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I'm stripping some teak that is in the cockpit. These are narrow strips that cover panel joints. My question is what do you The Faithfull reccomend for the final step.

A friend said Cetol? Easy to work with and easy touch up.

Never done this before so looking for suggestions.

Any help would be appreciated.

I put a few coats of West System epoxy on the bare teak.
First coat cut 50% with denatured alchohol.
Light sanding and cleaning, and then 2 or 3 more applications of uncut epoxy.
Then I applied 3 coats of Epiphanes varnish. Looks real nice.
Any touch up needed on the varnish requires very light sanding and feathering in a new coat or 2 of varnish. When I get patches that are really bad, all I have to do is sand back down to the epoxy instead of bare teak. This usually happens on my pulpit.

I like Seiken Cetol myself on top of epoxy. But, there a a handful of good choices out there.

Depends on your tolerance for re-work, and your perception of what looks "good".

I am a huge fan of Tip Top Teak. But it is not maintenance free. In fact, I keep my cockpit covered when I am not using it.

If you want it to be much less maintenance, varnish or polyurathane or the equivalent, but that too will require annual sanding and re-varnishing.

I would be happy to fill in more details if you have questions. I have spent plenty of years working teak, and have developed a process that works for me. Might not for others, but does for me.

Dug

I used Sikkens Cetol on the cockpit up to and including the two steps to go below. Every yr for five yrs I touched it up. Looked great but finally became too dark.

Writer"s note - There are three cans of Cetol. One is a high gloss and the other two are the base coat, either lite or dark.

I didn't realize that there was a lite and dark. I used the dark too many times and dark is what I got.

Two yrs ago, I wanted to go "Au natural" and had to sand all the coats off. It took a lot of time ... I mean a lot of time. There is no chemical to remove it. But it looks good and yrly maintainance is quick. I sand a little, used sudsy ammonia ( Capt Pat .... When is spell ck coming?) and it looks good at rendezous time.

Now, Diesel Dug's boat is pristine. Carpet and then some. No shoes, please. You get the drift. Timmy has never been on Dug's boat.

Carpet?

Dick, I don't think I have carpet...

Boarding mat and little Bertram entry pad, yes.

And thanks for the compliment. I appreciate it.

And come to think of it, I am not sure Timmy has ever been on Alchemy. I know he has walked about on her, but never left the dock with him on board...

D

Well at least we know there's probably no puke stains on your boat!

I am in the early stages of the rebuild of "Phoenix". One of the first items is to replace my hacked up sliding glass and aluminum door into the cabin from the cockpit (this will be along with a major repair to the cabin aft bulkhead, which has delaminated due to water intrusion from behind the sliding door lower track). I plan to build one out of teak. I will be coating it with two or three coats of clear epoxy first, then laying something over it. Whatever goes over it needs to be highly UV resistant. I have been advised to use Bristol Fashion (two part) varnish, Cetol, or automobile Clear Coat. I would appreciate anybody's comments about these ideas. No need to discuss Timmmys puking though, that seems to be a given here, and while I never have had the pleasure of seeing it in person, I can imagine it well enough that I don't need details here! Unless, of course, there is something noteworthy or unusual about this event!

if you do a search, look for walter k's method. He turned us on to his procedure and it is simple and really effective. Once a year and then a little touch up over the season keeps it looking great

I use 3 coats of Deks Ola #1 (glossy) bronze wooled between coats, followed by two coats of #2 (flat). I don't personally like the red color of Cetal. Also when it starts to go it looks like crap. Just my opinion.

dougl33 wrote:Well at least we know there's probably no puke stains on your boat!

Now I remember why I never took him for a ride on mine!!!!!

Great idea on the door. I have been thinking about re-doing mine. Wish there was some vendor with some wood working skillls that could turn them out for us. Maybe with a couple custom touches - fish inlay or boat name.

Under my general woodworking approach - measure, cut, assemble, finish, and then realize it don't fit - I figure a budget of only $2,500.00 (in materials) and not more than 300 hours to produce it myself.

Thanks guy's. So many products out there, difficult to wade thru them.

I have a Teak swim platform that I intend to install on DeNada before splashing this summer.

Will you guys post some pics of your Teak work after applying the various coatings that you described above???

In the years past I have always liked the look of Teak cleaned with Zud and a Chore Girl scouring pad then applying oil............obvious problem...is labor intensive and impossible to keep up with.

I have always enjoyed the natural look of wood but that comes with a price! ! !

Harry

Harry- Like it or not, your swim platform is going to get wet. Also, swim platforms get stood on with wet feet, and the last thing you want them to be is slippery. Since you like the look of natural, you might consider keeping it that way. A scrub down after any trip is easy as a Clorox and water or sudsy ammonia and water on a long handled scrub brush is not that much of a big deal. It will bleach light from both the cleaning and the sun and still look golden when wet. Even oiled teak can be slippery. My thoughts. Walter

Harry Babb wrote: Will you guys post some pics of your Teak work after applying the various coatings that you described above???

Harry

Harry,

Here's 2 pics to show some of my teak work.
You should be able to pick out the trim pieces on the
tops of the helm area cabin sides, cabin door trim, and a teak hand hold
by the portside helm seat, trim piece across
the transom gunnal, some trim around the cockpit panel openings
and by the cockpit floor, along with the teak work on the
fighting chair, and you can barely make out the pulpit. Looking at it now,
I have to agree with Capt. Patrick, it's not just trimwork, my teak is a PROJECT!!

Walt,

As I mentioned before, my final coats are Epiphanes varnish.
With deck shoes, I find I have pretty good traction on the pulpit even when it's wet.

Thanks Harv
Thats one good looking Bahia Mar..........the Teak adds pleasant highlights.

Harry