Hey Rod, I first discovered this when standing on the teak-planking covering the side-deck wells on my Westsail 43. Cooler, in fact than the Awlgrip Cream paint on the molded non-skid. So, we must either slim our feet, or convince the traditionalists to use white caulk on teak decks! Yes, it's true, a color must be very nearly pure white to be comfortable on bare feet in the tropic sun. But, I think there is something about teak (density?) that just makes it cooler than the long-leaf southern pine boards of the boardwalk decking. Check it out. Regards, John > > Dear John, > > It's interesting to read that it may only be the black caulking that makes > teak decks hot under the sun. Unfortunately, all of my personal training time > is currently devoted to narrowing my waist. Try as I might, I just don't have > time to train my feet narrower, too, so as to navigate between caulking > stripes....(grin) > > Seriously, even the slightly beige, or light-blue nonskid used on some > fiberglass decks is, in my experience, noticeably hotter under a tropic sun than > plain white FG. So I'm still going to guess that ANY wood that isn't > perfectly white (whether or not in conjunction with dark caulking) is going to > absorb heat and thus be more uncomfortable. > > I recall as a youth that despite summers spent barefoot, with > ultra-tough-and-calloused soles, the bare, the weathered boards of the NY and NJ boardwalks > got darn hot in summer....and they had open spaces, not caulking, between > them, with cool, shaded space underneath. > > Cheers, > > Rod > > > Truelove39@aol.com wrote: > >> This is a popular myth. Few have taken the trouble to discern that clean, >> natural (un-varnished) teak is not hot at all. Barefoot have sailors walked >> teak decks in the world's tropics for centuries. It is not the teak that >> becomes hot in the direct sun. It is the black caulk. >> >> Regards, >> >> John >> "Seahorse" >> >> Rod Gibbons writes: >> >> Primary reason for NOT liking teak decks? >> They're TOO HOT to walk on in tropic locales--they scorch bare feet >> (besides heating up the below-decks areas). >> >> > "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt