Teak Maintenance

[vangrady]

The teak companion way door on my 1990 Marlin needs some serious help. What do GW owners recommend to clean the old wood (a cleaner that will not damage the bug screen on the inside of the door) and provide new protection and finish. I'am reluctant to use varnish because my door has teak louvers and I have seen people make a real mess of them.

Thanks for the help.

 

[gradyfish22]

A few years back I redid all the teak on my 1989 22' Seafarer. I used a wood stain remover, was a PITA and messy. Since then I have begun to sue a sander to clean up the wood, and then I coat it with Sikkens cetol matte finish stain, it looks like teak oil, but is a stain and will last 2 seasons, after it begins to lose its look, a quick sand again and restain it. If I paid more attention to it and cleaned it better during the year the stain would probably last longer on the wood. I found it to be a lot easier then applying teak oil all the time. I also do the cabin door, but that lasts longer since I would keep the top and side curtains up all season long. The louvers are a pain to sand and clean, but there really is no easy solution to making them look better then starting over. I know some love the look of fresh teak, but I'd rather enjoy my boat during the season rather then have extra maintenance.
Here are picks of the sikkens, it was done 2 seasons ago and still looks great.

 

[vangrady]

Thanks for the advice Gradyfish22. The Cetol stain cover up the dark spots that are hard to reach in the corners?

 

[gradyfish22]

I use a foam brush to stain the teak, it keeps the stain from getting streaks. The foam brush also allows the stain to fit into deeper spots and between the louvers. I would recommend sanding as much of the black out of the teak as you can before you stain. The stain will not really bring the color back out of the wood, it will seal over the black, it will blend it in better then teak oil or how it may look now, but the only way to eliminate it is to sand it out. I used a thin piece of plastic as a sanding block, it would get very close to the corner of the louvers, probably within 1/8" or less from the corner. I have not had the black reappear since I switched to the sikkens cetol. I used the matte finish to make it look like raw teak from a distance and even up close, there is a gloss also, but I thought it would ruin the look of teak and make it look like any other wood. I used the light stain, as you apply more coats it will get slightly darker, usually 2 coats are enough and will last you 2-3 years, likely more for the cabin door and spots that are not as open to the elements that that cockpit teak will endure.

 

[gwwannabe]

I just refinished the teak in my 89 Overnighter. I used a product called TeakGuard. The kit came with cleaner, the finish, foam brushes, bronze wool and two brushes for use with the cleaner. Price was 60-some odd dollars plus shipping.

It had been many years since the teak had been touched on my boat. I sanded first, then used the cleaner, and finally applied the finish. The cleaner works really well at removing the black stains I could not get at with the sandpaper. The finish goes on easily and it dries quickly. Instructions are to apply a second coat after the first coat dries and then let sit for 24 hours. Use the bronze wool to smooth the raised grain (didn't have this happen in very many places) and apply finish again - two coats, the second as soon as the first dries to the touch. Depending on conditions, this is supposed to last for several seasons. When it starts looking bad, just clean the surface and reapply more finish.

The product is really easy to use but the whole process is pretty tedious. The results look great. I still have the swim platform to do since the boat was on the lift when I started this. I will post pics when I learn how to do it. I bought the kit from www.myboatstore.com but a number of places on the web carry it. Prices are the same everywhere I found it. I chose to buy from this place because of the info they had online.

Gary 89 Overnighter

 

[Rover]

I saw the pics of gwannabe's work - real nice.
That teak never looked so good!

I got your e-mail - I'll get back soon.

 

[gradyfish22]

vangrady- not sure what your going to use, but if you use the Sikkens, there are a few colors, I believe yellow is the lightest, there is also an oragne and brown label, I use the yellow and it looks like freshly covered teak oil, I was told the others are darker. They are all blueish grey labels with either yellow, orange or brown areas where some of the writing is. Most marine stores near me carry the darker stuff, I always had to order the lighter color near me.

 

[blackdiamond296]

Go with the Sikkens- its going to be the most work initially but can give you three or four years of pretty much maintenance free use. The way we've done it is to sand off the previous coats, then use the A&B teak cleaner. After that we put on four coats of Sikkens. Yes four coats is a lot but by doing that you will buy yourself a lot of time before you have to do any teak work again- and if you've ever seen a Fortier before you'll know what a god-sent that is!!! :wink:

 

[conshykid]

I am going to do my cabin door but in stead of spending more money on teak cleaner I used my pressue washer and its amazing how clean it gets,Just an idea.

 

[blackdiamond296]

I am going to do my cabin door but in stead of spending more money on teak cleaner I used my pressue washer and its amazing how clean it gets,Just an idea.

Power washing works- the only problem is that if you're working with older teak and/or you hit the wood a little too hard it will bring the grain out of the wood and to get rid of that means more sanding in the prep phase of things...

 

[Workdog]

I also go with the power sprayer. I put the teak wash on and let it sit as recommended, then power wash it. I've never had problems with the grain raising. Sure beats the hell out of sanding a louver door.

Workdog