Fake decking has come a long way in a short time as Sam Fortescue discovers
Wild teak is now so hard to get hold of that even some hardened fitters are moving away from the wood. And the quality of farmed teak is distinctly suspect, according to Chris Groves of Eco Marine Deck in Plymouth. “It is grown faster than wild teak,” he says. “It splits and moves and costs more to machine out the problems. That means the longest planking you can get is around 6ft because the grain isn’t straight.”
This in turn pushes up the costs, because so much wood has to be rejected, and there can be remedial works required after fitting. Luckily, there is a whole clutch of alternative options available. The most common is PVC decking, like Permateek and Flexiteek, shaped and coloured to resemble teak. Groves himself swears by sustainable cork decking, which is also seeing a surge of interest. And then there are composite ‘woods’ and EVA foams as well.
Each have different properties – soundproofing, heat insulation and ease of installation. But whatever material you choose, you’ll need to have the deck templated first. This is something you can do yourself with a kit costing less than £50, or you can pay a pro to do it – around £400-500 for a 40ft boat.
After that, you can elect to fit the new deck yourself, or again shell out for a fitter. All the brands below say that DIY installation is possible, although in some cases, this will restrict you to a simpler design that lacks, for example, margins and kingplanks. Whether the deck is wood, glass fibre or metal, some simple preparation is required to level and key the surface. Then, with the PVC and EVA products, it is simply a question of peeling off the adhesive backing paper and sticking it down. With cork and composite, you will need to comb out adhesive.
Cork
Cork feels wonderful underfoot (see case study, below) and seals the deck very effectively. It is flexible and much easier to work with than hardwood, weighing barely half that of teak planking of the same thickness. It also does a much better job of insulating against sound and heat, is naturally anti-slip and watertight. The final feather in its cap is that it is considered entirely sustainable, because stripping cork doesn’t kill the tree. Some even say that it should be considered a natural carbon sink. Cork requires no more maintenance than a wash with detergent, and will weather gently. It is available either as pure compressed cork, or cork-rubber composite.
