Fake teak flooring

[86Hat41]

Hi, I know there have been previous threads on this but there are just WAY too many to go through.

I’m looking to cover the salon of my 41 Hat (Convertible) in the fake teak.

The two names that keep coming up are plasteak and Amtico.

4 questions-

First question- I’m in the Northeast, once this stuff is glued down, has anyone had any experience with it expanding and contracting with our 100 degree temperature swings? The plasteak seams to come in rolls which would seem to be easier to install, where the Amtico seems to come in individual pieces leaving more room for error.

Does one or the other seem to hold up better than the other (scuff, fading, scratch and stain resistance).

Has anyone noticed a big difference in interior sound levels, while running at cruise, (twin 671 turbos) I can’t imagine idle being a big difference.

Lastly is there anything comparable for sale at either Home Depot or Lowes. This would definitely be convenient for the “learning curve.”

 

[MikeP]

Lot of threads on this, including several of mine re Amtico. I think the Amtico is great. The heat/cold you mentioned has no effect on it when installed (as recommended by Amtico) with their two part epoxy adhesive.

Do a search on Amtico here and I'm sure you will find plenty of info re that product. If you do an advanced search with "Amtico" as the subject and "MikeP" as the author you will find all of mine. I'm not saying they are the only ones or even very good ones but you'll find a lot of stuff re installation on my 53.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

The Amitco is a commercial product. It is used in shopping malls, etc. If you are looking for something that will hold up over time, I think this is your best bet. It is more work to install, but not bad. We put Amtico in the heads and love it. Also, Hatteras uses it on their new boats from what I hear.

 

[piripucha]

I am not familiar with Amtico, although we installed Plasteack las year in the flying bridge and in the outside salon of our 58 YF. It was a messy job at the beggining but it got easier at the end. Just remember the areas in a boat are not as square as the look, so be prepared to make adjustments. I will try to post some pictures when I figure how to do it. By the way we did purchase some fake teak floors fropm Home Depot that come in squares, that are pre-glued,we installed them on the galley, heads and in the forward stateroom, they are easier to install but do not hold to well with heat, time and if you have diesel spill on them.Good luck

 

[86Hat41]

Thanks for the resonses guys, what to do.....what to do....

 

[carolinacoast]

we went with amtico. it is commercial flooring and can also be food grade. their us plant is in GA. Hatteras and perhaps Fleming or Marlow may use their material also on new yachts. their brand of epoxy is all they warranty for the flooring in a commercial setting. it may have been MikeP, not sure, but there are beautiful installation pics on this site. good luck

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Plasteak is much easier to lay than Amtico and is has the same look that teak and holly plywood provides. I believe Amtico is not available in actual teak and holly colors. I did our galley and head in 2005 and it still looks perfect. I have had no lifting problems. Plasteak is a very high quality form of linoleum and comes with with the proper adhesive. We are very happy with this product.

 

[fmstrunk]

Here's another vote for Amtico. I had it installed in the '93 MY's upper solon and galley. The installer had been trained by the Amtico factory and did an amazing job. Guests will frequently bend down and feel the deck with their hands and still believe it is the real thing. Repair is simple. Remove the damaged strip, from a dropped anchor or whatever, and replace it. The factory recommended adhesive never really hardens so it is able to expand or shrink with temperature changes.

The installer measured the boat and planned a border of dark wood looking amtico. You can have a compass rose or whatever you want. The factory will custom cut the design according to the demensions supplied by the installer. We are now planning on installing it in all three heads using a personal burgee design. My only real caution is not to go crazy with all the options.

Have fun.

 

[86Hat41]

So the consensus is: If I'm going to install myself, go with Plasteak because it's easier, if I'm going to pay than Amtico.......sound right? The good thing here is know one has said anything negataive about either.......Anyone have any horror stories I should know about?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I installed the Amtico myself and it was easy. I cut the pieces to fit with some big roofing shears and then mixed and troweled the glue on and dropped the pieces in place. It's not difficult.

