Teak finish/repair question?

[er9]

I'm currently scraping the varnish off my exterior teak toe rail and rub rails. the teak in one 12" area on the uppermost rub rail has some dry rot. most of it is on the back surface and hidden but in the area in the pic obviously is exposed.

since the rail is mostly cosmetic I figure im not going to attempt to remove and replace the rotted section. there seems to be enough surrounding teak that's in ok condition. that and the fact the rest of the rail is solid surrounding this area.

i'm going to attempt to loosen the rail so I can get behind it and get some filled epoxy in there to stabilize the wood but for the area that's exposed i dont think epoxy would be a good choice due to UV exposure and the fact I may decide to re-coat the teak with varnish or Cetol/varnish.

is there a filler that would be preferred that's UV stable and would accept varnish and/or Cetol coating on it? I'm not so concerned with a filler that will be invisible so much as one that's stable and durable long term, but if its less noticeable then that's definitely a plus. To add I would also need to use this filler in some of the toe rail bung holes because they are too shallow to get a new bung in. there is almost no space between the top of the rail and the toe rail bolt on a few of them.

[tkeithlu]

Whoa. When did epoxy start being UV sensitive? I've got some that's been in the sun for 50 years on an old Boston Whaler. Did I miss something?

[er9]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Whoa. When did epoxy start being UV sensitive? I've got some that's been in the sun for 50 years on an old Boston Whaler. Did I miss something?

there are UV stabilized epoxies but most structural epoxies that make the best adhesives are not in my experience. It seems a lot of coating epoxies today have the additive though I have seen some horrendous break downs of epoxy exposed to sun. that and the fact that not much sticks well to epoxy except itself makes me think it may be an adhesion issue with getting varnish or Cetol to stick to it. there may be exceptions out there though I dont know about.

[Copacabana]

Just an idea.... I've done a few wood repairs on the wood cockpit seats on my boat using epoxy and fine wood dust (like the dust from an electric sander). You mix it into a paste and apply to the crack, hole or defect. It sands fairly well after, but it will be harder than the surrounding wood so be careful. I applied a UV deck finishing product after finishing the wood and it has stood up well to sun and rain. If you go this route, I have one tip: use a wood dust much lighter than the tone of the teak, as it will darken considerably when cured. I was able to mix different coloured wood dusts to get it just right. You might want to do a test before applying to see if the colour matches.

[psk125]

The best fix for a problem like this is to cut or rout out the damaged section and glue in a “dutchman” or spline made of the same wood, with the grain going the same way. Anything else is going to look really hokey. There are videos like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_nko8RHzCw

that will give you the idea. Some craftsmen go so far as to make eye-shaped dutchmen, like you sometimes see in sheets of plywood, because they tend to be harder to see against the original wood, but you have to be able to cut out both the cutout and the repair piece so that they match exactly, so pick the approach that works for you. You obviously want to varnish the finished repair, so sand it down smooth and varnish it. You will always know it is there, but visitors may not notice it at all.

[psk125]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Whoa. When did epoxy start being UV sensitive? I've got some that's been in the sun for 50 years on an old Boston Whaler. Did I miss something?

Unlike specialized epoxy fillers like MarineTex, most epoxy is VERY UV sensitive. It turns an opaque brown in the sun. We repaired some dings in our deck and found out the hard way how ugly it can be. Because of this, cedar strip kayaks are made out of epoxy and then covered with multiple coats of varnish. Most wood-epoxy boats built in the 70’s (West System and others) were originally “bright”, showing the wood grain. Owners got tired of having to repeatedly varnish the topsides to keep the epoxy clear. If they didn’t, the topsides turned brown. Many of these boats have now been painted on the outsides; you have to go below to see that the boat is actually made of wood.

[er9]

Originally Posted by Copacabana

Just an idea.... I've done a few wood repairs on the wood cockpit seats on my boat using epoxy and fine wood dust (like the dust from an electric sander). You mix it into a paste and apply to the crack, hole or defect. It sands fairly well after, but it will be harder than the surrounding wood so be careful. I applied a UV deck finishing product after finishing the wood and it has stood up well to sun and rain. If you go this route, I have one tip: use a wood dust much lighter than the tone of the teak, as it will darken considerably when cured. I was able to mix different coloured wood dusts to get it just right. You might want to do a test before applying to see if the colour matches.

thanks I might try this first. If it doesn't look great I can always route out the area and try a repair via psk's method.

[Copacabana]

Originally Posted by er9

thanks I might try this first. If it doesn't look great I can always route out the area and try a repair via psk's method.

No question, psk's method is better, but sometimes good enough is good enough.