Teak Maintainance

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yachtcharisma

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Hi

Having just bought a new boat I find I need to know a bit about teak. The cockpit coamings, seats and handrails are all teak. The coaming's varnished, but the rest is bare wood. What does this need doing to it? Oiling is the only thing I can think of, but am I right that this needs doing? How often? Is there anything else I should be doing to it??

Thanks for any help
Patrick

<hr width=100% size=1>Sailing a Victoire 25 on the Scottish West Coast
 
Patrick

Opinions divided about this. I have teak decks and don't oil them as this attracts dirt after a while, even if it looks good to start with. I just give them a good scrub every now and again and live with the slightly pink grey.

There was an article some months back in PBO which looked at various treatments for teak.

Regards
Tom

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I was advised by the former importer of Hallberg Rassy in France who also laid teak decks that the only thing to do is to lightly scrape the patine off to get rid of the greyness.

John

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Hi Patrick !

Here's what I've done over the past couple of weekends :-

with a sponge scrubbed the teak with plenty of warm water mixed with a bit of washing up liquid. It takes a while, but scrubbing across the grain with the sponge does bring out a lot of dirt. Once the teak is clean I brightened it with some oxalic acid dissolved in water. Not a particularly strong solution, but applied two coats, let them soak in for 15/20 mins and then doused with plenty of fresh water. (The oxalic acid is the chemical agent used in commercial teak brighteners - cheaper to mix it up yourself, but take appropriate precautions as it's very caustic !)

Quite a slow process, but the teak has come up very nicely and has changed beyond all recognition from when the exercise was commenced.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Eric.

<hr width=100% size=1>www.HarryHindsight.com
 
What's wrong with the silver-grey patina of weathered teak?

By all means remove green algal staining by washing with a weak detergent or an (expensive) teak cleaner but please don't scrub it and avoid frequent use of oxalic acid, both of which wear down the teak with time and hasten the day when you or someone will have to spend a fortune on new decks.

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ
 
If it is brand new and you want to keep that "teaky" colour then try Starbrite Teak Sealer. I put it on new teak last year and it really works. Otherwise let it go grey/white and scrub now and again. With the sealer it on needs a wash down at the same time as you do the rest of the boat.

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Don\'t oil it...

Oiling it is messy, helps to attract dirt, and could reduce the grip on handrails. Best way to care for your seats and handrails is to wash them occasionally. Try always to work across the grain, otherwise you'll remove the softer-grained wood, leaving a ridged surface. The slightly abrasive pads made by 3M are good for cleaning. You can use chemicals, but sparingly and infrequently. The teak will weather to a gentle silver-grey colour. If your coamings are already varnished, maybe you will want to keep them that way.

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This has all been really helpful, thankyou. I agree with those who've said "what's wrong with silvery-grey?" - I'm quite happy with the colour and was more wondering if the wood needed any regular steps to protect it from the elements. The implication in all these posts is that it doesn't, which is fine by me (less time maintaining means more time sailing!)

Cheers
Patrick

<hr width=100% size=1>Sailing a Victoire 25 on the Scottish West Coast
 
I am moored next to an engineer who works for the cruise liner division of P&O. After getting a little too enthusiastic about cleaning my teak decks I stopped and asked what the pro's recommend.

He said "that's an interesting question and the answer depends on which part of P&O you talk to".

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