you are installing a cork deck
Cork is actually a wood and looks very much like a traditional wood deck when installed. It also is very nice on your feet and has excellent non skid that actually gets better when it is wet. They have been using cork on decks on high end boats in Europe for quite some time. The manufacturers actually give a 10 year warranty on the decks! Of course these decks are professionally installed at the factory.
I decided to start this business after installing a cork deck on my CSY 44. I spent several years researching how to make cork decks work on a boat. Once it was installed I was DELIGHTED with cork as a deck material. Only recently has the adheasives and the seam caulk gotten good enough to work with cork. We have done a lot of research on the treatment of the cork, adhesives, sealers, and seam compound to be able to work with the cork. The problem is the natural waxes in the cork make it so that it does not want to stick to anything. We have overcome this problem.
The short answer is - very. The cork is flexible but once it is attached to the deck and sealed it feels a lot like wood. Most people can not believe it is cork. We have run over it with a 3 ton Diesel truck, burned it, spilled LOTS of different things on it, and it keeps on going. The nice thing about cork is stains don't penetrate so if you get a bad stain (like that yellow goop inside of blue crabs that stains gelcoat) you lightly hit it with a piece of sand paper and have it looking like new in minutes.
Also, if you gouge the deck you can easily repair the cork deck with and the repair is virtually impossible to see.
The decks are pretty robust and we have even used cork on the bullnose of steps. It seems to hold up well.
Once we decided to get into the cork business we have been kept busy with 'custom' (large sail /power boats) work. Our original business plan was to develop deck kits for common sailboats; e.g., Hunter. I recently made the executive decision that we would stop custom work and concentrate in this area. As usual executive decision are easy to make but hard to really follow up with. I believe our first boat will be the H34 and I am working to find one close so we can template it and get an idea of how much deck needs to be covered.
I hope to find an H34 close soon and get started on it. I have had a couple of people interested so maybe we will have a Hunter with a deck on it early next year.
As for Flexteak - I looked at this product and was not impressed. I have actually seen it installed on a large steel sailboat and decided not to go with it on my boat. Also, it was extremely hot in the Florida sun.
