More teak advice please!

[petem]

Just a quick follow up. As described above, the Semco seemed to cause the caulking to break down and leach to the adjacent planks on my original cockpit teak. Fortunately, the caulking hasn't gone sticky so just looks a little crappy in places.

However, the caulking on my neighbour's 10 year old Khamsin 35 has gone completely sticky which has resulted in them walking goo all over the carpets, new upholstery, etc. The guys reckon this is due to over aggressive chemical cleaning (Wessex / Semco?). Whilst it was probably getting to the end of it's life it looks like their going to have to replace the whole lot (bathing platform, cockpit, side decks, foredeck). I doubt they'll see much change, if any, out of £10k.

As a precaution, I will no longer be using these cleaners on my cockpit teak (my bathing platform is new so no issue there). When I was out there recently I tried cleaning it with some household clothes washing powder and a white 3m scouring pad (available fro m the chandlers). I believe this is a technique used on Superyachts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYIj5S5UY9c) and by TCM formally of this parish (before he flounced off ). Anyhow, the advantage of this is that you can sprinkle a little more powder on the grubby bits. It didn't take long (half an hour perhaps) and I was really pleased with the results, even without the vinegar.

 

[Hurricane]

Pete

A couple of years ago, there was a bad batch of Sikaflex caulking that caused the sticky problems.
I don't think your problems are anything to do with the Wessex 2 part treatment.
IMHO, though, the Wessex 2 part does erode the natural oils from the teak over time.
We are now in our 11th season and the wood teak is beginning to show its age.
Our teak started 6mm thick.
I estimate that it would be about 1mm thicker if we hadn't used the Wessex 2 part cleaner.
The downside of not using is is that the teak gets VERY VERY dirty.
You only have to step onto white gel decks from standing on the teak to see a black footprint - especially in the morning at anchor when "flunkying off" the morning dew.
This is why I like Flexiteak.

It has been 2 years since we changed our bathing platform to Flexiteak.
My decision now is that Flexiteak is a better product than natural wood.
I know that I will get flamed for that statement and I know that Flexiteak gets hot - but so does wood teak.
Cleaning Flexiteak is a doddle - thanks to help from this forum.
Cleaning wood teak using Wessex 2 part takes me a whole day and the process erodes the wood.

So, to recap.
If you want to keep your wood teak - don't clean it - and have dirty decks.
If you want clean wood teak - clean it with the Wessex 2 part and have a lot of work but you will have clean (eroding) decks.
If you want clean decks that are easy to keep clean - install Flexiteak but expect the deck to get hotter than wood.
Nothing is simple in this world - there are always pros and cons!!!

 

[rubberduck]

I would think bio washing powder would be a good option, but you need to take expert chemical advice for long term damage. alternatively keep doing what you are until its knackered then replace with flexi.

 

[petem]

Cleaning wood teak using Wessex 2 part takes me a whole day and the process erodes the wood.

So, to recap.
If you want to keep your wood teak - don't clean it - and have dirty decks.
If you want clean wood teak - clean it with the Wessex 2 part and have a lot of work but you will have clean (eroding) decks.

But my points are Mike...

1) Semco was definitely dissolving the teak on my original cockpit teak.
2) A light sprinkling of washing powder has resulted in a very clean cockpit deck.

I will continue to use Wessex 2 part and Semco for the bathing platform that is new and more stable.

AOTBE, I'd probably go Permateak or similar in the future as I like the colour and the ease of maintenance.

 

[Hurricane]

AOTBE, I'd probably go Permateak or similar in the future as I like the colour and the ease of maintenance.

Why Permateak over Flexiteak?
Does Permateak have that natural look grain that Flexiteak has?

 

[julians]

Pete, I'm not sure the sticky caulk on your neighbours windy was caused by the 2 pack cleaner. The caulk on my windy went the same way, but it was never cleaned with 2 pack cleaner, just soapy water.

I've been looking at various synthetic teaks (Inc flexiteak and permateak) and I don't really like them, they do get a lot lot hotter than teak and they don't look quite like the real thing imo, but they are very practical (aside from the heat issue). The teak on my bathing platform is now very thin and will need replacing in a year or two, not sure what to do with it, but am leaning towards just using teak again,given it's lasted 14 years. The cockpit teak still looks good, so no issues there.

 

[julians]

I mean that the cockpit teak still looks good once I had the sticky caulk replaced

 

[John100156]

Pete

I have used Semco for 10 years in the Med and originally on my 2006 Targa 34 back in 2008, I have never noticed and adverse effects on caulking and always used the Natural colour. I agree it does fade, but it takes no time at all to clean and re-apply. Just re-ordered some to take out end of next week!