Considering a new Ocean Alexander 80ft - Any comments?

Thickness

The deck measures just under 3/4 now after LIGHT sanding. A number of planks have been replaced and were not good sq planks. I've had some good shipwrights opinions. The problem is the continued discovery of more compromised planks and the effect to the rest of the deck. It is what it is.
Sure looked good at first. Puddles should have givin it away. Now we know.

The pics

The pics posted are older, and of planks now replaced. The good photos are to big to send other than by email. They tell even more.

By the way, this is not the only issue of this size they have chosen to ignor. I just am particularly irritated by the recent of the 5 plus manager that they sent. They keep sending out the new and improved manager for lip service on various issues. Where do all the ex managers go? The problems stay.

Blistering in keel, they had recall but never told me or others I know. I just fixed it. FB chairs installed w/o leveling..200lb men broke up both w/i 3 yrs
Teak cap rail exceeds the rubrail. Most with cap rails have added extended rubrail (at their cost)to prevent damage. Now they are starting to understand east coast issues -like pilings. What year do you have? Many systems reinstalled; bow thruster, stablizers. rudders, engines replaced,
Showers seams leak. Shower sump pumps have been rebuilt twice but no avail without reengineering height of hoses.
All painted aluminum painted (doors vents) twice but still blisters

3/4" - 3-4mm - 3/4 cm ? Just looking for clarification.

Mohawk- I find your story and images fascinating.

What I'm I missing? I currently in a discussions with an OA rep. and I am at an inpass.
What do you see in the pics (thousand words)

I see damage that appears to have been done by over sanding. Wouldn't consider it an OA problem or manufacturer's defect. Do you have a captain or detailer? If so, I'm surprised that they didn't stop you. Or was the sanding done by them? Was it done with a block, a hand or a power sander? It doesn't look like a block was used. If it was done by the detailer you should talk with them about that damage. When you said earlier that it "measures just under 3/4 now", I assume you don't mean inches. Correct? What you usually find these days is about 1/4" or less. One look at that should tell you there's no wood to spare. Some of the other things you mentioned (except the rubrail and the paint) are more troubling though.

Thicknes

The decks thickness messures 1/2 to 3/4 inches, closer to 1/2 than 3/4.

The teak stock was a big selling point of OA.

Does that thickness surprise you? Should one professional sanding be all you get?

Yes it surprises me. OA didn't scrimp. What's your theory on what they did wrong in giving you 1/2" to 3/4" teak? How do you sand through 1/2 in of wood with a "light" sanding? What was your "professional's" explanation for how he got through that much wood?

thickness

The messurments are after my sanding. Since we all agree the decks may have been thin back then, then what did I start with. Probably 3/4 inch.
To be clear, I watched the sanding, and the black just started growing in some places. Little dust and take down. With much of the deck it just took the surface off nicely. But, throughout the boat super thin spots appeared, filled with black cauk and epoxy of some sort.
Much of the deck looks like the same decks on all the OA's in the P Beach show.
I just got numerous planks that are chiped, split and not solid just under the surface. The problem is the water getting under these bad boards. Trained or untrained eyes agree.

Define "LIGHT" sanding as you stated earlier.
Machine? DA? Belt / Drum? Hand?
Paper? Grit?

Sorry, pictures are worth a 1000 words, and you didn't remove that much material with a "LIGHT" sanding as you claim. A light sanding wouldn't do that. You have some pretty aggressive paper taking a good amount of material off in a hurry. Plane and simple.

If you're claiming that's from a light sanding, sorry, that dog just doesn't hunt.

sanding

Thanks for your thoughts. The sanding was belt, lightest grid, 1/16 inch take down, hardware not removed, you can see in the pictues the take down. Look close and let me know how much it looks like.

I don't have a dog in this fight""" just responding to posted question of the OA experience.

I appreciate any help, and hope my experience helps others when spending $$

Light sanding would be brass wool or 0000 grit on a block by hand. Belt sanders are aggressive. I'm currently in a home project stripping paint off my back deck. The wood had also gotten pretty grooved from a power washer a few years back. I started with a vibrating floor sander weighing probably 30 lbs. So-so results. I switched to a little 3x18 belt sander. It ripped the paint off and smoothed the deck with very little effort. A moments lapse in concentration and I could take off 1/4 inch of pressure treated in a blink. Now, I'm not a professional woodworker, just an old boater, but I was taught nothing more than brass wool on teak unless it's really bad.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not discounting the issue with your teak decking, but taking 1/16th of an inch is pretty darn aggressive with a belt sander. If you took that much material down, then you weren't doing a "light" sanding.

At most, if sanding, you're looking to get maybe a 64th of an inch, or possibly a 32nd of an inch of material off. Anything more, and you've got some pretty serious cupping and warping which is an entirely different issue.

That being said, I see your side of it, and I see OA's side of it.
IMO, they didn't do anything wrong. Quality or installation of the material wasn't an issue as far as their concerned. Maintenance, cleaning and repair of it was. And they're defending that position.

Maybe not 1/16

Note picture for thickness... not much sanding

The deck after sanding

These decks should (and per OA) be lightly sanded for maintanance annually. I did it once in year 3. As you can see there should be some life in these decks before you expect to hit backfill of epoxy and chauking. They look now after the sanding as nice and thick as their new boats with the exception of the thin areas scatered through out.

recent experience

I was on a relatively new 70+- footer with the local diesel mechanic last week. opening the transom door I immediately saw how the door it hit some of the hardware that would soon damage the glass. I commented that it was a real design flaw and the mechanic agreed.

You might want to consider a vacuum type elevator. They are reliable, take up less space than the standard hydraulic units, are easy to install, and are low maintenance. These days any house we build with two or more floors has an elevator in the plan; the cost is negligible in the overall build cost and it is always appreciated. Having spent a number of years in a wheel chair I can relate to the frustration of mobility. This is an area that should be considered in any boat build given our aging population; disabilities notwithstanding. Cheers…

That's not from sanding, thats from cleaning the decks every few months with the wrong products. Using a 2 part cleaner like Snappy probably removes 1/32" every single time you clean them.......that is a lot of erosion to the decks if you look at the origional thickness. The products I used to clean them takes off no teak, then you might have to sand them every 3 years. It's not the builders fault, it's the person maintaining the boats fault.