Whats the best way to treat my teak decking? - Pic attached

[mjkinch1]

I have tended to leave my decking untreated over the last couple of years, apart from a brush and clean with some slightly soapy water. Generally the teak has a silverish appearance and looks great ala

But on the bathing platform the corner tends to get wetter than anywhere else, and has got a bit mottled, despite being cleaned off after being at sea. Also when the canopy is up, the water runs off this corner from any rain.

I have read lots of posts about treatment of teak and I quite like the natural silverish colour on the rest of the boat, so how do I get the 'blotches' off this bit? Has it been previuosly treated? Or is the way it goes and perfectly natural?

Thanks for any help!

 

[omega2]

oxalic acid?? if it works as well as it does on gel coat, they claim it does, but we have so little timber exposed never tried it.

 

[RogerRat]

Hi Martyn

Your teak looks pretty good in the pics. Just clean with teak cleaner and bring the colour back with colour brightener. Wessex, part 1 and 2 is most preferred choice but I found Starbrite works fine too.

The problems start when you start treating and sealing. If you like the silvering this is easy cos all you have to do is leave it after cleaning and brightening and the silvering will return in a few weeks.

I like a natural colour and prefer to seal. I feel that in the Med the sun is too strong and a little protection has to help keep in the natural oils. I use 'Semco' natural from 'Onward Trading' but you have to use it properly, some of these sealers, if used incorrectly can make your teak look like an orange garden shed! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The blotchy patches are cause by the grain in the teak slats, some platforms have it more than others and the weather / UV is just making the contrast greater, it'll still be there after cleaning etc. but not as obvious.

Btw, Wessex has Oxallic acid in it, I think it's in the brightener or part 2 of the process.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Martyn, IMHO, teak is a natural product and it should be left that way without oiling or varnishing which, in any case, looks naff. Then, once you start oiling or varnishing, you have to do it on a regular basis, so why give yourself the hassle?
Re cleaning, I would stick with a proprietary cleaner only. On my last boat, the owner used an acidic solution to clean the teak deck which made the teak look very clean but softened the black caulking between the planks resulting in black gooey stuff being walked over the deck and, worse, onto the cream coloured saloon carpet. The builder (Azimut) refused the warranty claim and the owner had to shell out for recaulking the teak and replacing the saloon carpet. The deck looked like this

Also, some peeps say it's not advisable to pressure wash a teak deck either 'coz it lifts the grain of the wood.
I would say give it an occasional wash with a proprietary cleaner and brush and then forget about it. There's a lot better things you can do with your boating time rather than worrying about cleaning teak decks

 

[AIDY]

nothing apart from using a houshold scourer and a bucket of hot water with a few cap fulls of milton in, or similar. I used to use oxalic but it's a bit harsh... leave for 30 mins then wash down with a hose and let it dry.

 

[jfm]

I would think any of the two pack cleaners would be fine (Wessex, or Teak Wonder, etc). The cleaner will clean it but it looks like it would benefit from the colour restorer "half" of the two-pack treatment

If it's really bad sand it. On the p38 it should be 5mm of teak, not 1mm teak on ply. So while you dont want to sand it too often an electric sand now that removes 0.3mm will be perfectly fine

 

[johndove]

Hi,

Fairline fit Watsons teak for the last few years, yours is before that time. The teak on the bathing platfrom looks like plywood with a very thin teak on top. Not sure if the glue is showing. Can't see with the photo. Hope I am wrong.

Be careful, to much cleaning will wear through.

 

[pheran]

I've used oxalic for years and found it the cheapest and most effective. Never had any problems with the caulking. Any so-called 'harshness' is for you to control by deciding the strength of solution and the length of time you leave it on the wood. I vary mine from year to year according to the condition of the teak at the time. And never, ever be tempted to seal a teak deck. You'll regret it later.

