Replacing Teak Decks: Lyman Morse's Service Yard

In addition to our core business of building custom yachts, Lyman Morse also has a bustling service yard. We see a lot of summer work from cruisers and the big boats up from the Caribbean, but over the winter, the service yard crew is responsible for approximately 90 boats. They do everything from standard decomissiong to all-out major refits. This year they are hard at work on a major teak deck replacement project on Metolius, a 83' Royal Huisman sloop built in 1992.

In these pictures you see the Lyman Morse team removing the original decks. Air chisels are primarily used to remove the deck. It is a slow process, as the planks sometimes come over in very small pieces. After this phase is complete, they will detail the decks to make sure they are perfectly smooth and all debris is removed. A corrosion treatment is then applied.

The boat originally had a plywood subdeck between the teak and the aluminum superstructure. We've decided to replace that deck with a composite board which weighs approximately 20-30% less than the plywood! This is a relatively innovative idea and we're excited to be able to put some of our innovation to work.\



Teak Decking Systems created the patterns before all the original decks were removed, and will be back in a few weeks to lay the new one. We'll then rebed all of the deck hardware. Sure, new decks are a nice feature, but another forgotten benefit of this project is that all the deck hardware will get new, fresh seals and will also be inspected for any corrosion, wear & tear, leaks, etc. It is sort of like a "check up" and is very helpful in maintaining the overall integrity of your boat.



Check back as we show the progress over the winter.