Possible deck delamination

[BobDivine]

We owned a 40' Beneteau in charter service several years ago (Moorings 405), then kept it for a couple of years afterwards. We are favorably inclined to Beneteaus.

We are just before making an offer on a 1988 Oceanis 350 (actually 34 feet!).

The side and fore decks, and cockpit seats, are overlaid with teak. The boat has not been well maintained in general, and the teak looks rather ragged. It could be restored, but the boat yard owner who has done a lot of work on the boat agrees with me that there could be delamination under the teak. After all, each of the many screws used to attach the teak has put a hole in the fiberglass. Even assuming that each screw was properly bedded, that was 25 years ago. Only way to tell, as far as I know, is to remove the teak, look for delimitation, repair as needed, fill the screw holes and re-surface with non-skid. Obviously this will be an expensive project, with no way of predicting total cost until the work is well underway.

Has anyone had experience with this issue? Can you shed any light? Thanks very much for your help.

 

[CCHer]

Are you sure the teak overlay is screwed in? If so I would agree that the decks are suspect and should be checked out by a surveyor (which should be done in any event given the boats age). I have a much newer boat and the teak is glued though I have it just on the seats and transom swim platform.

 

[BobDivine]

Thanks for the response. Yes, I am pretty sure, because you can see the bungs in the teak that would be covering screw heads. Also, I discussed the removal and patching with the boat yard owner who is currently working on the boat. I have placed a call to Beneteau tech support, but they have not called back. Several years ago I owned a 405 in Moorings charter service. It had teak only on the cockpit seats as you mentioned, and I suspect that was glued.

 

[DougM]

I recently removed the teak decking from the aft platform on my 323. No screws, it was glued down. the glue was letting loose at the edges allowing water intrusion. I cut out the caulking around the perimeter and used a wide bladed putty knife to carefully separate the decking from the fiberglass. It came up in a matter of minutes.

I let the teak air dry for a few days, then ground off the old adhesive. I used 80 grit on a disc sander to remove all traces of the old adhesive from the fiberglass.
I then used a Loctite adhesive product to re attach the decking to the fiberglass. To be sure that it set properly, I weighted it down with a 40 pound bag of water softener salt overnight.

After that I masked the teak and the adjacent fiberglass, and caulked the joint with black marine caulking. I removed the tape after the caulk had set for about an hour. It looks as good as new.

 

[BobDivine]

Doug: Thanks for the input.

 

[FastOlson]

Over the years, we've had three model 350 Ben. in our yc moorage. All (!) three had continual leaks around the sealant bed that holds the huge wrap-over plastic cabin top windows.
One was repaired professionally after the plastic cracked. The new lenses were shaped in a large oven and laid in a bed of 3/8" of sealant/adhesive. It took a LOT of tubes of black adhesive material. Result was wonderful and basically done the way the factory *should* have done it (but did not) in the first place. Never another leak.

Nice cruising layout inside and generally a good sailing design. Just cursed with some production shortcuts.


And, yup, it does indeed measure about 34' long. Ah... the wonders of Marketing!


Addendum: None of the examples here have any "stock" teak other than the cockpit seating areas. Nice touch, but a little hard to maintain the looks and finish.

 

[BobDivine]

Thanks for the input. The boat I am considering has had its curved windows replaced and re-bedded--apparently no leaks thus far. I am trying to reach Beneteau tech support by phone but, so far, they have not responded to repeated VM messages.