask if anyone had any experience of several interesting species of hardwood that have shown up in the lumberyard,(notice that even though i have been a boatbuilder for over 35yrs i am not too proud to ask questions of others if i am not knowlegable on a particular subject) I would suggest that it is you who has the solid bias, not being even willing to acknowlege that there may be other suitable woods out there. Believe it or not us builders dont necessarily all think teak is the best wood available.
Steve.

 

Teak is eye candy, jewelry for the dock walkers. . Best if designers decorate the yacht with other details and style to minimize the use of teak. Teak decks are heavy and extremely expensive to maintain over their service life. Teak decks, because of their dark colour when wet, attract heat so the inside of the vessel has to be cooled down. I wouldn't recommend teak decks to any new boat owner. Best to save expensive teak for mission critical exterior woodwork in which no substitute will work. The finest yachts in the world sailed with holystoned, white pine, decks.

Well maintained painted or gelcoat printed decks offer superior traction and durability.

Teak is a modern craze. It makes my eyes hurt when I see teak decks on modern plastic production yachts

 

mrwright...softwood/hardwood has NOTHING to do with the density of the wood/hardness or softness, it has all to do with species.....and easiest explained to look at the leaves of the tree...softwoods have needles (conifers), hardwoods have leaves (angiosperms) (general, but is explains it)

African sassafras is a current substitute being used, but hey Teak (Tectona Grandis) is in a class of its own. It is still readily available but the quality is, well suspect, by comparison to the days of Burma. Thai teak is OK, Burma teak is better, but you still have to hand pick the flitches.

 

Regardless of its availability, you purchase BURMA teak from a despicable military regime who is selling a countries precious resources in a way that doesn't benefit the Burmese people. Smuggled out of the country with the proceeds in Switzerland. All so that yachts can have deck jewelry. Wouldn't catch me with any of that stuff on my personal boat. Id rather go with a bare aluminum superstructure and treadmaster decks. .

 

Ironbark ( eucalyptus ) is a good alternative for Teak. At 62 lbs. per CF it is heavier than Teak by 19 lbs per CF and very hard. In 06-07 I built a dining set and 8 chairs out of it and hand finished with 6 coats of hand rubbed teak oil tinted with stain. A work of love and it turned out beautiful. I also did a Teak setee at the same time and finished the same way. You could not tell the difference in the 2 woods with the finish I put on them. The material was great to work with, finished out easily (but the hard way-by hand). I will use Ironbark every chance I get on a boat. Hand finishing means rubbing on tinted teak oil with rags and fine sand paper untill you turn blue. Lot of work but the outcome is worth the effort.

 

I recently saw an Ironbark cabin sole...nice looking .

 

Look at the replacement of teak that was used on MY Bigfish.

 

Was that some kinda synthetic stuff ?