Varnish for the Med?

[TonyMiles]

Any particular advice on choosing a varnish or oil for treating the companionway woodwork - a mixture of solid teak and teak faced ply - on a boat in Greece?

In the UK we used Sikkens Cetol Natural which gives a lovely warm glow to the wood and a super surface sheen.

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[tcm]

The main isue is when to apply: do it in the morning, before noon, rather than later when condensation can make it go all milky . Best is to sand the nigh before, leave it, then sand again in the morning after dew has turned any grain, lay the dust on surfaces nearby with damp cloth, then varnish and shut up the boat and everyone leaves the boat alone with zero dust over a long lunch.

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[steve_cronin]

International Spinnaker is best for both teak and the very hot climates of the Med. Just inside the companionway and the top step of our boat, treated with two pack by the builders started blistering after only 18 months but the substitution of oily old tang oil Spinnaker has proved durable. We are on mahogany though and normally I'd not use anything on exposed teak except frequent washing with fresh water but the interior deserves a proper finish. Cetol though, as a system, is what we have on our front door at home and this has remained good as new for three years now despite being in a very exposed sun (& more often rain) drenched position.

Steve Cronin



<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[mikewilkes]

Before we left in 2001 the boss put on umpteen coats of varnish on all the mahogany and it looked great. After about a year she started to complain about the crappy finish of the wood. So last year she spent hours scrapping the varnish and sanding down and put a couple of coats of Cetol. Now all she does is a quick sand down and recoat and it look good again. The stuff she uses is not from a chandlers either it comes from a paint shop at about € 15 a litre.

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