Teak finish ?

[sidelock]

Pulled off the two rear teak doors on my 18' to refinish today , got them sanded down to bare wood & was wondering what the finish of choice is for teak & how to apply it ?

[bumpdraft]

I always liked a product called Tip Top Teak, but I haven't seen it lately.

[Water Rat]

I too have found Tip Top Teak to be the best of the oil/sealer finishes. I believe you can buy direct from their website at www.tiptopteak.com.

[McGillicuddy]

I haven't used Tip Top Teak.
Cetol is popular out west but for teak look into Honey Teak:
http://www.signaturefinish.com/

For Mahogany or anything else consider epoxy base coat followed by quality polyurethane like Epifanes or the like.

[Bushwacker]

Don't know where you live, but in S. Fl. the teak oil treatments will start to oxidize and turn dark after a couple of months; they get really dark after about 6 months. I've had my boat since 1975 and tried just about all the teak treatments including Deks Olje and Honey Teak. High gloss varnish seems to hold up better and looks better IMHO. The longest lasting I've found is Epifanes Wood Finish Gloss, about 6-7 coats. PowerBoat Reports magazine tested a number of teak treatments several years ago and rated it best, saying it held up better than Honey Teak, which was their previous top pick. I used it on this piece of mahogany trim about 2008, and it still looks good.

The teak boards lining the cockpit shelf were also done with it in 2007 and have also held up well. I do keep the boat covered when not using it, which keeps the UV off the varnish, so I'm sure that helps a lot. That doesn't help with the teak oil treatments however, as oiled teak will turn dark even if covered.

I used Honey Teak on the cabin door in 2007 and it doesn't seem to hold up as well as Epifanes and it also is a darker finish that I don't like as well. There are some spots on the door frame that now need redoing.

[floorboy]

Epifanes.

[Bushwacker]

Meant to include a comment in earlier post about the 2-part teak cleaners, which I would NOT recommend using! Although they do a pretty good job of cleaning very dark and oxidized oiled teak with a very caustic alkali solution that's followed by a neutralizing acid, they are very harsh and will destroy the soft part of the grain. My experience is that the hard part of the grain will remain, so you'll end up with a very uneven surface that you'll either have to run thru a planer or sand very heavily with something like 60 grit to get smooth again. Unless the wood is very dirty and in very bad shape, your best bet is just to sand it with 60 grit. (Teak is so oily and tough that I seem to get better results with coarser grits and saw blades than you would normally use on something like mahogany.)

[jorgeinmiami]

I love the look of teak and I would love to put it on my boat but in seeing this thread it brought back memeories of my 26 Oceanic that had teak.
In order to get the teak looking it's best i would have to every year take all the teak of my boat spend a couple of days with the sander and then a another 2-3 days with the brush.
What a pain in the A@@ it was ...But once done it looked great.

I'm thinking of going in another direction this time but the look of just done teak is hard to beat

[sidelock]

Picked up a can of Epifanes woodfinish gloss . I like the siplicity of being able to use it right out of the can & not having to mix a two part solution & the fact that no sanding is required between coats. Having said that , when I got I did notice that the directions on the can do state that the first coat should be thinned 25% & additional coats 5%. How crucial is thinning it out ? I've got the doors sanded down to bare wood.

[countshock]

Epifanes. I've been taking care of boats for a living for many years. There's lots of varnish substitutes out there, but none of them really hold a candle to a "proper" varnish job. You simply have to do the work and get enough coats on there. Of course, on my personal boat, I just let it grey.