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Originally Posted by jorgeinmiami
I love the look of Teak but here in South Florida the sun beats it to death and it seems like its a yearly project no matter how you finish it
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You're right about the UV effects in S. Florida! It doesn't have to be a yearly project however!
My Seafari has a fair amount of teak on it, and in the 38 years I've owned it, I have tried virtually all of the various teak treatments! All of the teak oil treatments seem to start oxidizing and darkening after a just a couple of months, and they turn grey and start to weather after about 6 months. Deks Olje No. 1 (oil) + No. 2 (varnish) was a little better. The Honey Teak 3-part stuff by Signature Finish was better yet and at one time was the top rated teak varnish tested by PowerBoat Reports. A couple years later they tested teak varnishes again and found that Epifanes
http://www.epifanes.com/home.htm was even better! I used the Woodfinish Gloss which doesn't have to be sanded between coats, although the Clear Varnish supposedly has slightly more UV protection.
I did my cabin door with the Honey Teak, which seems to darken the wood a bit more than the Epifanes, and it started to deteriorate on the edges after about 5 years. I used Epifanes on everything else in the pictures below, including the hand rail, binocular box, cockpit shelf boards & rod holders, and sign boards on the cockpit coaming. The Epifanes showed no deterioration at all until about 6 years! I do keep a cover on the boat most of the time, but it gets used a lot, and as mentioned, the UV here is the most intense in the US, so I think it's a good test.
I'd be very cautious about using the aggressive 2-part teak cleaners like Tip Top Teak, because they attack and destroy the soft part of the grain. Use it enough and you'll have to sand the hell out of it or run even it through a planer to ever get the wood smooth and level again! (ask me how I know!) I followed the directions on the can to the letter, lightly scuffing between coats with a red 3M pad. I think I used a total of about 6-7 coats, applied with a foam brush, and just used hardware store mineral spirits for thinner, although I've read that using Epifanes thinner gives even better results.