At some point, all of us classic-boat owners are faced with the expensive, time-consuming task of replacing the decks.
Teak is the preferred material, right?
Maybe. Maybe not.
I was faced with this predicament 20 years ago, when the teak decks on Searcher, our Bowman 57 ketch, needed to be replaced. The teak on the working decks was 30 years old and getting paper-thin. Bungs were missing, screwheads were showing, and the seam caulking was coming adrift.
So, I went looking for teak options. One alternative was cheap, plastic linoleum that tried to look like teak. There was real African teak or iroko, greenheart and tigerwood, but these, I thought, were better suited for a patio deck. Costa Rican teak might cost around $160 per square meter. I could have…