Fed up with varnish

[Gunfleet]

My cockpit has a solid teak coaming all round and teak covered ply/solid teak locker covers and I'm fed up trying to maintain the varnish on them. I'm inclined to strip it all off and put something oil based on... but what?

 

[tcm]

er, but varnish is oil based innit? Is this is trick question?

 

[Gunfleet]

I don't know what it's made of. But it cracks and flakes and can only be applied when the weather is right for sailing. What sort of a product is that? I want something you can just slap on and a few hours later slap on some more ad infinitum and then you'd have a decent looking surface but not something you have to treat like a baby's arse (ie very carefully, don't stand on it or anything). I thought you were some sort of expert on this? Stop trying to trip me up.

ps I've seriously considered paint. I mean at least it stays there, pro tem

 

[woody001]

varnish can also be water based, only in recent years this has been possible

 

[cliff]

[ QUOTE ]
My cockpit has a solid teak coaming all round and teak covered ply/solid teak locker covers and I'm fed up trying to maintain the varnish on them. I'm inclined to strip it all off and put something oil based on... but what?

[/ QUOTE ]Do not use any water based varnish - None of them seem to work too well.
Try Rustin's teak oil, not screwfix's teak oil or even liberon etc. Best one found so far is Rustin's.
Apply to clean dry timber and leave for a few hours then reapply. repeat until 3 or 4 coats have been applied then apply final coat using a scotch-brite pad. This denibs the surface, milodly abrades the surface and leaves a beautiful finish. Maintenance is reapply one coat (using a scotch-brite pad) when ever needed.
----------

“Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity”
Skype id:cliffillupo

 

[DJE]

Have you tried Deks Olje? I was looking for a link to it and found this; which seems to list all the options.

 

[Rigger]

I've had excellent results with Sikkens wood treatment. 3-4 coats initially on bare wood followed by annual patching up,looks good all season. Teak oil needs re applying 3-4 times per season in my experience to maintain appearance.

 

[Gunfleet]

wouldn't you expect a chap called woody to know that?

 

[brownsox]

When I did a search on this forum I found a lot of people saying just leave it bare. If you like the grey look, it's fine. Apparently teak doesn't need any protection, and they do say that oiling it can attract dirt ...

 

[tcm]

sikkens

yes yes, sikkens is the stuff. I used it at home, tiny little flickety bits will do. Also, the satin stuff looks smarter and hides the tramping about marks

 

[omega2]

we do not have much wood to look after but after trying the lot, we now use "it does what it says on the tin" for garden furniture, and to repeat a light scrub with wire wool and white spirit annually. We fish from our boat and use it well 150/200 hours.

 

[paulskent]

Re: sikkens

The previous owner of my boat put sikkens on all the exterior wood around the cockpit etc and it looks great (IMHO). I have a tin to touch up any marks etc but I have not had to use it yet.. The results can bee seen on Diblog.

 

[MacW]

Ronseal 5 year woodstain (mahogany) .2 not-too-heavy coats onto clean wood looks like varnished teak and the grain can still be seen through it. Rain proof in just a few minutes and lasts and lasts. Water based but is a one -way ticket.I don`t think you can go back to varnihing or teak oil, ever. been using stuff like this for years.

 

[Robin]

Take it to bare wood and recoat with 3 coats of Sikkens Waterpoof Wood Dye, use 'pine' colour as 'teak' color would be too dark. Sikkens is microporous and 'breathes', it doesn't lift off if moisture does get behind it. Maintenance in future is very easy, just rub down locally any worn patches, give them a local touch up coat then lightly rub down all over and apply another coat on top. It is available in satin or gloss finish and is not too slippery even if wet. The finish is slightly more opaque than varnish but allows the wood grain to show through nicely just the same.

We did our W33 rubbing strakes and cockpit teak gratings with it and it is excellent. The gratings were still good after 6 years without even recoating at all, just a little bit of wear in the main 'foot' area after that time, no lifting and no blackening. It used to be available at DIY prices from Homebase but now is 'Marinised' as I believe they are part of International Paints (or vice versa) and comes in a version with separare base coat and top coat. I believe another reason it is so good is that it has a very high UV barrier content. It was praised in the USA mags too and west Marine even have an own brand version.

