Deck Teak - Do you Keep yours Bright?

[upthesolent]

As I post this I have never seen such small numbers on-line. Hope all had good weekends on their boat.

Now, having just spent a week in the UK on my boat, one of the things I started to do was clean up all the teak wood on deck, hand rails, rubbing streak etc., etc. I bought my boat last season and the previous owner had not even applied oil.

In my opinion, the hard woods are very attractive, damned expensive with the price increasing even more as the material becomes harder to come by. So why are there so many boat owners who just leave them to go almost black, dull, souless even.

It is a beautiful material and in my opinion should be cared for and maintained. Hands up those that don't bother with their woodwork.

 

[Blackfeather]

There's always a big debate on how to maintain woodwork.

It seems to me that once you start oiling or varnishing you are committing to a lot of regular hard work.

I quite like the silvery, grey look of untreated wood. I haven't seen any evidence that regular maintenance gives it a longer life.

 

[Guest]

[ QUOTE ]
There's always a big debate on how to maintain woodwork.

It seems to me that once you start oiling or varnishing you are committing to a lot of regular hard work.

I quite like the silvery, grey look of untreated wood. I haven't seen any evidence that regular maintenance gives it a longer life.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a pet dislike of "greyed" teak decks etc. Think it comes from my early days as cadet on MN ships ....
I don't like Linseed oil ... again Cadet memories !! Nor do I like some of the other proprietary teak oils etc. available nowadays ...
I prefer stain or micropore applied sparingly - to bring out the beauty of the wood and also keep it's colour ...

I've just finished doing my teak rubbing strakes .... : >

Much better to the eye than plain teak left to grey !

To those who may question whether looking after the teak is worth it .... I use to have what I loosely termed "The Penknife Test" .... A common penknife blade soon finds the soft uncared for areas of rubbing strakes etc. - and they are common underneath. Top and face appear fine ... and even those who do carnish / stain etc. looks ok ... but many do not care for the unseen underside. It rots and you get soft wood that then crumbles and falls away - leaving a nice shell.

If like me you don't want to service Varnish each 2 -3 months ... then even a product such as Ronseal Stain or similar will be far better than leaving it to the elements.... rubbing strakes that is ...

As for other areas ... ??

 

[Jamesuk]

Fairy liquid and a brush works best for me.

 

[celandine]

I use Coelans for all teak trim (not deck). Lasts about ten times longer than the best varnish.

.

 

[johnalison]

Your rubbing-strake looks fine, but with decks as well to look after we've settled for the "silver" look. There was something on this on PBO a few days ago. Several of us were trumpeting the virtues of Polycell 3:1 mould-killer as a substitute for Boracol. Twice a year, it gives a clean, light-silver finish which doesn't grow algae or lichen, as copious sea-water doesn't work with me.
I would agree that anything looks better than dirty un-cared-for wood, though I have an aversion to some very yellowing treatments.

 

[Sixpence]

One of mine is a wooden Debutante that hasn't been looked after too well and all the paint is cracked and peeling , with exposed woodwork in desperate need of some TLC even though it's mainly non teak so I'm all ears for the best way to treat it

 

[Lakesailor]

Buy it a cream tea

 

[Sixpence]

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Muppet /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Guest]

[ QUOTE ]
One of mine is a wooden Debutante that hasn't been looked after too well and all the paint is cracked and peeling , with exposed woodwork in desperate need of some TLC even though it's mainly non teak so I'm all ears for the best way to treat it

[/ QUOTE ]

One of the main points to talke care of - is the Debs are nearly all Ply. That's decks, hull etc. etc.

So main worry is whether water has got into the ends / layers. Also when sanding - care not to remove too much actual veneer .....

It may be a large area and work out a hard job ... but maybe paint stripper ?? or heat gun ?? Lot of area to cover though ... one of those jobs you'll wish you hadn't started - but the satisfaction at end will be fab !

 

[ccscott49]

My teak is all varnished or coelan, but my decks are left, just a scrub every couple or three years and some anti mildew/lichen/fungus stuff every six months or so. Sluice down with sea water now and again. Works fine for me.
I use the coelan, where it's difficult to strip and varnish, bulwarks etc. Plus my masts.

 

[Danny Jo]

[ QUOTE ]
I quite like the silvery, grey look of untreated wood. I haven't seen any evidence that regular maintenance gives it a longer life.

[/ QUOTE ] I would go further - those keen to maintain a newly varnished look will sand off that grey coat that stops the sun from damaging the wood underneath. They then slap on all manner of expensive treatments, which eventually get damaged by wear, salt water and ultraviolet rays, and which need stripping off from time to time - this removes more of the valuable teak.

Surely the whole point of teak is that it is better than any other wood at surviving exposure to sun and sea. The silver coat does wear of course, but not as quickly as a surface that is subjected to power sanders or pressure washers for what is, surely, just cosmetic treatment.

Also, when the decks are wet, I doubt that the grip of feet in varnished or oiled teak is as good as the grip of feet on weathered teak.

 

[Guest]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I quite like the silvery, grey look of untreated wood. I haven't seen any evidence that regular maintenance gives it a longer life.

[/ QUOTE ] I would go further - those keen to maintain a newly varnished look will sand off that grey coat that stops the sun from damaging the wood underneath. They then slap on all manner of expensive treatments, which eventually get damaged by wear, salt water and ultraviolet rays, and which need stripping off from time to time - this removes more of the valuable teak.

Surely the whole point of teak is that it is better than any other wood at surviving exposure to sun and sea. The silver coat does wear of course, but not as quickly as a surface that is subjected to power sanders or pressure washers for what is, surely, just cosmetic treatment.

Also, when the decks are wet, I doubt that the grip of feet in varnished or oiled teak is as good as the grip of feet on weathered teak.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't dispute the logic on leaving decks .... ships of old always holystoned decks .... ( removed a lot of wood in process though !!). I just think the look is awful.
But on any other wood area ... rails, strakes, fancy bits etc. - oiling or stain is IMHO far far better visually and material wise.

I don't agree that material is sanded / removed away from such by my method - as its' a stain method rather than a varnish one. Varnish would require removal of wood to renovate. Stain such as I use ... only needs a light rub over with very fine paper ... and a new coat ... and that stain is UV stabilised as well ... bare teak is not - it is resistant .......

 

[Dave99]

the old fashioned way is salt water and a good scrub

 

[AlJones]

Hi Ian,

This is what I do and it seems to work well for our yachts.

Wet the decks with H2O.

Sprinkle a good amount of Daz,(Washing Powder), on the teak deck and lightly scrub in.

Leave for about five minutes.

Wash off whilst using a light soft deck scrubber.

The washing powder seems to 'LIFT' all the grime and green clean off!!!

Like I say, it works for me,.........................when I say me I actually do mean Tina! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Al.

 

[Danny Jo]

[ QUOTE ]
Sprinkle a good amount of Daz,(Washing Powder), on the teak deck and lightly scrub in.

[/ QUOTE ] Good grief - think of all those phosphates, so beloved of slime and other flora that we deplore.

 

[jimbaerselman]

There's a teak chat on the PBO forum. Check that out, too. Sorry, I'm too lazy to post twice today!