hay there guys, I have an old Teak (wooden) swim platform for my 2004 X Star and i want to upgrade it to a fiberglass one!! Anybody have an idea how much one of these costs and also where its best to get one from??? <BR> <BR>Many thanks <BR> <BR>Danny

Teak > Fiberglass <BR> <BR>IMHO

sorry but what does that mean????

Teak platform is better than a fiberglass platform. <BR> <BR>In my Own Humble Opinion.

I've had both &amp; taking care of a teak swimstep blows You can have it. Fiberglass is way easier for me to take care of. <BR> <BR>Back to the original topic...... watch Ebay or tell your local dealer. Maybe someone would rather have your teak for their fiberglass. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by bill_airjunky on November 30, 2008)

find someone with fiberglass who wants teak, switch

What color is your boat? You will want to match it. That will be the tricky part.

Its Black!! <BR> <BR>Im from the UK and they want crazy money for a black platform here!!! it will be so much cheaper to get one from the states and ship it back!! i Just dont know any good MC dealers (preferably near florida!!) <BR> <BR>Thanks <BR> <BR>Danny

Linex the teak. Problem solved.

teak rocks <BR>just wire brush it and call it good <BR>No oil no nuthin

I think it makes my boat look Dated!!! Fiberglass is the way forward it looks modern and has no maintenance!! Also i dont have to worry about people slipping over every time they step on it, regardless of how well i look after it!! <BR> <BR>Danny

I can't speak to MC, but I have the teak on my Malibu and I know the fiberglass one is about $500 USD. And another $100 USD shipped.

You can get one from the factory and they are usually around $700

Thats wicked guys thanks!! does anybody have a factory number of MC that i can call and order??? <BR> <BR>Danny

for what it's worth: <BR>I cringe when I hear people say they are sanding their teak platform, then putting 5 coats of teak oil...thats why people slip on them, its supposed to be a little "rough"..thats why you wire brush it. teak oil? not for me! not needed...once its wet no one can tell anyway, it's not supposed to look like your living room furniture...of course that's just my opinion and 28 years of boating experience talking. <BR> <BR>As always though, whatever floats your boat is OK...It's your boat. <BR> <BR>and I do like teak on boats, mine has it all over. teak is very expensive too.

^^I agree <BR> <BR>IMO the best way to keep teak looking good (out of water): wire brushing, teak oil 1-2 times a year depending on the length of your season. Done deal.

I cant believe there is not a 3rd party company making cheaper fiberglass swim steps. Tons are making towers why not swim steps.

I have to say I screwed up mine by sanding it then putting on the teak oil... it turned into a damn slip and slide.... it got so bad I got concerned people were going to get hurt. I have tried using coarse sand paper but no luck... still slick. Will the wire brush do the trick? <BR> <BR>My fix has been to add gator grip strips to the wood. Amazingly, the gator grid stuck pretty good. <BR> <BR>I have also started looking for a fiberglass deck. Anyone know how much for 2004 Super Air deck? <BR> <BR>-Uj

<i> Dan C (pwningjr)^^I agree IMO the best way to keep teak looking good <b>(out of water)</b></i> <BR> <BR>Thats exactly the problem I've had..... my boat just doesn't spend enough time out of the water to keep the teak looking good. Inevitably it starts out looking great, then gets wet &amp; sunbleached till it looks like hell. <BR> <BR>I need to get mine Rhinolined this winter. Then Traxx the top. It'll look great for years &amp; be maintenance free &amp; not slick.

Surely you could take a mould of the deck or even the dimensions you want and find someone to do a one off for you.

if you wire brush with the grain vigorously while running water on the teak to get into the grain and corners to clean out the crap...it will look great when its wet. it won't be slippery. feet will grip it, I go no oil at all(don't want it on there since it transfers to your hands as you get in) oil on hands not good. <BR> <BR>then it will only need brushing every couple years <BR> <BR>might not look like your coffee table when dry but like I said it's not supposed to look like your furniture. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>and again it's personal preference

<i>By Jos (jtnz): Surely you could take a mould of the deck or even the dimensions you want and find someone to do a one off for you.</i> <BR> <BR>I thought about duplicating the swimstep out of something other than teak. Fiberglass isn't something I do, so it would probably have to be wood, maybe some plastic decking material. Then bring it in to have it Rhinolined. Once that was done, I doubt you'd be able to tell what was inside.

Take it to one of the truck bed places that put a coating on the bed like line x or rhino etc... it will need to be dry and clean but you'll get desired effect and it will cost you a fraction of the price. <BR>Even though people in general like fiberglass better you won't get near the amount of a new swimstep on resale.

I had two swim steps on my old boat, a Teak one and a marine lumber one that Line-X or Rhinolined. I ended up putting black marine carpet on the lined one and never looked back. It was zero effort to keep nice, was easy on boards and bodies on the step. The Teak step I oiled up one last time and stored away.

There ya go, Sean. I need to find out what the best "marine lumber" is for a project like this. <BR> <BR>Long time, no see man. Hope your gettin out to ride more than we are lately. We put the Vride away a couple weeks ago &amp; have been riding the ATVs every weekend. Hoping that it stays warm enough for Santa to ride in a few weeks.

i've seen people on other message boards looking to buy teak platforms. i bet you could get a couple hundred for it.

I thought you were selling the xstar? Spoke to the D2 boys at the boat show on sunday and they said you want another BU? <BR> <BR>As for your platform with the poor pound at the moment and high shipping costs you'd most likely get a better deal having something custom made over here or in france. I've built a glass platform to replace a teak one and was pretty simple. I reckon for less than £500 you'd get something really sweet and you wouldn't get one from over the pond for that.

<a href="swimplatforms.com" target="_blank">swimplatforms.com</a> <BR> <BR>Or make your own out of structural plastic lumber. I made one for my old I/O and it turned out pretty nice! <BR> <BR>(Message edited by fish6942 on December 03, 2008)

Darren - Take your teak step in and have Rhino Liner or Line-X applied. I went with Line-X in black and it worked great. $100 total

So what "structural plastic lumber" has anyone used? Like Trex? <BR> <BR>I talked to the Line-x guy. They can do a variety of colors, even color-match. And they can put as much or as little texture in the mix as you want. If they do no texture at all, it comes out smooth like gelcoat, with a bit of a rubbery feel to it. Perfect surface to Traxx!