“KASARA” was born in 1994 and is now 30 years old. Hull number 251, almost the last of the HR36 MK1’s.
I bought her in 2016 and over the last 8 years have enjoyed sailing her on far-flung adventures and maintaining her to a high standard with full specifications to carry out her duties as a coded boat.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of Teak decks. The feel and the look add to the character of the boat…….until, at least, they get old, rough, splintery, their dowels start popping and their cork degrades and falls out, allowing water to the substrate below.
I was beginning to look, sort of enviously at some of the new HR’s arriving at my home marina on The Hamble with their composite, Teak look-a-like decks, now almost a standard.
Annual deck maintenance including the application of Boracol can become a chore which outweighs the pleasure and as I’m not a professional wood engineer or craftsman, have little eye for detail and even less patience, I first sought quotes for a refurb (not a replacement) of the teak deck on Kasara. These came in at around £5-6k including VAT.
Mmmmm…..
That is £5-6k and afterwards, I would still have my even thinner Teak deck plus continued annual maintenance. This thought got me to begin to look at the alternatives.
Quotes for various composite alternatives from different suppliers came in between £8k to £12k supply and fit of decks, cockpit & locker covers. The solid teak toe rails are fine, so these did not come into the equation. The prices seemed to vary partially on the material. Some feel more “fibrous” (more akin to real teak), and some are more heat reflective than others (which would be important in the tropics and med - maybe not so much in The Solent!), but also on labour costs & suppliers. Shopping around is therefore important.
Armed with this information….To do…or not to do….that is the question.
In my mind, the idea of a maintenance-free jet wash deck to serve for the next 20 years, despite the double up-front cost, had lots of appeal. I therefore placed the order with Hamble company, Flexiteek.
However, it was not as simple as that!
Their price did not include the removal of the old teak and the reparation of the deck to take the new shiny alternative.
On the face of it, I didn’t have a problem with this. I had time on my hands, felt confident that I was good at “destruction” even if not great at “reconstruction” and I felt that the whole process would “build my skills” for future yacht maintenance. Trades had estimated the cost at £3k for this part of the job - but, being a solidly built Hallberg Rassy - it may take longer & therefore - they couldn’t quote exactly - only estimate!
I also hadn’t budgeted for a winter cover to work under. However, this is essential for all-weather working & I was able to arrange for an all-over “polytunnel cover”.
I was good to go!
Preparing the boat.
If I were to do this job properly, I would need to remove all the deck fittings, locker covers, catches, hinges, Genoa tracks, drain holes etc. There are actually a lot of them.
I had thought to remove the shroud deck plates. However, The fittings were inaccessible and were firmly in place, so these stayed in position and we worked around them. Removing the rig allowed for easier fitting of the polytunnel cover & less cramped working conditions.
2. Removing the Teak.
First - remove the surviving plugs (approx 1500) - use a drill with a 10-12mm core Drill bit to fit around the plug & screws. This will generally pop the top off the plug, revealing the screw head below. Where it doesn’t I found a bradawl a useful digging tool.
Second - remove the screws - a power screwdriver is certainly worth it.
Third - I went with a 32mm wide chisel and mallet (about the width of a plank) - some folk I understand are more brutal & go with a crowbar! I wanted to protect the deck underneath as much as I could & so I went with the former.
This was a long and fairly back & Knee - breaking process. Because HR glued the decks down very well - releasing the planks was a slow business. Often the glue would pull up the gel coat surface of the deck below. If not the glue would remain on the deck. The Teak came up painfully slowly and this part of the process took me 17 days of hard labour!
I was left with a pock-marked deck with a lot of glue still to be removed.
Then I was introduced to a new friend. A Bosch Multi-Tool with a Starlock blade set.
I was able to use this to scrape off the glue. It was time-consuming as I had to go over the whole deck again but, it was fairly straightforward and job done, I had a teak-free, glue-free deck.
3. Preparing the deck for the “Flexiteek”
First - Before putting the new deck covering down, make sure the integrity of your deck is in good shape. I was advised that water ingress may have happened as well as areas of stress causing “soft” areas in the gel surface and foam core.
I wanted to have it signed off by a yacht surveyor to say it was dry & stress-free. This way, should I sell her in the future, a buyer would have full peace of mind.
Unsurprisingly, after, 30 years, there were some stress and damp spots, but nothing structural. To deal with these I dug out the gel (with my trusty multi-tool) to the foam. Fortunately, these decks are made with foam rather than balsa & so dampness does not affect the integrity.
I re-laminated these areas and was left with a fully dry & stress-free deck. Albeit uneven in parts.
Second - Levelling the deck. To take “Flexiteek” the gel surface has to be really level & smooth or else you will feel the imperfections (and see them) under the 5mm material.
I have to say this is where I’m not up to the skill set or pay grade to do this perfectly & so I was introduced to my “Flexiteek” installer. He Knows the result he needs and spent a couple of days Poly-fairing to get the desired result (a bit like a good plasterer).
Now it was down to the Professionals:
4. Laying the “Flexiteek”.
This took my highly skilled installer about a week.
One item I had not anticipated was what to do with the toe rail upstand. Normally this is white GRP under the teak toe rail to the teak deck. However, Teak is thicker than “Flexiteek” and removing it left a gel “scar” all around. I decided (to ask my installer) to smooth this and then apply a “Flexiteek” infill under the toe rail to fill the gap. I have to say it looks fabulous giving the impression of a “solid” Teak toe rail from the deck up!
5. Costs and Conclusions.
Essential Poly Tunnel Cover £1000
Supply of “Flexiteek” £6620
Professional deck fairing £750
Fitting of “Flexiteek” £2820
Purchase of consumables such as glass fibre matt, Polyfair, epoxy etc. £500
Deck Survey £150
TOTAL (Inc VAT) £11840
This is approximately two times the cost of a professional Teak Deck refurb.
There were other costs associated with the job, but these could be considered as part of a wider refit during the winter.
Removal of Rig
Purchase of hardware - from chisels to multi-tools.
It is also true that having the time to do the “destructive” preparation work myself saved a lot of money. I estimate that I spent 40 man-days working on the deck. If I had employed semi-skilled labour to do this at £200 per day, I may have saved myself around £8000.
Now all the fittings are back on (with no leaks!) I’m happy with the result. Not only the look & feel but the knowledge that the sub deck is in good shape and the prospect of very little ongoing maintenance. The old deck was only going to get more troublesome.
Boats are never a good investment, (only maybe holistically) but by doing this work I believe I have safeguarded Kasara financially against depreciation in respect of “future works needing to be done”.
I’m pleased I did it.
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