The thin teak laminate on the surface of the plywood panels of "teak deck" in the cockpit of Tringa is beginning to fail and peel off.
I will probably make up replacement panels of solid timber 6mm thick in slats with black caulking between the slats. I can do this at home and fit each panel to the boat as a second stage.

Having been quoted close to £1000 for enough "ethical" teak to do the job, I'm looking at alternatives!
There are various alternative timbers to choose from and all the synthetic teak look-alike products.

What have other people done?

Martin

Hi Martin

I haven't done it yet, but when I do (soon, I fear) Flexiteek will be top of my list. We were admiring a beautifully maintained Nicholson 39 in Fair Isle harbour (just thought I'd drop that in!) and she had a gleaming new cap rail - totally synthetic, but completely indistinguishable from a very expensive piece of teak. The owner said it was about a third of the price of the teak quote.

Good luck
Peter

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I replaced mine 18 months ago with synthetic teak. I got quotes and chose Permateak. It cost £1250.

Mike
Shemar

We had Sandack refitted 2 years ago with Flexiteek, by James Gant at Sea Dek in Tollesbury. Cost around £1600 (we removed and replaced the pedestal). An excellent job. The product is attractive, tough, grippy and highly resistant to staining.
Ewan

Many thanks all for your responses. Being a bit of a cheapskate, whilst I entirely understand the attraction of the synthetic materials, I will probably go for something I can fit myself.

6mm teak including the caulking would come in at about £1200. Looking at alternative timbers, the most promising I have found so far is a processed timber called Kebony. It has a density and movement with moisture characteristics similar to teak but is much cheaper, perhaps £300 including the caulking material. I am told that the pontoons in Yarmouth IOW were recently re-laid using it.

I have made up a trial panel which is nailed to the front of my shed at home and we shall see how it looks in a few months' time.


Martin

Hi Martin, I was faced with this choice two years ago as the plywood in the cockpit seat was rotten which again was partly fixed with epoxy by the previous owner.
I got a quote in The Netherlands for (converted) £4200. That’s a lot of money.
However the Dutch company selling and installing Flexiteek only wanted to do the job when I removed the old plywood and prep the surface AND the boat needed to be inside an accessible heated shed. That would imply removing and replacing the mast.
So I had the plywood replaced for real teak strokes and I’m very happy with the result. Below is a picture of the freshly installed teak. It has grayed by now.