 

[Greg2]

Teak cleaner at the begining of the season and then just scrub with salt water - gets the dirt off and retains the silver/grey look as the season goes on. Unless it is really dirty/bad I don't think you need anything else. We scrub ours regularly & just dip the scrubbing brush in the 'oggin - generally hose off with fresh just to get rid of the mucky water.

 

[mjkinch1]

Thanks everyone - I will look into the suggested methods - I would prefer not to varnish or oil if I can, as suggested I am sure it will have to continue

I think thats what probably happened to the bathing platform - although the picture doesnt show it that clearly, it is like the remains of a stain or varnish, rather than thin teak. I have been on my hands and knees gently washing and scrubbing, and it looks good whilst wet, but still dries a little patchy.

When I got the boat, the bathing platform looked like the rest of the teak, so I have missed doing something right, that the previous owner did (no I dont know how to contact him)

I notice that when it rains, sometimes the water can pool a little on the platform, so I dont think that helps. Also the shower is used in that side along with hair shampoo etc, so maybe something there doesnt help.

I have this urge to try the Wessex cleaners, but will hang fire until I next go out and take another look. I have got some teak cleaner and usually mix that with a little fresh and salt water, as recommended by the local valet guy.

The rest of the bathing platform is fine, but in fairness its hidden or sheltered under the tender, so its retained its uniform colour.

Thanks everyone for your comments, always appreciated

Martyn

 

[Hurricane]

With the search facility as it is, I've copied TCMs instructions into a file so that I dont loose it - so here it is again.

TCMs Teak Cleaning Instructions

i posted a rough version of this a while ago. As requested, here's a tidied-up version - now with added saftey advice as well!

------------

You'll sometimes see brand-new looking decks at some boat shows that are actually selling secondhand boats. Your teak deck can look like that again. Here’s how to do it.

My own background is having swankyish boats in the med, built/maintained three teak patios outside houses one of them 200 square metres, employed various “experts” and skippers, and spent £hundreds on all sorts of jetwashers, brushes, gizmos, and chemicals.

1. First decide if you want you teak to look like teak - or teak covered with something else. Everyone can tell if it's oiled, or if it's got protective finishes on, and so can everyone else. It looks a bit yellowish, uniform, plastic and non-natural - and it's actually not as grippy as natutral teak. There's also fake teak, which some boat builders can tell you is actually twice the price of real teak. But we humans are very good at identifying real and synthetic materials even from a good distance away. Teak should look like raw teak – just a like new boat at the boat show. Any teak can look like that again.

2. Firstly, the chemicals. You need two-part cleaner which can be obtained from Wessex Chemicals. I haven’t found anyone else who does the right stuff, althou othes have better names than er “2-part teak cleaner” which is what they call it.

You get this in 1-litre or 5-litre or 10litre plastic containers, a few quid a litre. Expect to use around 3/4 litre of each for a biggish 60foot boat at each clean. If you buy in bulk, mark the containers "part 1" and "Part2” clearly as the coloured dye can go off after year and yer can't easily tell which is which. Incidentally, the part two in concentrated form removes rust stains, which is handy, but make sure you rinse it afterwards.

3. Now , the kit: NO BRUSHES, NO JETWASHERS. You need the mildest possible way of swooshing around the boat, and on new teak this means a sponge. But a sponge on a stick, so a Vileda floor mop thing that squeezes out is excellent. For outside teak tho, esp teak which is a bit “ridgy”, the floor mop will get destroyed and stick on the ridges. The Surehold range or similar is good - you get a long stick and put attachements onnit , red handle – that’;s the one, and get the flat attachment to which you can stick on a pad that looks like a panscrub. You want the very mildest one, a white one that is soft enuf to wash your face with - only just not a sponge, not as severe as a loofah. Plonk this on the flat face of the attachment.

Okay, look you MIGHT need a brush if you teak is very heavily knackered and this is the first clean for years and years. A brush will get into the ridges - but digs out the softer material at the same time. So use a soft brush if you really must. But non-ancient boat or teack under five years old - no brush.

