What Actually Happened To Teak Sailboat Interiors - Ep 274 - Lady K Sailing

sailboat Interiors used to be beautiful gorgeous Cigar Lounge looking gentlemen's clubs of fine finishes and expert joinery it was a lot of work to keep it looking like this but when the end result was this beautiful it was kind of worth the effort but today today we get this or this or even this why is that [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] for Practical Sailor I was doing an interview with a Yacht broker talking about sailboat insurance and boat values you can see that over here if you want to watch it but in between questions he said something very interesting we were talking about these new sailboat interiors and he mentioned that sourcing for Te was extremely hard it was environmentally potentially bad and also potentially unethical I had to dive down the rabbit hole to find out what he meant because I like teak interiors and I often wondered where they went I thought it was just like these new boat manufacturers being mean and making garbage Interiors we know te to be the Pinnacle of sailboat interiors and not just because it's beautiful but Teakwood is also resistant to rot it tends to last forever which is why so many boat Builders love it so much it's naturally resistant to rot and it has no known natural enemies like bugs and insect sex termites don't like it it's resistant to them it's highly resistant to mold too and when it's used for boats it's naturally oily so it tends to last a long time even in salt water and when finished it's naturally non-slip surface so we don't have to add anything before we walk on it even when it's wet teak is kind of perfect as long as you don't mind the upkeep and teak is the Pinnacle of high-end everything Rolls-Royce is a history of using it in their cars because not only is it beautiful it's considered a fine finish a rich wood for rich people when someone compliments the wood finish in the car you can say ah yes that's teak it's like the Gucci of wood the Prada of proud finishes the Louis Vuitton of well Louis Vuitton all that fancy does Drive the price of teak up of course but that's not te's only problem for big manufacturers that build a lot of boats like Beno te only grows in certain parts of the world and sadly those parts of the world have spent much of the last century either in war or near to it or in great poverty Myanmar formerly known as Burma was under military rule from 1962 to 2011 and has been at unrest ever since Civil Wars have been a constant feature in Myanmar and that's where most of the teak came from the supply and demand for Te has been unbalanced and of course we found ways to Farm the stuff planting teak for use in boats or other construction has been done but the teak Builders they want old growth 60 to 100 years old this way it's long and thick enough to use for what we need it for and modern farmed te is usually cut down around 20 years so it's much smaller in my research here is what a man called Joe Carlton a naval architect had to say farmed teak is often just 20 years old and getting long planks is almost impossible possible but labor intensive you bet expensive materials you bet it's not just teak that you have to buy but quarter son Heartwood and not just quarter son Heartwood but you have to find it in 2in rough son thickness and at lengths of around 20 ft at this point it becomes very much like pink unicorns for practical purposes it no longer exists even veneer decks half inch after sanding on marine plywood something else that's expensive are a practical impossibility unless you're as rich as Cris and have no conscience about cutting down what little is left of the stuff in the burmes forest now consider fake teak like fake teak decking 6 mm thick complete with cocking lines King Plank and covering boards Precision cut on a camcad router to the exact shape and requirement delivered right to the boat builder ready to be stuck down with adhesive there's no work involved in that what's not to like it looks good or it looks okay or it looks bloody cheap and nasty next to the real thing and it's usually full of mistakes but the boat builder loves the fact that there is no or very little skilled labor involved in using it and they know it'll fit no Craftsman required and the boat builder knows that their clientele does not know that nibs don't have round edges and deck planks don't stop at ballards and start again on the other side amongst other sins Dennis show broke a yacht Builder said as a yacht builder for the past 20 years we've been purchasing teak for two decades teak tectona grandis it's Latin name has been considered by many to be the gold standard for Decay resistance and its Heartwood is rated at very durable the wood is stable resists rot provides an attractive and slip resistant surface and it's relatively easy to cut and shape with everyday woodworking tools and machines there is one problem though over harvesting is created a supply and demand imbalance there is simply not enough readily available teak to meet the demand the result prices go up and availability goes down teak is valuable because it's rare Teak trees grow naturally in only four countries in the entire world La Thailand India and by far the most significant Myanmar formerly Burma Myanmar supplies about 3/4 of the worldwide consumption of teak over the past several decades te has been heavily logged in these countries in 1990 Forest cover accounted for 58% % of land in Myanmar by 2010 that number had shrunk down to 47% Myanmar banned the export of raw tea clumber in 2014 exclusively shutting down exports in April of this year the Myanmar environmental director predicted a complete ban in the near future this news has rippled through the world of te consumers raising concerns about the future of teak availability entirely several companies recognizing the opportunity have developed and brought to Market alternatives to te including synthetic teak the first attempts missed the mark entirely they looked like plastic they were slippery and they faded with exposure to UV light the current versions are much better they simulate a high grade of teak have the texture and color of teak and are slip resistant another reason for teak not being used as much is the amount of Maintenance and Care required to keep teak decks in Ship Shape yacht condition yacht owners expect their multi-million dollar boats to be in first class condition at all times synthetic teak requires only a fraction of the time and effort to maintain so that brings us to Beno and other major boat Builders making stuff like this in the early 2000s Beno was experimenting with other Woods in construction for a spell there Interiors were peeling apart and Beno was sending a team to fix them for free on the new boats they would strip the peeling wood down and refinish it brand new on boats that were just a few years old once the boat was out of warranty though there wasn't much that they would do for you in the early 2000s the they had to adapt they're using veneers now like alpie which is a company that does Woods ethically sourced sustainable and much more readily available than teak it is still a veneer though but it's done so with all the right material so it does last in the transition to veneers big boat manufacturers changed something the sailboat recipe we were used to Teak and Holly and mahogany deep finishes in solid wood and new boats look like this flat pack furniture Ikea often being used to describe it is this a significantly more functional bedroom than yester Year yes absolutely more storage easier to maintain better bed that's actually shaped like a bed easier to clean and easier to live with is it better that's a matter of opinion for me no I prefer real wood real structural wood so I have a choice in my next boat as to you if I want Uber function in my interior that does everything very well I'll have to have veneer if I want Uber function but made out of real wood I'll have to win the lottery because yes you can still buy old world craftsmanship if you really want to here's the new highas 46 and at first glance you might think this is a Haans Christian from the 1980s but it's not this is a new boat they just built it companies like hus are building boats with today's amenities sugar Scoops and aft cabins just like Beno does but hus is doing it the old way with wood craftsmanship expert joinery this is not a boat built to mass production it's a boat built to a standard and it shows but it's also why this is a million dooll boat if I want oldw World build with real woods then I'll have to pay for it everything in boats is a compromise after all in Consulting helping people buy boats I'm often asked for a boat with a sugar scoop and an aft cabin and a huge cockpit and all those modern amenities that can still Ross an ocean and is sort of battle hardened something with extra thick bulkheads and chain plates heavy glass layup and tabbing that's indestructible so production boat amenities with Battleship capabilities and yes you can have both but not for 200 Grand look at the IP 440 it is both but it's also 400 Grand I want to thank the people who make these videos possible the team of people who have become patrons for as little as a couple of a video you can help support the mission here at Lady K sailing which is to get more people sailing more easily I couldn't do it without you thank you guys so much [Music]

Channel: Lady K Sailing

Views: 80,748

Keywords: Sailing, LadyKSailing, Lady K, TRYC, sailing uma, sailing away, sailing delos, sailing around the world, sailing bahamas, sailing caribbean, sailing zatara, sailing ruby rose, sailing adventure, sailboat living, sailboat tour, sailboat story, sailboat refit, how to sail, sail away, buy a sailboat

Id: atx7WbolJlM

Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 23 2024