The question we get asked a lot at TeakFlooring.com is whether or not teak flooring for your boat is a good idea?
A lot of boat restoration projects start with the dream of refinishing the interior of the boat with gorgeous teak flooring – great idea, right?
Well, not so fast.
Before you get ahead of yourself (and your budget) let’s discuss the downfalls of choosing real teak flooring for your restoration project.
Indeed, teak decking is truly a dream come true for the boat enthusiast. An old boat restored to pristine condition and the whole project topped-off with real teak wood for the deck. But before you do this, you should know that teak wood requires great care and a lot of attention in order to keep it from prematurely fading or even drying-out altogether.
Teak is naturally oily and requires regular maintenance and polishing. What’s more, teak for the exterior deck – while once a popular choice – can now be substituted for with equally appealing-to-the-eye laminates. Teak for the interior of your boat may still be the choice you go with but why not consider these other choices for your exterior. After all, you will still have the look and feel you want but with a significant savings in cost and regular maintenance.
One thing we do suggest is that you look around some of the boat restoration forums on the internet to ask the opinion of fellow enthusiasts. Those who have completed similar boat restoration projects may be able to provide excellent advice not covered in this brief article.
Now, I mentioned a substitute for real teak and we will cover that in our next article. You can find that article on this site and it is called Synthetic Teak Decking for Boats.