Oh, and you need a hose too, hopefully with a decent end attachment. Actually just a bare end is ok so the water “drops” out: it’s important NOT to have it on a “blast” setting like the cheapest hose ends – better ones have 6 options, and for teak you shd only use the setting for what feels like “rain”.

3. Cleaning even a colossal floor takes minutes, not hours. Get everything out of the area, tables chairs etc so no water goes on anything cept the teak. Screw-down tables need to be out as well. Hoover dusty inside areas if necessary.

Then wet the area with water from hose NOT blasting, just dribble about with the hose set to “gentle rain”.

Now, the key thing is that you need this to take a short amount of time - so hands and knees is hopeless as you will never do it more than once - an effective AND quick clean is what we want. I saw one guy cleaning the deck with toothbrush! – not for us I’m afraid.

4. Mix a mild dilution of Part 1 in a bucket and wipe it on to the teak with that floorpad mop thing. “5 water to 1 chemical” is the most severe you shd use ever on mossy greenish teak, but try 10water to 1chemical to start if it's just greyish.

The teak will go very dark almost immediately, the colour of mahogany or even very very strong coffee. Urgh! – a bit worrying! And the spashes on the bits you haven’t done – they’re just as bad! Don’t worry.

Keep putting the solution on, and agitate the stuff over the teak, across the grain. Use that floor mop to sloosh it around, always acros the grain gently, with the soft spongy pad.

As it goes dark, there's a tendency to not bother rubbing everywhere cos it’s “doing something” but you do need to "apply" it to the wood with the sponge/mop thing, not just rinse over. At the edges, use a mild handheld green plastic panscrub – again, not one too rough to wipe your face with – to get the edges – otherwise we won’t have the “new” look as the middle will be clean, the edges murky.

Saftey warning: SLIPPERY with Part1 :the teak loses a LOT of it’s anti-slip properties with this part 1 on so be careful and keep kids and the unwary away. On an open a sailing boat deck, be especially careful as you move around – and with the next stage too. But when finished it’s back to normal, of course.

5. Pretty much as soon as the diluted part 1 has been put on everywhere and gone worryingly dark brown, it's done the business. So once it is all uniformly wet and dark, rinse the area, and tons of brown gunk will come off, often quite a shocking amount. But imagine how filthy your car would be if you left it unwashed, just rinsed a bit now and again, for a year or more. You need it all this off. I use a rubber window wiping blade on a stick to swoosh it all out. Again, don't blast with water - use low pressure and lots of it.

6. Now the part two, the red stuff. Again , mild solution. 10water to one P2 on wet teak after part 1. This is worrying to put on cos it bleaches back the colour, and even the bucket seems to leave a mark. Argh! Again, don't worry - it will all come back bright as the bleachiness goes all over. Not much skil needed - provided you stay at a mild dilution, you can't put "too much" on - it returns to it's natural colour, so it won't go white or anything like that.

Another warning: this is a mild acid, so it will sting cuts in unprotected hands and feet. But your hands and feet don’t drop off, or at least mine haven’t been damaged anyway and I’ve done this a fair bit.

On big patios or on the pontoon (yep, you have to clean the pontoon too soon, see below) I use a garden watering can and a rose to sploosh it on. The part 1 get’s the gunk off – this seems to hardly lift any more dirt, just turn back the colour. You do need to rinse off the part 2 though.

If you missed an area with p1, it'll be silvery grey after p2, so yerd have to start again –or praps leave it til next time.

You need to carefully rinse metal items around on the floor – stainless or aluminium won’t get horribly damaged provided you get the stuff off during the rinsing so target these especially.

I wipe with a “blade” (like a windscreen wiper) to speed up the drying process, and get the dirt off without needing tons and tons of water.

Walking on the now-clean teak whilst it's drying means you lose the "utterly fab clean new-boat" look, but clean footmarks do evaporate so it's ok, ish.

