TiggerToo
Well-Known Member
what happens to unvarnished mohogany on deck? Will it rot - or will it just go a nice grey colour like teak? any direct experience out there?
unvarnished mohogany
- Thread starter TiggerToo
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Tranona
Well-Known Member
It will go grey and eventually rot. It is not as durable as teak. Mahogany is a term often used to cover a wide range of species, some of which are not very durable and many that are not particularly stable so subject to warping and cracking if exposed to damp. For this reason it is unwise to leave it unprotected.
Rossynant
Well-Known Member
Teak has oil in it and it's own 'antifungal preservatives'. For wood to left bare on deck there are only few others, like oak, or larch. Not mahogany.
Direct experience speaking: nowadays it's not mahogany, just another species of wood that looks reddish. No more of what you, in UK, knew as "Honduras Mahogany"; gone. This was used for boatbuilding as it had acceptable resistance to water.
You have something else.
Will rot. And I want to warn: may rot a lot. Lately I have seen couple of new planks on a boat rotted to dust in two seasons, old ones still good...
So give it good varnish, and I strongly recommend oiling it and using oil based varnishes. Polyurethanes will not keep on wood which got wet underneath them, and "mahogany" has no oils in it.
For UK climate maybe use some rot chemical preservative as well...