Sikkens

[Bill G.]

Anyone know of an easy way to remove Sikkens from teak? txs.....Bill G

[CaptPatrick]

Bill,

No easy way out... It'll need to be sanded off. Your choice of paper grit will depend on the overall condition to the teak surface. If the surface is not too heavily grained out, 80 grit will be a good starting point. If highly grained out, start with 50 grit. Final sanding will be with 120 or 180 grit. Best results for the final sanding will come from block sanding, keeping the direction with the grain of the wood.

The penetration depth of the sealer is probably less than 1/32" at the lowest surface level.

Once finished, vow to never use Sikkens , Deks-Ole, or similar crap sealers again... Only oil or varnish.

Br,

Patrick

[Buju]

If the cetol is cracked & peeling already you can also hit it with a pressure washer (40º tip @ approx a 20º angle of attack, no closer than 4" or 5" to the teak w/ a 3000psi unit).

While this won't eliminate the need to sand, by any means, it'll speed up up the removal processs by taking off sheets of the cetol, and further weakening the bond of the remaining product.

The only easy way would be to have someone else do it. If you're interested, and happen to be in S. FL, I'd be happy to come take a look & give you a quote....

Long shot, I know.

[IRGuy]

Capt. Pat...

While on this general subject, I have just finished building a new teak sliding door for my B33. I will be covering it first with one dilute and one regular coat of clear epoxy, then plan to spray varnish it. I checked in your boatbuilder's tips in the teak console pod writeup and saw that you used Epifanes varnish. but this was written some time ago. Is this still your preferred varnish? I have a decent HVLP spray setup and want to shoot several coats. ending with a matte finish.

[Buju]

IRGuy...
I know you addressed the question to Patrick, but I thought I'd do a quick reply as well. Hopefully we'll have the same answer. If not, I'll stand corrected.
Epifanes is the way to go. After your two epoxy coats, sand it back down with 220, then vaccum clean, and wipe with a denatured alcohol saturated lint-free rag.
If you want to get a really thick & lusterous look, it can be acheived rather quickly with the Epifanes Rapidclear or Rapidcoat (rapidcoat has a slight brown pigment)
Either one can be recoated in as little as 5 hours with no sanding betweeen coats...Just wipe it down between coats with the Epifanes spray thinner on a rag. So, essentially, you can get 5 coats applied in two days, easily.
After the you get the desired film build with the rapidclear, it must then be sanded down with either 220, or up into the 300 grit range, vaccummed clean, and wiped clean with the saturated rag.


At this point you'll want to apply one coat of the Epifanes Wood Finish Matte


and probably stick a fork in it. Unless you feel you need two coats of the matte...

Or you could forget the Rapidclear, and just use the Wood Finish Matte, but you must sand between coats with that product.
Hope I'm not off base, and the info helps... Good luck.

[CaptPatrick]

Perfect run down, Buju...

Here's the teak console I did for Gerry Santiago, using the Epifanes Rapidclear and final 2 coats in regular Epifanes high gloss varnish. All coats were spray application.

[IRGuy]

Thanks Buju and Capt Pat...

Building the door was a time consuming project.. and I don't want to screw it up in the finishing stage. I put the first diluted coat of epoxy on this evening on one side of the door only, and will turn it over and apply the same to the other side tomorrow.

Capt Pat... you were experimenting with spraying Epifanes at much shorter intervals than would be necessary with brushing.. did you finally conclude this might be a better way to go?

BTW.. Several years ago we delivered a sailboat to St Lucia. The local guys there make a nice living off the visiting sailors refinishing their brightwork. Tied two slips away from us was a native guy who was doing a fantastic varnish job on the cabin sides and cockpit of a 42' yacht. I stopped for a closer look and to inhale some of the escaping ganja smoke, and asked the guy what he was using.. He said they only use Epifanes there, nothing else holds up to the sun as well.

[Buju]

IRGuy,
You can spray lighter "mist" coats of the Rapidclear in very quick succession. I've had success doing three mist coats in a single application.
I've also had good results recoating (full coat app. just before it sags) the Rapidclear in as little as 2 hours. But that is down here in the summer on a exterior application. So, it's probably not too wise to reccomend it, because there are too many variables involved, and the last thing you want is to walk out to your new door and find the finish orange-peeled. That'll piss ya right off.
Some of them ganga smokin islanders know a thing or two... some don't.

[Capt Dick Dean]

I called Sikkins 2 yrs ago. You gotta' sand it off.

[IRGuy]

Buju and Capt Pat...

I went out today to get some Epifanes Rapidclear and Woodfinish, as well as some thinner. Wilmington NC is not large enough to have lots of boating supply houses, just one West Marine and one Boater's World. The latter is usually poorly stocked with the quality boat stuff I look for, so West is the place I try first. Found the Woodfinish Matte and thinner OK at West, but no Rapidclear.. none at BW either. West does not even show it in their 2009 catalog. Finally after calling several smaller boat supply places I called Epifanes US headquarters in ME. Discussed what I was doing and asked if they could tell me where in my area I could get their products, specifically the Rapidclear. They told me West buys Rapidclear from them and sells it as their Wood Pro Plus product. Just thought you might like to know of another source.

Thanks again for all your great info.. especially Buju in this case! I owe you one!

[gplume]

Actually, I am refinishing my cockpit deck this year. It had Sikkens Cetol, and I stripped it by sanding. (I have another post question brewing on the side panels, but I will keep that seperate)

I read this post with a lot of interest. This Epifanes, is it ok for a deck?. I really want to seal it because the hack that rebuilt it used substandard fasteners. ( In some cases, deck screws (home depot style) were found .,,,,I realize this means a redo in a couple of years, but am not up for it this year $$ wise. If I do it over, its gonna be glass.)

I have used Cetol in the past on other teak with ok, but not great results. I really don't like the finish you get with that product, but did not know of anything else at the time, and it coverd and protected the stuff I needed to protect.