I know there a several post for this but looking for any updates. Our teak has been left alone for about 10 years. Before that I would say it was just oiled. I see no varnish left anywhere. So has anybody found something that does not require annual sanding and reapplying. I love the teak, my old boat had a lot of it, but I am also trying to avoid the two weeks every Spring I spent hand sanding and reapplying varnish. I know to get it back will take some effort.
Hi Peter, I can’t say much about making teak low maintenance but I have a suggestion that may make the maintenance a little easier. About 10 years ago I got a set of cabinet scrapers and I have come to love them. You have to be able to sharpen them and that would start another thread but, for me, using a cabinet scrapper over sanding is far preferable. This winter I refinished a bankers chair and I would estimate that 99% was scraped and 1% sanding. The results were spectacular. The only sandpaper used was very fine.
All the best.
Mike Jennings.
NS005. Chancy.
Port Moody, BC.
Plus one on cabinet scrapers for the teak. I brought my hand rails and cabin trim back from the dead in a day with them. There is a learning curve in both sharpening and use but once you get it down the results are amazing.
On the topic of low maintenance I’m a fan of a couple of coats of Cetol Marine followed by a few coats of Cetol Marine Gloss. Annual maintenance amounts to spot repair, light scuff sanding and a new coat of gloss.
Our previous boat was a beautiful Cape Dory 27. The Cape Dorys are notorious for having acres and acres of teak. Varnish was purchased by the gallon instead of quarts. Weeks were spent every spring scraping, sanding, taping and varnishing. When we bought White O’morn, our NS26U, we sold Slainte to a young lad in the harbor. Over the past years he has let all of the varnish peel off and now the teak is a good looking weathered gray. The boat still looks good and sails as well as before, but he sails more often. We are leaving the teak on Whit O’morn unvarnished. We will sail more often. To each his own, well varnished teak looks spectacular, but at my age, time is precious.
Tim in STL
White O’morn NS26U #216
Harbor Point Yacht Club
West Alton, MO
The teak on S/V CAKE WALK had been left ‘natural’ for roughly her first 18 seasons (my parents had her on a mooring ball and decided it was too much effort to try to do themselves). After I bought the boat from them, I started to use teak oil (and all of the preparation formulas - cleaner, brightner) but the oil only lasts about half a season.
Varnishing seems like too much work to me, every season or two, with having to sand it all off to then put multiple new layers each time you want to renew it, not to mention the sanding between each coat… Understandable why anyone who does this work for hire charges as much as they do!
Many many years ago someone recommended Cetol… Similar finish to varnish, but without all of the hassle… Yes, if your teak has not been touched and is in ‘weathered’/natural condition, you will need to do a sanding, but it probably won’t be too much of a sanding, just enough to get down to some fresh teak… Then you apply the Cetol (I use 2" chip brushes from Home Depot - don’t use foam brushes). I usually put on 3 coats of Cetol Natural Teak, followed by 2 coats of Cetol Gloss. No sanding in-between layers!
These 5 coats usually last a minimum of 2, and as long as 4 or 5 seasons!
Do NOT use the Gloss on surfaces on which you will stand, i.e. cockpit or saloon floors!
The beauty here is when it is time to refresh the teak, you only have to lightly sand/scuff up the teak prior to applying a few new layers!!
Clean up of drips, etc is easy - damp cloth as soon as it happens.
I am due to re-work the teak this season - if you want to come up to Liberty Landing to see the before state, and then again to see the after application, you are more than welcome! We could probably go for a sail too!
Regards,
Peter Grabow
S/V CAKE WALK III
1987 30U 430
Jersey City, NJ
I was taught by an old salt to scrub the teak twice a year with sudsy ammonia on my Pearson. Brought it back to good looking and was less work.
Joe
Ns26c# 156
All the exterior teak on my boat was done in Cetol. It requires annual sanding and one coat. If it hasn’t been done in 10 years you will have to scrape or strip (strip the wood not yourself) and sand down to new wood.
Tiny cracks and pinholes appear every year. But as Paul says a light sanding and one coat a year keeps it looking great. Takes about one afternoon.
Or you could just remove the eyebrows completely and replace the handrails with Stainless.
Or you could use a good quality exterior grade house paint. I gave up varnishing our wood dinghy after 10 futile years and used Beautitone. This hardware store paint seems to be impervious to UVs and is tough and lasts for way more than one season. In the future if you want to go back to varnish you can scrape it off.
