New Teak Decks
Trumpeter is lying at her berth in Sotogrande and having new teak deck laid on. We have reached the interesting stage – the old teak removed, deck sanded down and all fittings removed. The man who is doing it, single handed, is a veritable artist. He has sawn the teak tree trunk and cut and shaped all the bits of the jigsaw. The thickness is 15mm as opposed to the 10-12 that she originally had.
Work on the new deck is progressing. Most of the teak has now been laid – stuck not screwed! Now putting on the sicaflex –attached photos will give some idea – still somewhat messy. Hoping to start sanding down to obtain the excellent finish as shown by some of the end photos.
We are putting on a new forward hatch (Goiot) and new Genoa tracks, only the inner ones, we are eliminating the outer ones. The old tracks almost disintegrated when we took them off, we had to cut all the bolts. We are eliminating four of the forward Halyard winches (Lewmar 48’s) and installing organisers and stoppers / clutches.
The teak deck, when it’s finished will show up the rest of the boat we will have to upgrade, all round! Anybody would think we are going in for a beauty contest and not preparing for next year’s racing season.
Here are some photos of Trumpeter’s new deck. All in all I have been involved for about a year – six months with the deck and the rest of the year involved with the inside, stripping down all the old and re-varnishing – 8 or 9 coats! It’s worth it as Trumpeter is looking an absolute treat – only problem is I don’t dare let the grandchildren scramble on board and drop their oily crisps on the new decks!
The new decks are an absolute masterpiece as they were crafted by the one man who cut the strips and shaped them all by himself from a Burma teak trunk. I settled for 12mm thickness which I think will see me through the next few years!!
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“Foreign Affair” lies in Fontvieille, Monaco and has just completed having new teak decks. After 15 years the teak was wearing thin and had past the level where the grooves in the Nautor teaks deck finished and therefor and the caulking was coming, out or had come out. In some places it had worn through to the fibre glass. 15 years is not bad, but racing with a crew of 13 really increased the wear and tear.
Under the guidance of Laurent von Saenger of Strat-o-Sphere, I contacted several suppliers, including Nautor Finland and others in Sweden, Germany, Italy and the USA (see contacts at the end of this article). I chose the USA, because of the exchange rate and because the supplier Teak Decking had been supplying great environmentally friendly cleaning materials and deck maintenance advice to me for 15 years. They worked out to be the lowest cost (measured in Euros), but then there were added shipping costs which put them about the same as the others, except for Nautor who were the most expensive. They also specialise in naturally grown Burmese teak, which they have stocked since before the US import embargo. However the cost is not in the teak! We chose a 12mm deck, which is the same size as the original, but unlike the Nautor original the planks were separate, so the caulking could go through to the fibreglass and probably double the life of the deck.
Strat-o-Sphere prepared a template based on very precise instructions provided by Teak Decking and shipped it to them to build the deck, which is supplied large sections, glued to a very fine fibreglass base, with all the intermediate pieces to size and shape during the build. They even recommended that we sent the two aft helm cockpit seat tops (curved) so that they could fit the teak to them as part of the preparation. Then the hard work began!
Strat-o-Sphere stripped all the fittings and noted all the locations – a huge task, and removed the old teak. Sounds simple removing the old teak, but if you have seen some of the yards doing this, it would break your heart. However, Laurent and his team were kind, loving and gentle with my much loved Swan 46 and finally hand sanded the decks for a perfect glue ready finish. The also filled in all the screw holes, as with modern materials and conditions, these decks can be just glued and not glued and screwed.
The pre-cut and partly assembled deck was shipped (that’s a whole other story) and when it finally arrived, was assembled, fitted and finished in the yard, under covers, see photos.
Unlike many other owners, I have resisted changing anything from the original, keeping 2 genoa sheet tracks on each side and retaining all winches in original form.
The main project took about 4 months although with pre planning and final small finishing it was a 12 month project. I have an analysis of costs which I can share with anyone interested. What a difference is made to the boat, I am very pleased with the result.
This subject is on the mind of most Swan 46 owners so if you have undertaken this work we would love to hear from you. We hope to undertake a survey of some of the decisions and costs to publish online in the future.
Teak Deck suppliers:
Teakdecking Systems
Yacht Services
7061 15th Street East
Sarasota
FL 34243
USA
Tel: +1 941 756 0406
Email yach.services@teakdecking.com
www.teakdecking.com
WolzNautic OHG
D-97253 Gaukonigshofen
Klinge 5
Germany
Tel: +33 620 694 068
Email: brieuc.chauris@wolznautic.de
www.wolznautic.de
Nautor’s Swan
OY Nautor AB
PO Box 10
FIN-68601 Pietarsaari
Finland
Tel: +358 6 760 1111
www.nautors-swan.com
Scandinavian Teak Deck AB
Fabriksvagen 5
FIN-68700 Terjarv
Finland
Tel: +358 6 867 5850
www.stdeck.fi
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Twilight – new decks
