New teak deck for Swan 431

My Medium long term project is to replace the Teak Decks myself on my 431.

Does anyone have recommendations on places to buy the teak?

Would it be cheaper to buy rough sawn ?

And what opinions or experiences does anyone have.

Thankyou

I am presently replacing the bearing drum housing on the 3100 scheafer furler.Matteo would it be ok for me to upload pictures of the furler work.

Florence 

Dear Florence,

I have not replaced my teak decks yet, however, I do have some experience working with teak.  You may already know its properties so please forgive me if I state the obvious.  Because teak has silica in its structure, one must use carbide blades; the silica is like glass and dulls high speed steel very quickly.  So, if you were to mill the wood yourself, please take this into consideration.  I will add that it works reasonably well with handplanes - even those with older blades - A2 steel and the like work very well.

I have been speaking with a firm in Florida that has FEQ quartersawn teak, i believe 4/4, 6/4 and 8/4, for about $17 per board foot.  If you are in Europe, I doubt this would make sense for you.

They also sell finished teak which I believe is 1 7/8" wide by 5/8" thick by the linear foot.  Sorry, I cannot remember the price but I do know that it is much higher than the rough wood - enough that I will consider milling the wood myself when the time comes.

I will be interested to see pictures of your project.

Good luck and fair winds.

Chris Mabel's Casse Tete 43/003

Dear Florence,

the best place is the "maintenance" page of www.classicswan.org website, but you should be a Member of the Association in order to get details of your S&S Swan on our website, so, if you want to join the S&S Swan Association, you are very welcome to do it (to get the subscription form please click here: http://www.classicswan.org/association_subscription.php)!

Fair winds!

matteo (38/067 Only You)

Florence:

I know the idea of laying on a nice new deck board by board is appealing, but you might consider the idea of using a CNC cut decking system made for your boat. Mine was done by the previous owner using this approach. Ten years later, the deck is sound, looks great, and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. The company that does these is Teak Decking Systems in Florida, USA. I believe they have patterns for most of our old Swans, and can cut and ship your deck to you in sections. The method should save lots of time, although it's not too cheap, so I don't think it saves much money. Something to consider, anyway. Good luck either way you go.

Fair Winds,

Geoff
Corazon, 411 #41

Thankyou Chris,

For your detailed reply.I am in San Pedro Ca at present.I will post pictures of the project when it gets going.I was wondering if I can import good teak from any sources and if anyone has had luck in this endevour.

The name of The company you sourced for Rough sawn ,do you have it.

On the net it seems some peole have had their yachts teak decks replaced in Sth America or Mexico.Does anyone have any experience or leads on this route?

Thankyou

Florence

Thankyou Geoff,

Hi Florence,

Here is the contact information you requested:

Chase
World Panel Products, Inc.
888.836.3379
www.worldpanel.com

As I mentioned, I need to replace my teak decks.  However, I have not yet committed myself to teak for the decking.  I spend a lot of time on the Wooden Boat forum and one person there recommended Alaskan Yellow Cedar.  I will likely end up with teak but am looking at alternatives for two reasons:  cost and sustainability of natural resources.

With warm regards,

Chris Mabel's Casse Tete 43/003

Hi Florence

I will be doing my own teak decks this winter with material I have had in hand since 2005.

With your present location in Southern CA, you should not have to go far to locate material. There are several lumber suppliers here, there is at least one that specializes in marine lumber whose name escapes me. A Google search will get you started. Some names that come to mind are Mac Beath, Saroyan, Weber, Kelly- Wright. If you get stonewalled because you're not a contractor I can probably help you. I am in Ventura.

I suggest that you only accept naturally grown Burmese teak. Stay away from plantation or farm grown, or South or Central American product. These are grown faster and so the grain structure will not be as tight and the oil content will not be as high.

I would also suggest you saw your planks from 8/4 lumber to utilize the denser edge grain rather than the wider, more open flat grain. In the maintenance section on this web site, Matteo's "Only You" shows a neat system using a rabbeted plank to keep the spacing equal, get better surface area for bedding, and conserve some on the caulking. If you bed your planks in epoxy you can temporarily fasten through the seams then remove the screws, thereby avoiding all of those plugged fastener holes.

Another suggestion: Do a small area first. A cockpit seat or something similar. You'll learn a lot that way before you get into the whole project.

Good luck with the project, I'm looking forward to seeing photos
Tonyh 44-04 Hatha

Hi Florence

I have finish my new teak deck in January..

You can see all the work in www.cubiertasdeteka.com

Regards
Fernando Aldebaran 431/010

Hello Fernando,
this sounds like an extremely low price for that job. In Italy I was quoted almost the double of that.
Do you have any comment?
The only thing I noticed is that the glueing is performed with Sikaflex (I assume different from the Sika used for caulking) while I understand that usually glueing is performed with thickened epoxy. Is there a relevant difference? A question for everybody here.

Daniel, 411/004