Teak Sealer choice

[Fabiancsl]

Hi JFM

What a beautiful vessel! i'm new to the forum and your pics helped a lot, thank you for sharing and i will do the same with our ship as we are currently establishing how to treat the new Teak deck

so far we are leaning towards

- Semi-annual Treatment with Boracol for prevention of mildew and other bacteria/mould

and secondary Regular treatment with either:

- oil with UV Blocker

or one of these brands we encountered at The METS2024 last week

-Semco
-Teak Wonder
- Starbrite
- Clinazur
- Dulon
- The greenwasher

in our early orientation these are the brands and techniques that will keep the deck in a pristine state, and we are looking to compare products and interval for the best results
happy to hear other yachtowners & staff feedback

 

[Fire99]

Very personal choice and so no-one is wrong. I wouldn't want "looks like when wet/satin sheen/darker colour" but perhaps you might get that with a water based brown fence preserver. I also don't like the darker look on Porto's Itrama above. I seek a freshly sanded look.

Yes Semco "natural" looks yellow as you say, and I agree with you that it looks a bit disappointing. I would never use it.

The only product I use is Semco in the "cleartone" version, untinted. I have used this many years and it gives a freshly sanded look, no yellow, and after a while it just fades away and you re-apply it. 3 times/year. Incredibly easy to apply because it has the consistency/viscosity of water/white spirit and goes on fast with a foam brush. Brush marks don't matter because it soaks in. Widely used on superyachts.

Below three pictures are my boat (1) on launch with bare freshly sanded untreated teak (2) with Semco top up just applied on 10/9/2024) and (3) last week ie 2 months later with nothing done since the September Semco coat. So I'm a big supporter of Semco clear, but only if you want the straw brown freshly sanded look.

That's a very nice colour. I've a couple of (US) galons of Goldtone to use which I'm getting pretty good results with but when I've waded my way through those I think I'll have a blast with the cleartone.. MATCH is looking very well by the way.

 

[Fire99]

also, what is the peanut test ?

Very good question.. I've no idea!! haha

 

[Chris_d]

Very good question.. I've no idea!! haha

You need to sit down and think about it

 

[jfm]

Hi JFM

What a beautiful vessel! i'm new to the forum and your pics helped a lot, thank you for sharing and i will do the same with our ship as we are currently establishing how to treat the new Teak deck

so far we are leaning towards

- Semi-annual Treatment with Boracol for prevention of mildew and other bacteria/mould

and secondary Regular treatment with either:

- oil with UV Blocker

or one of these brands we encountered at The METS2024 last week

-Semco
-Teak Wonder
- Starbrite
- Clinazur
- Dulon
- The greenwasher

in our early orientation these are the brands and techniques that will keep the deck in a pristine state, and we are looking to compare products and interval for the best results
happy to hear other yachtowners & staff feedback

Wow that's a beautiful deck Fabiancsl.
Scrub away mildew when needed, and treat with Semco Cleartone about 3 times a year. Forget all the other stuff that you mention. Don't talk to manufacturers at METS because they all say their product is best, which is not true! Just IMHO
Which caulk did you specify by the way?
Also, you meant Cogolin, right? Nr St Tropez. There seems to be a typo in your post 19.

 

[Fabiancsl]

i love this ship, feeling very privileged to be taking care of it

from what i gather so far we will use 3 treatments

Treatment 1
the Boracol will penetrate deep in the wood (3-5MM) and attack/prevent mildew growth, so as long as we apply that once or twice a year we it should take care of bacterial growth
as from what i've understood its much less work to prevent than to remove

If that works as advertised, we only need to worry about physical growth/dirt buildup (leaves/droppings/dust etc)

Treatment 2
and by weekly or 2weekly brushing with a sponge with salt water should prevent grime / dirt buildup

Treatment 3
is to tackle the UV discoloration, for this i'm undecided on oil with uv blocker or a chemical solution
(Semco Cleartone looks like a good candidate, and the pics with 4 coats in the discussion are very convincing) and 3 times a year doesn't seem excessive

we just discussed internally with the team and it seems keeping the deck saturated with UV resistant oil would extend the UV radiation damage and keep the ship looking pristine,
however overoiling could make the deck slippery, and oil does collect dirt and get dirtier then bare teak

our seams are SIKA 290DC, and Yes Cogolin near St Tropez! i'll be based there from March also, are you in the area sometime ?

 

[jfm]

In my opinion...

Treatment 1 = you are worrying too much. Mildew is rare - you can just clean it when it happens Removing is less work than preventing!

Treatment 2 - use clean freshwater and soap

Treatment 3 = Not oil!!! It will look awful and it will look like you don't know what you're doing. Use Semco clear. That's what all the well-run superyachts use. For example, check out this boat: https://www.turquoiseyachts.com/yacht/blue-ii More teak to maintain than you would really want . Belongs to a very good friend of mine and I've been on board plenty. The teak looks perfect and is treated with Semco clear, not oil.

290DC is very nice, that and TDS440 are the only ones I would specify. I'm based in Antibes, port Vauban.

 

[rafiki_]

In my opinion...

Treatment 1 = you are worrying too much. Mildew is rare - you can just clean it when it happens Removing is less work than preventing!

Treatment 2 - use clean freshwater and soap

Treatment 3 = Not oil!!! It will look awful and it will look like you don't know what you're doing. Use Semco clear. That's what all the well-run superyachts use. For example, check out this boat: https://www.turquoiseyachts.com/yacht/blue-ii More teak to maintain than you would really want . Belongs to a very good friend of mine and I've been on board plenty. The teak looks perfect and is treated with Semco clear, not oil.

290DC is very nice, that and TDS440 are the only ones I would specify. I'm based in Antibes, port Vauban.

Not just superyachts. Many of us with more modest vessels use Semco. Have tried a few in the list above. Secco is by far the best, and also the easiest to apply.

 

[Fabiancsl]

In my opinion...

Treatment 1 = you are worrying too much. Mildew is rare - you can just clean it when it happens Removing is less work than preventing!

Treatment 2 - use clean freshwater and soap

Treatment 3 = Not oil!!! It will look awful and it will look like you don't know what you're doing. Use Semco clear. That's what all the well-run superyachts use. For example, check out this boat: https://www.turquoiseyachts.com/yacht/blue-ii More teak to maintain than you would really want . Belongs to a very good friend of mine and I've been on board plenty. The teak looks perfect and is treated with Semco clear, not oil.

290DC is very nice, that and TDS440 are the only ones I would specify. I'm based in Antibes, port Vauban

Much appreciate all of your input, Port vauban, cool we'll be neighbors! we'll be there from March/April 2025

just to clarify, when you say Semco Clear, you mean the cleartone sealer right?
SEMCO Teak Sealer Cleartone — SEMCOUS, LLC

The semco clear topcoat specifies not to use it on teak decking, or is that just manufacturers covering all their bases
SEMCO CLEAR COAT -See description! — SEMCOUS, LLC

 

[jfm]

Sorry for confusion - I meant Semco teak sealer cleartone.

My boat is normally in Vauban, and will be there from June 2025 - it's not there at moment.