Over the years I had tried most concoctions without any real success. Two pack for teak worked until time to (try) remove it, other varnishes discoloured or flaked or cracked. Decks Olya(sp?) was like painting the Forth Bridge, needed recoating as soon as you finished and Burgess went on very air bubbly, coffee mugs stuck to it and boy is that one a joy to remove, it melts!

Robin

 

[Gunfleet]

Do you think that's Sikkens Waterpoof Wood Dye or Stain? Can only find stain in google. I must say all of these companies produce a bizarre range of products which all see to cross over each other in some circumstances. On the grating and teak rubbing strake note, I have never tried to coat either on the basis it won't work, so I'd be really interested in something which would do that!

 

[Guest]

I gave up with varnish years ago and now use micro-pore stain. It does not bloom like varnish, has a matt non-slip good grip finish.
Each year a light sand and remove dust / dirt and recoat. Trick is to NOT put on too many coats that you produce a 'layer ON the wood' .... but enough to bring out the natural splendour and its soaked in.

Varnish is now for interior or tiller bars !! Hand-rails, gratings, toe-rails, rubbing strakes etc. - micro-pore !!

A trick .... if you want to bring a piece of wood to an overall balanced 'colour' - give it the micro-pore stain to the level you want .... then ONE coat of poly varnish on top. The varnish sticks like proverbial to the micro-pore and gives you that gloss. BUT being only one coat is not a pain to re-coat etc. later.

 

[Lizzie_B]

We always used Burgess woodsealer on Lizzie B. She had big teak rubbing strake all round her as well as the usual cockpit woodwork. Easy to apply (we actually used a cheap sponge for the larger areas) and easy to touch up on areas of abrasion like the rubbing strake.I would never go back to varnish.

 

[Robin]

I guess it is wood STAIN then, rather than Dye. We have also used it on other places below decks, on hatch boards and on the instrument consol over the mainhatch, the grabrails in fact anywhere we would previously have used varnish.

We have friends who have meticulously taken all the exterior wood on their Nauticat 33 back to bare wood (there is lots of it) and done it with the 2 coat version of Sikkens, so far they are well pleased with the results.

Our latest boat has very little exterior wood, really just the grab rails and I have left those plain grey teak along with the laid teak in the cockpit. There is no doubt thought that nicely 'varnished' external woodwork sets off the boat, probably the sharp contrast between it and the bare paint or bare grp.

 

[tcm]

i will havalook at what the two-part sikkens is called cos that's quite good, seeing as how it's slapped all over the house with not much maintenance effort from me (altho obviously, i am not saying that i am as lazy as that capabar overwhelmed with a few bits of teak on a 26 footer, sheesh...)

 

[Evadne]

Try Danish oil. As with varnish, there is the cheap stuff (B&Q own brand) and the expensive stuff. If time is money and you don't want to overcoat mid-season then, as with varnish, get the 15 quid a tin stuff. You get what you pay for, or more to the point, don't pay for.

Application: As it says on the tin, paint or wipe on 2-3 coats, allowing it to dry in between. About an hour to dry at 20 Celcius. The last coat can be rubbed or polished if required.

Finish: a sort of dull brown oiled wood look.

Contents: the key ingredient is Tung oil (see recommendations for Tonkinois) which sticks to wood like the proverbial to a shovel and doesn't easily rub off. Ditto fingers, chrome, grp, jeans... you get the picture.

For the record, I too have a wood (mahogany) coaming and cockpit locker covers (seats) and use Epiphanes varnish there, because there is nothing that looks quite as good as varnish, and woodwork there is more about looks than durability. Also, I don't have the mediterranean sun to contend with. I use 2 coats of Danish oil for the grab handles and toe rail. I tried B&Q this year and it needed three or more, and I'm not sure it was as good as 2 coats of the (can't remember the brand) I used last year and the year before.