Varnish and Teak

[Jamesuk]

two questions here,

Methods and equipment used to Varnish wood (and the stages) and what to do if you miss a paint brush hair that malted away from ones brush the day before. also how often and what type of tape would you use to protech the paint structure that the wood rim sits on

also "how to look after/clean teak".

many thanks James

 

[samwise]

There is lots of good advice on varnishing in the little booklets put out by Blakes and International. Broadly it comes down to meticulous preparation, lots of rubbing down and lots of coats. It all depends how fussy you want to be. That lost paintbrush hair would be another rub down and another coat for the purist. I'd just pick it out and touch up the area.

Our boat is in the Med and before we left I stripped off all the exterior varnish from the teak bits ( rubbinf strake, handgrips etc. While in UK I tried all kinds of teak restorers, cleaners, and protective coatings. All a pain the b*** and needing frequent touch ups and re-doings. The best I have found is also the cheapest and that is a simple scrub down with a stiff brush and fresh water. All the accumulated gunk and grime washes off and the wood comes up pristine after it has dried. This was recommended to me by someone who said they heard it was the method used on the QE2. If it's good enough for Cunard, it's good enough for me!

 

[wingdiver]

On our latest boat, we have gone down the route of using Deks Olje for some of our teak (bits you don't generally stand on or hold).
This gives something nicer than the usual grey and after an initial task of numerous coatings, it just needs an occasional recoat.
The rest gets washed down periodically - always remembering not to scrub with the grain if using a stiff brush.
Varnish has never worked for us on any boat in any form (except once - see below) - two pack, one pot, you name it, we tried it and it invariably went wrong in the short or long term - mainly because there is little chance of excluding all the mositure. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
The only sucess was the mast on our previous boat which was coated with two pack in a heated workshop after being stripped back to bare wood.
If you can get your whole boat in somewhere like that, you may stand a chance. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Talbot]

If yoy are talking exterior wood. I gave up on varnish a long time ago. I use teak oil applied abt 3 times a year. I have often considered going the danish oil route but never got round to it. I have seen some vessels done in coelan and they look lovely, but dont know about the long term practicalities.

If you must varnish, best to get the old fashioned stuff thats at the boat shows every year - it lasts better. Another tip for successful application, wipe down teak beforehand with acetone to de-grease the wood, and the varnish will be absorbed more successfully.

down below, I much prefer the longevity provided by 2 pack, and really like Ultravar 2000.

 

[Blue5]

My boat came with a varnish coating on the exterior teak, it has taken a year so far to get most of it back to bare timber.

Many of the great and good advise leaving it natural with an occasional clean down with water only and thats the route I am taking.

 

[Alfie168]

If you use teak oil or its variations like Danish oil. Make sure you do not spill any of it on fibreglass. Its a swine to remove.

As soon as I had made my mess I stopped using a brush and applied it wearing rubber gloves and a piece of cloth soaked in the stuff and wiped on with more care than I had previously employed.

If you can take any of the teak off the boat to apply it , then do. My sole grating was done at home.

Tim

 

[milfordman]

My experience of varnishing external hand rails 30 years ago on a macwester 26 was as follows. remove hand rails and sand down completly, do not try to get very smooth finish, slight roughness helps to key varnish. Leave in garage to dry out slowly for 3 months. Then bring into house to heated room for 3 weeks to complete drying process. Make up mixture of 50% white spirit, 50 % linseed oil. Coat all over rails repeat for 3 days . This is for linseed oil to soak deep into the wood. Then wipe surface with white spirit to remove all excess oil from surface. First two coats of varnish thinned with white spirit 50% To soak into grain as much as possible. do not sand between coats. This allows wood fibres to stand up and provide key. Finish at this stage is as rough as bears bum. Now continue with varnish coats undiluted. Very gentle rub down with 1000 grade wet and dry between alternate coats. after approx 10 coats the rails look like liquid glass. Rolls Royce finish. Absolutly every surface completly covered. Now remount on boat by screwing up through coach roof with each pedestall beded on mastic to ensure no water can get to where screws bite into wood. End result fantastic, really pleased with results, thought it was worth all the effort.
At the end of the season you would not have thought they have seen the varnish brush for years. The moral of the story do not varnish external wood work unless you enjoy sanding and varnishing cos you will never be finished. My teak work is just washed down with clean water then brushed over with oxalic acid then washed with water again when dry brush on teak wonder sealer. The advantage with this, is that it is the consistency of water so if you brush it on close to the edge of the wood it will soak in and run to the edge but not onto the deck. If it goes onto the deck you just wipe it as you go along. As the kids say easy peasey japaneasy.

 

[Metabarca]

I asked the crew of the Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian Navy's training vessel (a three-master) what they use on their teak decks (which were about 3 inches thick on steel!). And the answer was a little caustic soda and lots of sea water and scrub, scrub, scrub. Daily.

 

[Jamesuk]

Thanks for the advice - yes i stripped the varnish off using a scraper and a heat gun (worked a treat) just the curved edges were a little tasking (beware not to burn the wood, i didnt well nothing abit of sanding could not sort out!!) although a complete utter nightmare was to strip the underside edge (about 1.5cm wide and proud of the paint) due to the paint below it on the aluminim structure.

Will keep you posted as to the outcome,

As for the teak well we wash with a four stages, rinse scourer (with Teepol and water mix) then rinse then squeegy excess water. Seems to work although we are in a yard at the moment so dust is everywhere.

Cheers JAMEs