Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer as a "primer" for teak?

[Three Sisters]

Originally Posted by Beausoleil

Found the following at the Bristol Finish website:

"One way to greatly reduce the chance of moisture intrusion is to seal up a wood project completely with a thin coat of epoxy or penetrating epoxy sealer (PES). If a piece is going to be re-mounted make sure to epoxy over the bungs after mounting. For the prep treat the epoxy the same way as any other existing coating."

I submitted a question to them regarding specific use of CPES. I'll post the response when I get it...

I'd say that's encouraging that mention is given to sealing the wood and the products to consider.

Extending the longevity of the finish. Teak though.

Will be looking for their response.

[chris95040]

Originally Posted by minaret

When failure occurs, I certainly have not been able to heat strip any epoxy sealer that was really flood coated until the substrate would accept no more. I've seen CPES poured on soak right through 1/2" marine grade and drip out the bottom in less than ten minutes, so I'm not sure how that would be possible. I've always had to resort to extreme measure to remove the stuff, and do it over right.

In my experience this isn't the case. Sure, if you are soaking pourous wood then material will end up inaccessible, deep below the surface. But on teak that was in good condition, and sanded up to 150 grit or so before applying CPES (several passes of cpes) the heat gun and scraper worked just fine to strip back to bare wood. I was relieved, but also disappointed that the CPES hadn't dug in quite like it did in my imagination.

Perhaps its all snake oil, but for me the CPES+2part poly has held up incredibly well, and wasn't terribly difficult to remove. So its obviously not the horrible choice some folks make it out to be.

These were near-vertical surfaces, I imagine a horizontal surface might behave a bit differently in these regards.

I'll probably switch to Awlwood if it proves to be good stuff...

[Snowpetrel]

I used an older version of a very thin epoxy called everdur to seal a teak rubbing strake before painting it.

It certainly seemed to soak in well, and I never had an issue with the paint flaking off over 7 years. So for me it worked well.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

I used an older version of a very thin epoxy called everdur to seal a teak rubbing strake before painting it.

It certainly seemed to soak in well, and I never had an issue with the paint flaking off over 7 years. So for me it worked well.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

A thousand years ago we use to use Thompson's water seal for saturating wood before painting. Worked well.We also added copper salts to the sealer. Basically pickled the wood. Old timers use to add flower of arsenic to linseed oil and turpentine to harden and preserve wood.

[Beausoleil]

Got an answer from the folks behind Bristol Finish. I asked the following:

"I've used Bristol Finish in the past and liked the results. I'll soon strip down to bare wood all of my brightwork on my Formosa 51 ketch, Beausoleil, and use Bristol Finish throughout. I've heard of Smith & Co.'s Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES), and was wondering about it's applicability here as a sealer coat prior to BF. You mention using a penetrating sealer to enhance waterproofing, would like to know if it's chemically compatible if I overcoat with BF before the CPES is fully cured? Our last brightwork job, using Epifanes one-part high-UV polyurethane lain down with 12 progressively less-thinned coats, started peeling in 6 months in the tropical sun of the Bahamas and Caribbean..."

And here's their response:

"Thank you for using Bristol Finish in the past and considering it again. CPES is one brand that can be used. There are others out there that will do the same thing. We have not heard of any compatibility issues with any epoxies at this point. However, we do suggest allowing a proper cure for the epoxy before applying Bristol Finish Traditional Amber. You can try applying it before the full cure of the epoxy but I do not know what the result will be. As always we recommend testing the compatibility of any products used with Bristol Finish coatings.
Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you.
Nice boat by the way. "

[Cheechako]

Sanding teak doesn't "get rid of the surface oils", Just the opposite, It exposes fresh wood and oil. The oil evaporates out of the wood on the surface with sun, salt and wind. Sanding exposes fresh oil.
For me I would not put epoxy anything on teak as a finish. I've seen some terrible nearly irrepairable messes from doing so and not keeping up with finishing.

[Three Sisters]

Originally Posted by Beausoleil

Got an answer from the folks behind Bristol Finish. I asked the following:

"I've used Bristol Finish in the past and liked the results. I'll soon strip down to bare wood all of my brightwork on my Formosa 51 ketch, Beausoleil, and use Bristol Finish throughout. I've heard of Smith & Co.'s Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES), and was wondering about it's applicability here as a sealer coat prior to BF. You mention using a penetrating sealer to enhance waterproofing, would like to know if it's chemically compatible if I overcoat with BF before the CPES is fully cured? Our last brightwork job, using Epifanes one-part high-UV polyurethane lain down with 12 progressively less-thinned coats, started peeling in 6 months in the tropical sun of the Bahamas and Caribbean..."

And here's their response:

"Thank you for using Bristol Finish in the past and considering it again. CPES is one brand that can be used. There are others out there that will do the same thing. We have not heard of any compatibility issues with any epoxies at this point. However, we do suggest allowing a proper cure for the epoxy before applying Bristol Finish Traditional Amber. You can try applying it before the full cure of the epoxy but I do not know what the result will be. As always we recommend testing the compatibility of any products used with Bristol Finish coatings.
Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you.
Nice boat by the way. "

I like that they have taken the time to relay their advice on applying the Bristol with epoxy as a seal coat.

This has to be a hefty decision on how to proceed w/lotsa teak.



We've been using the end rolls from the local newspaper puplisher for taping off areas and protecting others. It's not like a dropcloth, just newsless rolls of paper. These rolls may help on this refinish. There is usually 25-50 ft on each roll/50 cents.

Will be looking for your updates.