Merbau decking hidden fastener and decking oil advice

I considered the Camo system for a deck I'm about to build but decided against it for two reasons

1. I don't think decks built with this system have been in service long enough for a reliable opinion to be formed on their long term performance e.g. 15-20 years

2. I didn't like the idea of screwing from the side of the boards. You've only got 20mm of timber to play with and the screw would be about 10mm from the bottom of the board. During wetting/drying the timber wants to cup which puts stress parallel to the grain in the boards and I thought I might have issues with the timber splitting at the screw line down the track.

Hence I'm going with top fixing so any cupping stresses are working against the tension of the screws (if I'm explaining this right).

Besides it's a proprietary system that only works with their screws which are probably more expensive than other decking screws.

A screwless deck does look good though!

Vino, I'm about to start building a deck using camo fasteners. The camo deck tool creates a 5mm gap, but a new tool insert takes that gap down to 3.2mm. The only place I've found the insert is from Demack timber, I got it through their ebay site. Marc is right, make sure you get the Pro tool.

I'm using 60mm screws in 140x19mm boards. Looking on the forums a few people have said that 19mm boards will cup, but talking to builders in my area, they said at the height I'm building at (2m) it wont be a problem, my entire deck will be undercover. The posts will be errected on Monday, the joists and bearers will be installed the following Monday due to timber availability.

I've been taking photos and documenting everything, looking to to a write-up when its complete.

A lot of people I've talked to recommend Intergrain UltraDeck, it's a more expensive coating, but from what I've been hearing its worth it.

If you can hold on a few weeks I'll let you know how things go.

I've built two big merbau decks using the Camo system and can absolutely recommend it. The screws really grip extremely well and I've never had any problems with the fixings at all. Sometimes the screws don't go all the way in and need forcing, but that would be a small number and isn't a major problem.

And as for Intergrain, I always try to give my decks at least 4 coats, and it lasts for ages and looks fantastic.

Regarding camo screws, I have been reading some reviews on the Amazon website, one of the reviews was as below. This made me to think, if the installation goes through ok, but what if I end up like the below, is it really possible with merbua decking, or unless it is an American softwood timber
"
The Camo screws break in half after the decking has been down for less than two months. I have joists every 12" and put a Camo screw in every joist so it's not from a lack of screws. I'm going to have to remove all the decking and start again with a new fastening system. Maybe their stainless steel screws are stronger but I'm not going to throw away anymore money experimenting. The screws just snap in half and before I knew it I have loose decking everywhere. Don't make the same costly mistake as I did."

Please can someone help me, if the above even happens, will it ruin the timber or will I be still go back to top screwing old fashioned way.

thanks

The majority of reviews are overwhelmingly positive, there are always a few bad ones in the bunch. There's no way of knowing if the screws were installed correctly, or if the deck was engineered. The review said a screw spot in every joist, maybe he only had 1 screw per joist.
Putting ordinary screws in place over camo deck screws shouldn't be an issue.
A few members of this forum have used camo deck screws and are very happy with them.

I use my impact driver for most screws but found my cordless drill was much better with the camo screws. Sometimes takes a while to get the screw started. This was on ekodeck, unsure how timber decking fares. The normal drill kept its speed up and seemed to be much faster. great system in think and keeps the spacing just perfect. Ultradeck is the go as well.. 3 coats and its perfect.