 

[Bugsy]

My wife planned,cut and installed the Amtico teak and holly (strips) on our 43C in the salon and both staterooms and did it all in a few days. As MikeP has indicated, it is all in the planning.
I helped initially in the cutting and found that an exacto knife with edge worked well. I've seen plasteek on another boat and am glad we went with amtico.

 

[86Hat41]

The score is Amitico 4 / Plasteak 2

Really, no horror stories? This stuff pretty expensive, I figure somebody has something negative to say about one of the products.

If not, I'll give it a few more days and then buy the Amtico.

 

[MikeP]

As Sky mentioned, Hatt uses Amtico in their current boats. Whether that's a plus or minus depends on how you view Hatteras nowadays!

Here's a pic of Amtico "Teak/Holley" in the head of their 60. Frankly, the way I laid it looks better (IMHO) than the way they laid it but it's the same stuff! http://www.hatterasyachts.com/Page.aspx/pageId/11570/pmid/146018/60-Motor-Yacht.aspx

OOPS - link didn't go to the pic - select interior images and then the last one - shows a head with Amtico T/H

 

[carolinacoast]

here are a couple of small pictures. have since done the steps to the salon, heads and companionway past the engine rooms.

 

[TopHattandTails]

I looked at both pretty hard. I have samples from Amtico - good stuff. I went with white carpet instead. Once that ugly's out between the ER's (its only a question of time and oil changes), I will replace with Amtico. I also looked at a new product called Nu-Teak for exterior use. This stuff looks and feels great (not as good as the real stuff, but darn close). For a yard to lay it down on the entire flybridge on my 53, it was about $15,600. I talked with the distributor and the stuff is almost as easy (per his words) to lay as linoleum. It might be half as expensive to do it yourself. Based on some other projects - I went with regular non-skid and paint instead of the Nu-Teak. BTW - Viking also uses Amtico in their galley's and heads. Food for thought...

 

[86Hat41]

Those pictures look great Mr. Carolina, if mine come out like that I'll be very happy.

 

[MikeP]

Also, if you prefer the look, you can also route in some real teak wood to form the surrounds for the hatches. Here is a pic of mine in the passageway but I did the same with all the other hatches (two in galley, one in V-berth). Note that the carpet showing was the old carpet that was in place when I did the Amtico. It's since been replaced with a light gold. Also, the grey around the edges of the hatch is a refection from the flash; In normal light there is just a thin "black" line visible.

 

[Walter P]

Hi Mike,

Beautiful job Mike. I did my galley, fwd stateroom, dinette floor and the master head with Amtico about 5 or 6 years ago and it still looks good. I used metal edging around the hatches, but I think your job looks far better. Would you be so kind as to post some details about the wood trim, including thickness and manner of installation. Also what did you use to finish the wood? Thanks in advance Mike.....

By the way, Amtico is real teak veneer encapsulated between the black substrate and the clear top material with the embossed grain. That's why it looks so good and no two pieces are exactly the same

Walt

 

[MikeP]

Walt - thanks.

It's 3/8" thick teak - can't recall the width but around an inch I think. We just routed the hatches to the depth/width.y. The floor was more difficult since we had to lay guide rods to ensure straight cuts and the last inch or so of the cut had to be done by hand to square it off but it really wasn't much of an issue. We kept the dust down by having one person hold a shop vac hose right at the router exhaust as we moved along. Really did very well and there was very little dust as a result.

The teak is flush with the floor so there is no lip or any protrusion at all. It was attached with power driven small brads that you can't really see at all unless you get down on your hands/knees and look for them.

The only finish on the teak was 3 coats of minwax tung oil initially. From that point on I just wiped on a coat of the tung oil once in a while - took maybe 10 minutes to do all the hatches. If you use the Amtico Gloss enhancer on the floor (which I don't think is any different than any other vinyl flooring gloss product) you can just use that on the teak as well and not bother with the tung oil. I've been doing that since last season - it gives the flooring more of a deep varnished look, like a real teak plank flooring is normally finished.

 

[Walter P]

Thank you Mike, I plan to get on it ASAP. We are planning a pretty full cruising/boating schedule this summer and all my little jobs need to be done by June first. Details like you did really make the difference between a truly custom high quality look as opposed to a sea ray look.

Walt