I have also made Sunbrella covers for the handrails that go on whenever the boat is at the slip. These are very easy to make and keep the UVs off.
If you are considering painting the bright work but also thinking you might go to varnish later, one approach is to clean the wood, apply 3 coats of varnish and then paint. That makes it easier to step back in the future. The paint will not have penetrated the pores in the wood.
It’s all really a matter of taste, and how you want to spend your time/money.
My current boat came done with Cetol. It looks a little more wood-like than brown paint, but not a lot.
Saying that sounds like criticism, but I don’t mean it that way. People are laying out the range of alternatives, all of which have trade-offs between appearance vs. ease of maintenance. I’m just trying to clarify where Cetol lies on that range.
One issue to consider is the current state of the wood. On my previous Nonsuch, the eyebrow had been sanded down to the point where it could no longer hold bungs to cover the screws fastening it to the cabin sides. Any treatment other than replacement would’ve required being very, very gentle. I, personally, don’t do gentle.
Another issue is the climate that you’re in. Untreated teak works better in climates with low UV and frequent moisture. Further south, teak holds up better than most woods, but still dries out and cracks easily enough that I wouldn’t recommend it. (By which I mean, I learned this the hard way and wouldn’t do it again.)
Bob, if your Cetol looks only a little better than brown paint it is likely that there are too many coats.
The decks on my last boat were teak with Cetol and they looked great at first. As the years went by and annual coats were added they became muddier and muddier until they did look like brown paint.
After ten years I stripped them and started again.
If you only use two coats of the non-gloss of your choice before using gloss for the top coat and maintenance coats, the wood grain will show through just fine.
My doors in the picture need more gloss coats but the clarity of the grain won’t change.
I definitely believe your diagnosis, because yours looks great. Mine was many layers. And I think they were applied with, shall we euphemistically put it, “considerably more enthusiasm than care.”
Speaking of which…If anyone knows the best way to remove Cetol from fiberglass, I’m deeply interested.
Thanks Bob.
The picture was with only a coat or two of gloss. They then got a light sanding and a few more coats and look much smoother now. However I couldn’t find a newer pic. Building up gloss layers is just like building varnish but building the base layers will definitely get muddy after several coats.
It is hell to get off fibreglass ….. and it will crawl under masking tape. My technique now is to apply it with a flat artist’s brush (~3/4”) without masking. It’s actually cleaner than masking and way faster.
After trying about everything on tiny spots on my deck in the past I found the best trick was to stipple a bit of matching paint on it. It works surprisingly well.
All, I bought Apollo last year and the handrails are somewhat eroded with the grain, leaving eroded veins in the wood. Has anyone tried a filling these with a wood filler and staining to match the teak closely? What method did you use?
James
Nonsuch 30 Ultra “Apollo” 415
Marblehead, MA
James, I used some acrylic folk art paint that my wife had just as a test. That was about three years ago and it’s still there. It’s not an answer for big spills but seems to work to hide little spots from a brush.
I would suggest trying to remove the Cetol from the fiberglass with ‘Goof-Off’. A little goes a long way and it hasn’t damaged any finishes I’ve had to use it on. I am assuming you are asking about Cetol that has dried (fresh/wet Cetol easily comes off with a damp rag). Best way to do it is to put some on a rag, hold the damp rag to the offending spot for 10-20 seconds to allow the Goof-Off to penetrate, then gently wipe the spot away. Once removed, rinse with a little soapy water and you should be good. You may want/need to apply fresh wax afterward.
As an example, my new car (Midnight Black) had received an ‘overspray’ of yellow spray paint to the point where most of the car looked to be covered in pollen (long story). Small very hard droplets that barely budged with any sort of cleaner short of a razor blade… Goof-Off was recommended and it did the trick. Took a lot of patience not to rush, just hold the cloth dampened with Goof-Off in place on the panel, then gently wipe, but it worked! And it didn’t damage the finish of the car!
Peter Grabow
S/V CAKE WALK III
1987 30U 430
Jersey City, NJ
Thanks everyone for the info. I ordered a pair of flat cabinet scrappers, Cetol flat and gloss.
I am going to try out my Dorade box and the bow pulpit threads. They seem pretty easy to get at and no curved surfaces.
I will post some pictures. If they make it through the year than I will do the rest.
Peter thanks for the offer but I am still traveling, I do look for you when we are out sailing.