Now, the teak looks brand new when it dries. Hurrah! Is it clean tho? Get a white tissue and wet it, wipe on a bit of the teak, and the tissue will remain white clean. It's clean enough to eat food from.

7. Soon the teak will get filthy and go silvery grey again. Why's that? Well it's cos of the rain, or the air or (mostly) cos you or the crew did it with your feet. In the med, big boats are "no shoes" - you step aboard in bare feet, not deck shoes, not socks, but Bare Feet, even if you charter the boat and pay a zillion pounds a week. All those swanky boats , look at the pics closely and none are wearing shoes. Ok, on some they ARE wearing shoes, but they are either deck pumps (that always stay on the clean deck) or nitwits.

8. To keep the deck clean, I'm afraid that you need to try a bit harder than you are doing. You have a deck that is utterly clean and visibly so, like white carpet. But the pontoon is filthy. It's like having muddy garden path and muddy driveway, and white carpet indoors. You need to instigate a regime to limit the dirt arriving on board.

Clean the pontoon where you step aboard for a start, using 2-part teak cleaner again, and this time use a brush cos it will be filthy, it’s already ridged, and erm, it’s not your expensive boat.

If the quayside of you normal berth is concrete, clean and then paint it with garage floor paint. Put a mat down on the quayside for changing shoes. The mat will fly away in high wind so make sure you have spare mats and take it up before a gale. I lose about one mat per year, mebbe two. If you can't be shoes-off on board the boat cos in the uk it's cold, have one pair of shoes for schlepping over to the car park etc. and dedicated shoes on board that are only for on board, never ashore.

9. Knackered ridgy teak. Teak feels as hard as nails – dense and unyielding- but is actually quite susceptible to being washed away, perhaps like very weak concrete.

To keep it from disintgrating, you need to never clean it and never wash it, and never step on it and keep it covered ! - but this aint possible on a boat. A winter cover (over the whiole boat or at least over the teak) makes it last longer. If you have bare teak indoors perhaps in a wheelhouse, and also outdoors on the deck, you'll see how the indoor stuff stays new and flat and not-ridgy for much longer. The rain does this – it’s a moderate jetwash that happens lots of times per year. So, if you had a cover, or individual covers for bits of the deck, your teak won't go ridgy anywhere near as quickly. The cover needs to allow air to circulate to stop it going mouldy a bit, but never with rain landing on it. Le Grand Bleue is Abramovich’s ugly ship with loads of playtime boats incl a big 70 foot powerboat - and the first such boat (Sirius) had individual canvas /Sunbrella covers for the teak held down with poppers when owners aren’t on board - and the teak is lovely, even after a several years.

10. Sanding the teak. Yeah, well, you need a machine to do this, and make it flat. Easy to decsribe, hard to do and makes a right mess. Once the teak is flat, you can make it smooth with finer and finer sanding, tho it will be slippery if you go on too long. It will need sanding eventually. Be very very careful with a beltsander cos it will eat a lot of material very quickly: much safer is an orbital sander with about the grittiest grit you can find: yeah, 40 grit might feel awful to your hands but it still takes a while to get the teak flat. First off, the sander dances around as it “grabs” on the raised black caulking. Then, it starts at the hard raised ridges but it still takes time even with 40grit. Get a decent machine with lots of watts – the £12 850w units aren’t good enuf and get groaningly slowed down.

Its ok to leave it a bit de-ridged rather than grind down to "new" – clean as above and you still have newe looking deck with far less ridges than before. Professionals seem to insist on whamming it down to “new wood all over” which must use more material and limit the number of times you can sand.

11 Finally, about the semco and other protective coverings again: at the cost of it looking like real natural teak, these stop dirt from entering the grain. So, it's sort-of protecting the teak for the next owner of the boat. I spose you could use these over winter, that would be okay. But would a top-class superyacht or classic racer use these protecvtive finishes, or teak? No they blimmin well wouldn't, they'd be chucked out of st tropez and the skipper doomed to everlasting ridicule! Teak means teak.