Rich Hampel wrote:
Give me a teak deck anytime. So what if it makes the boat a bit more
top heavy, **nothing** is this world has the non-dkid ability of bare
teak.


I've heard a lot of people say this, but it's not true in my
observations. This is probably heresy, but to me it has always seemed
like a teak deck is among the worst surfaces. I don't expect anybody
else to agree, but I am telling only what I have seen to be true.

I've heard "A teak deck is best when barefoot" when it has been proven
to me by painful experience that a teak deck will get blistering hot in
the southern sun. I've heard "A teak deck is incredible non-skid" said
by a crew who had just returned from the foredeck on their hands & knees.

In short, I own a boat with a teak deck... they're beautiful but they
are not practical in any way... the maintenance is awful, the surface is
unreliable, and if it's screwed down over cored fiberglass it's a
lurking rot instigator. Our teak deck is coming off in the near future,
to be replaced by either plain fiberglass with painted non-skid, or
perhaps those industrial textured non-skid materials.


wrote:
The opposing view, and no doubt a boat I would love to visit because
it looks so nice. This gentleman knows the problems with teak, knows
how to deal with them, knows the best case scenario, and considers the
net benefit worth it.

I do not, although I've seen nice teak over metal decks that would put
me off less than teak over cored decks.

To each sailor his or her own. The less wood on the outside, the
happier I am, but that's me and is totally from the upkeep point of
view.

A little wood here & there is nice, but whole layer of it over the deck
is a bit much. Might as well build the whole boat out of the stuff

Fresh Breezes- Doug King