Biggest Job Yet. All the damn TEAK.

[opusnz]

If it is good quality teak, do yourself a favor and leave it bare. Otherwise, I would use an outside UV rated patio furniture oil. It will be cheap and just as good as anything made for yachts. Stay away from anything water based. I have never found anything water based that lives up to the promise in their advertisements.

[Markhunter1097]

I have 100 ft total of vertical cap rails, so not as bad as the flat ones. once a year I put stuff on them, but what is important is the type of paper I use to sand.
Came across this paper called Abranet, which is actually an abrasive grit on a mesh pad. https://www.mirka.com/abranet/
Now I can sand perfectly in an hour with one piece of paper! My time is now on the brush not the preparation.
You can even spent big $ and buy the dust free machine, or not and just do by hand like me.
Then feel free to apply the coating of your choice, I seem to have 5 different finishes going at any one time trying to work out which is best.
I bet someone out there takes my advice and then sends me a PM to thank me at a later date.

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by Hardhead

I've really been happy with trying 2 coats of thinned penetrating epoxy on the bare teak 1st, until the wood is fully saturated, and then adding only 3-4 coats of spar varnish over that. After 2 years of constant mid-Atlantic exposure, it still looks good - no touch-ups or maintenance has been required so far. I'm definitely open to correction and criticism, but it seems almost as if the 2 layers of epoxy essentially act like about 8 coats of crystal clear varnish, that is just about impervious to anything but UV. A few layers of spar varnish over that for a top-coat, and UV protection, and it looks pretty good as far as I can tell - like it has about 12 coats of varnish.

I'm sure others might disagree, but if you have a chance, try some epoxy as a 1st step on a piece and see how it works for you. If you don't like it, eventually the UV will wear away the epoxy, after the varnish wears away. Just let it go until it eventually degrades, then start over with whatever other method you prefer. I'd go nuts re-working all the teak every year, and trying anything to avoid it.

Clear UV epoxy soaks into the wood different than varnish and any repairs not done with the same process will be blotchy and noticeable after a week or two in the sun (just varnish will typically be darker).

We really like Starbrite's Tropical teak sealer while in the Caribbean. As said above, you just wipe the oil on once or twice a year (takes just a few minutes) and it keeps it from graying with none of the cleaning/brightening chemicals that are bad for the wood. But it is not shiny, so many wouldn't like the look.


Matt

[Marekaofholland]

Well you did proceed already, so further comment is fruitless. On our boat we have bare (grey) teak. I just clean with salt water and once a year with Boracol. It is pretty silver-gray